What is cultural about the Cultural Revolution? Paul Clark on creativity amid destruction

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2016

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, a chaotic decade of Chinese history made infamous in the West through books such as Wild Swans and Life and Death in Shanghai, which describe in horrific detail the suffering endured by millions of people. Most histories of the period focus on violence committed by the Red Guards, the imprisonment of people in cow sheds and other terrifying acts, but Paul Clark's book examines the art of the era. For this episode of Sinica, he joined Jeremy in Auckland, New Zealand, to discuss the large number of new operas, plays, films and other creative works that emerged from the tumultuous time. You can read the SupChina backgrounder on the topics of their conversation here. Paul is a pioneer in the academic study of Chinese films and was one of the first of three New Zealand students to go to Beijing on an official exchange for two years of study in the 1970s. He has published books on Maori history, Chinese cinema, Chinese youth culture, as well as The Chinese Cultural Revolution, which looks at the creation, dissemination and innovation of art, film, theater and architecture in China from 1966 to 1976. Recommendations: Jeremy: Visiting Queenstown, New Zealand, and the surrounding mountains and lakes. Paul: Red Sorghum, directed by Zhang Yimou. Kaiser: Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance, a Q&A with the author. Special thanks to Podcasts NZ for the use of their studio in Auckland. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Seneca podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs on China, produced in partnership for SubChina.
0:15.5	SubChina is a great way to stay on top of China's news in a few minutes a day with a daily email newsletter, mobile phone
0:21.7	app, and the website at subchina.com. It's a feast of business, political, and cultural news
0:27.2	about a nation that is reshaping the world. Today, we are coming to you from Auckland in New Zealand.
0:34.2	We're delighted to be hosted at the studios of Podcasts NZ, the premier podcast network in New Zealand.
0:40.6	Thanks very much to Paul Spain for kicking us up.
0:43.0	I am Jeremy Goldcorn, joined as usual by Kaiser Gore, who is no longer in charge of suppressing barbarian lies for Baidu, but now living large in North Carolina.
0:53.6	Well, I'm still suppressing barbarian lies, just not the ones that are being told about
0:57.7	Baidu, and I'm doing it here in Chapel Hill and maybe focusing a little more on the lies told
1:02.1	about Hillary Clinton, but...
1:05.0	This year is the 50th anniversary of what is usually defined as the start of the Cultural Revolution.
1:11.7	While most histories of that period focus on Red God violence, people being imprisoned in
1:15.9	cowsheds and other acts of terror, our guest today has written a book that looks at the cultural
1:20.7	scene during the Cultural Revolution, examining a large number of new operas, plays, films,
1:26.2	and artworks that were produced during those tumultuous
1:29.0	years. We're joined today by Paul Clark, who is a pioneer in the academic study of Chinese films.
1:35.1	After completing a master's degree in New Zealand Maori history, he was one of the first three
1:40.0	New Zealand students to go to Beijing on official exchanges for nearly two years of study.
1:46.2	His Harvard PhD thesis was on the Chinese film industry from 1949 to 83.
1:51.7	He's published books on Maori history, Chinese cinema, a cultural history of the
1:56.1	Cultural Revolution, and on Chinese youth culture from 1968 to 2008. His current project is on changing leisure spaces in
2:05.3	Beijing since 1949. Welcome to Seneca Paul. Thank you. Nice to be here. Can I ask to kick off the
	...

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