Xi Jinping Era: Return to the dominance of ideology in arts and literature?
We see more and more ideology in Chinese public discourse of the last few, post-COVID years. Topics of patriotism and national self-confidence, Marxism and traditional values, war imagery in the China-US rivalry and the struggle to reshape the world order, have filled the Chinese public sphere. Arts and literature have also been influenced greatly by this atmosphere of national mobilisation around party ideology and party values.
How do Chinese artists and writers function in this reality? What artistic choices do they make either to align with the official discourse or to criticise it? Can art in Xi Jinping’s China be at all free from ideology? Join us for a discussion with Professor Olga Lomová from Charles University in Prague, who will provide her own reading of today’s artistic reality in China. Professor Lomová’s presentation will be followed by a discussion with members of the EU funded research project China Horizons.
In order to listen to the podcasts on this website, visitors will need to accept cookies. This can be done here. Alternatively, visitors can visit the website of the partner responsible for a given podcast and listen to it there.
About the speakers
Olga Lomová
Professor of Chinese literature, Charles University in Prague
Teaches about Chinese poetry (both pre-modern and 20th century), history of European study of China, and on PRC ideology and self-representation. Her research includes Tang poetry, Six Dynasties poetry and prose, early Chinese historiography, particularly the work of Sima Qian, and intellectual and cultural transformation in China in the early 20th century.
František Reismüller
Researcher at SWPS University
Sinologist, translator, specializing in modern Chinese and Taiwanese culture
Piotr Machajek
PhD candidate at SWPS University
Sinologist, translator, and literature scholar, specializing in contemporary Chinese literature
Marcin Jacoby
Associate Professor at SWPS University, Head of the Asian Civilisation Research Center
Sinologist, translator, cultural manager