This collection of original essays explores the rise of popular print media in China as it relates to the quest for modernity in the global metropolis of Shanghai from 1926 to 1945. It does this by offering the first extended look at the phenomenal influence of the Liangyou pictorial, The Young Companion, arguably the most exciting monthly periodical ever published in China. Special emphasis is placed on the profound social and cultural impact of this glittering publication at a pivotal time in China. The essays explore the dynamic concept of "kaleidoscopic modernity" and offer...

Between State and Market: Chinese Contemporary Art in the Post-Mao Era examines the shift in the system of support for contemporary art in China between 1979 and 1993, from state patronage to the introduction of the market, and the hybrid space that developed in between. Today, soaring prices for contemporary art have triggered a debate about the deleterious effect of the market on art. Yet Jane DeBevoise argues that, in the post-Mao period, the imaginary of the marketplace was liberating, offering artists an alternative framework of legitimacy and support. Based on primary research,...

Culture in Common explores the transnational history of traditionalist art in modern East Asia through a contextualist account of a Chinese artist s engagement with Japan. Crossing national and disciplinary divides, Walter Davis illuminates how Wang Yiting (1867-1938) mediated Sino-Japanese cooperation in fields to which he contributed importantly art, business, philanthropy, and religion adapting traditional forms of expression to projects and concerns of a modern, international milieu. Grounded in the Japanese archive, Culture in Common expands our understanding of Wang Yiting...

The Other Kang Youwei is the first in-depth study of the art historical importance of Kang Youwei (1858-1927). The most prominent constitutional monarchist who served as Emperor Guangxu's advisor during the Hundred Days Reform of 1898, he has been discussed in previous scholarship largely as a political figure. Less well known are his achievements in calligraphy and calligraphy theory (he wrote the most comprehensive and widely-read guide to the Stele School in his day), as well as his efforts in making art a powerful instrument for national transformation. He advocated East-West...