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in 1978 mainly to carry out official exchange programmes. As for Sino-American relations, cultural exchanges never escaped the attention of top administrators. In the Shanghai Communique signed on 28 February, 1972, both parties expressed their intention to promote cultural exchanges, though the positions of the leaders of both countries at the time prevented them from making much progress along those lines. Following the establishment of diplomatic relations, a cultural agreement was soon signed on 31 January, 1979 and this agreement was consolidated by five implementing accords, covering exchanges in every year following 1979. Between 1979 and 1981, "an expanded program of cultural exchanges brought major exhibits of Chinese art, archaeological finds, music and dance troupes... to the United States, and a reciprocal flow of U.S. films, symphony orchestras, and exhibits to the PRC.”
At the beginning of the normalization of the Sino-U.S. relationship, both governments emphasized the promotion of links in fields other than political, though political relations dominated their priority lists. It was, however, realized that cultural relations, among other links, would create multiple constituencies in each society with a vested interest in the future well-being of the overall relationship and that is what the two governments were vigorously pursuing.
Cultural development and political reassessment
The use of cultural exchanges as an instrument may or may not have been helpful in bilateral strategic and economic terms, but its influence on China's domestic policies was beyond the expectations of policy makers. As has been discussed, there was in China a notion that socialism was a superior social system. Under such a system the only thing that needed to be done was raising production and enhancing material accumulation. This notion prevailed before, during and immediately after the Cultural Revolution. Underlined by this notion, the task of cultural establishments, particularly those of art and literature, was destined for educating the masses as to government policies and mobilizing them to work hard in national construction. The cultural sector was not viewed as an independent voice for social progress and therefore was merely assimilated to politics. The fusion of art and politics, in the minds of the leaders at least, was perfectly underlined by the famous slogan "literature and art serve political assimilation, the new assimilation of the arts to the pursuit of material modernization still dissatisfied many writers and artists. But this new assimilation did provide them with a
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in 1978 mainly to carry out official exchange programmes. As for Sino- American relations, cultural exchanges never escaped the attention of top administrators. In the Shanghai Communique signed on 28 February, 1972, both parties expressed their intention to promote cultural exchanges, though the positions of the leaders of both countries at the time prevented them from making much progress along those lines. Following the establishment of diplomatic relations, a cultural agreement was soon signed on 31 January, 1979 and this agreement was consolidated by five implementing accords, covering exchanges in every year following 1979. Between 1979 and 1981, "an expanded program of cultural exchanges brought major exhibits of Chinese art, archaeological finds, music and dance troupes... to the United States, and a reciprocal flow of U.S. films, symphony orchestras, and exhibits to the PRC.”
At the beginning of the normalization of the Sino-U.S. relationship, both governments emphasized the promotion of links in fields other than political, though political relations dominated their priority lists. It was, however, realized that cultural relations, among other links, would create multiple constituencies in each society with a vested interest in the future well-being of the overall relationship and that is what the two governments were vigorously pursuing.
Cultural development and political reassessment
The use of cultural exchanges as an instrument may or may not have been helpful in bilateral strategic and economic terms, but its influence on China's domestic polices was beyond the expectations of policy makers. As has been discussed, there was in China a notion that socialism was a superior social system. Under such a system the only thing that needed to be done was raising production and enhancing material accumulation. This notion prevailed before, during and immediately after the Cultural Revolution. Underlined by this notion, the task of cultural establishments, particularly those of art and literature, was destined for educating the masses as to government policies and mobilizing them to work hard in national construction. The cultural sector was not viewed as an independent voice for social progress and therefore was merely assimilated to politics. The fusion of art and politics, in the minds of the leaders at least, was perfectly underlined by the famous slogan "literature and art serve political assimilation, the new assimilation of the arts to the pursuit of material modernization still dissatisfied many writers and artists. But this new assimilation did provide them with a
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