Sustainability| More...
 

Zhang Yimou

Thoughts on Kitsch and Culture after Mao

Julian Baird Gewirtz | Posted 09.10.2009 | World

Read More: Steve Jobs, Zhang Yimou, Bill Clinton, Kobe Bryant, Beijing Olympics, Chinese Art, Mao Zedong, Jay Chou, China, Kim Jong Il, Totalitarian Kitsch, Barack Obama, Totalilarianism, North Korea, World News
Julian Baird Gewirtz

We are left with a picture of a China that is full of contradictions and conflicting trends, of liberalizing desire to become an open society mixed with a strong strain of conservative attachment, of kitsch and real splendor existing side-by-side.

Read Post

The International Impact of China's Olympic Moment

Jeffrey Wasserstrom | Posted 04.03.2009 | World

Read More: Zhang Yimou, World, China, Shanghai, Beijing Olympics, Beijing, South Park, World News
Jeffrey Wasserstrom

The Beijing Games should be seen as a part of an ongoing, ambitious, and so far partially successful re-branding effort on the part of the Chinese Communist Party.

Read Post

China's Ode to Legerdemain

Howard W. French | Posted 09.13.2008 | Politics

Read More: Zhang Yimou, International Herald Tribune, Opening Ceremony, Beijing, Howard French, Cecil B. DeMille, China, Hollywood, Olympics, Politics News
Howard W. French

Embellishing the face of China, and thereby enhancing the prestige of its rulers, required something better than reality, a painstakingly idealized hyper-real, and if that required trickery or deception, so be it.

Read Post

Hook, Line, and Sinker: NBC Swallows Opening Ceremonies Propaganda

Katherine Goldstein | Posted 09.09.2008 | Media

Read More: China Press Freedom, Olympics, Opening Ceremonies, China Censorship, NBC Olympic Coverage, Joshua Cooper Ramo, Opening Ceremony Commentary, Nbc, Opening Ceremonies Propaganda, "Josh Cooper Ramo", Zhang Yimou, Media News
Katherine Goldstein

The conscious decision to create a narrative that rewrites both Chinese history and reality is alarming -- but the fact that the NBC commentators unquestioningly went along with it is downright appalling.

Read Post

From Beijing: The Opening Extravaganza -- Conceptual and Political Art; No Chinatown Dragons

Jack Hidary | Posted 09.08.2008 | Politics

Read More: Birdsnest, Opening Ceremony, Birdsnest Stadium, Beijing Olympics, Olympics, Opening Ceremonies, Zhang Yimou, Politics News
Jack Hidary

This is an Olympics which needed an opening ceremony strong enough to match the politically-charged atmosphere surrounding the choice of China.

Read Post