The Discourse of Guohua in Wartime Shanghai

Chan, Pedith Pui

Abstract

This article looks at artists' engagement with artistic activities carried out in wartime Shanghai, with a particular focus on guohua (lit., 'national painting'). Drawing on primary sources such as archival materials, diaries, paintings, magazines and newspapers, it explores the layered meanings attached to and social functions of guohua and the institutional structure of the Shanghai art world from the gudao (solitary island) period to the advent of full occupation from December 1941 onwards. As a symbol of Chinese elite culture, guohua continued to dominate the Shanghai art world with support from Wang Jingwei's regime and the occupying Japanese, and was deemed the root of East Asian art and one of the crucial pillars of the East Asian renaissance in the discourse of the new order of East Asian art. Through closely examining the discourse of guohua in occupied Shanghai, this article advances our understanding of the production and consumption of art in wartime Shanghai by going beyond the paradigmatic binary of 'collaboration' and 'resistance'.

Citation

Chan, P. P. (2020). The Discourse of Guohua in Wartime Shanghai. European Journal of East Asian Studies, 19(2), 263-296. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700615-01902010

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 25, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 4, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Deposit Date: Feb 26, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2021
• Journal: European Journal of East Asian Studies
• Print ISSN: 1568-0584
• Electronic ISSN: 1570-0615
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 263-296
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700615-01902010
• Keywords: Political Science and International Relations; Geography, Planning and Development; Development; Cultural Studies; Sociology and Political Science; History
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5352427
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/ejea/19/2/article-p263_6.xml
• Additional Information: This article is part of a series of articles published on an open access basis in Vol. 1, Issue 2 of The European Journal of East Asian Studies (Table of Contents: https://brill.com/view/journals/ejea/19/2/ejea.19.issue-2.xml . Open access costs were covered by the Cultures of Occupation in Twentieth Century Asia (COTCA) project, funded by the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Number 682081).