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The role of Jiang Qing in establishing a more Maoist culture in CCP, Hannu…
The role of Jiang Qing in establishing a more Maoist culture in CCP
Aims and ideology
Main goal was to create a new revolutionary culture aligned with Maoist ideas and destroy old traditional one
Aiming to eradicate capitalist. western elements of Chinese culture
Culture and art would reflect the everyday struggle to suppress class differences
Need to eliminate more political opponents
Mao's power also rose as a result of asserting his wife in a powerful position
Mao saw Jiang Qing as the "cultural purifier of the nation"
The four olds: old customs, old habits, old culture, old ideas
Methods of policy and control: What was changed
Control
Foreign elements of art ( Western art) were banned
Traditional Chinese opera was seen as reminiscent of capitalist, bourgeoisie society
Relevant Chinese themes like proletarian class struggle and heroic socialists defeating capitalists or GMD forces had be included, otherwise the artist would be sent to the labour camps
Examples of usual themes: oppressive landlord vs peasant girl, CCP resistance against imperialist Japanese forces
Censorship
Jiang imposed strict censorship—only revolutionary works were allowed.
Banned all Western music and traditional Chinese opera.
Allowed only writings, artworks, and performances with relevant revolutionary themes.
Jiang was given the title of "creator-in-chief"
Evidence of change (successes)
Lack of resistance to Jiang's policies significantly helped in creating the "ideal" Maoist culture, however only in the short-term.
Note: successes were only short-term; only failures in the long-term
Musicians, artists etc. were effectively renounced, and sent to labour camps => suppression was mostly effective
Forms of art became more censored than ever with Qing’s criteria used to evaluate whether the work was “relevant and meaningful to the people by having as their only theme the struggle of the heroic masses."
Failures of the policies: What failed to change?
Censorship exceeded the extent of artists and composers scared to make anything at all.
Plays which were shown to the public were incredibly long and tedious to the audience
Long-term animosity towards the power Jiang Qing now possessed
CCP party members became increasingly aware of the "tyranny" of the policies, but still remained silent in the short-term.
Lynch’s narrative highlights the quote from a poet
“As a result of the cultural revolution you could say the cultural trademark of my generation is that we have no culture.”
""No music sounded anymore. The Conservatoire was silent... We thought that we popularized the bad things to the young generation. "
Limitations (failures)
Hannu & Maxim