An edition of The Cult of Happiness (2004)
The Cult of Happiness
Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China (Contemporary Chinese Studies)
By James A. Flath
Publish Date
March 15, 2004
Publisher
Univ of British Columbia Pr
Language
eng
Pages
272
Description:
"History and art come together in this definitive discussion of the Chinese woodblock print form of nianhua, literally "New Year pictures." By analyzing the role of nianhua first in the home and later in commercial and political theatres, James Flath relates these artworks to the social, cultural, and political milieu of North China as it was between the late Qing dynasty and the early 1950s. Among the first studies in any field to treat folk art and folk print as historical text, The Cult of Happiness offers original insight into popular conceptions of domesticity, morality, gender, society, modernity, and the transformation of the genre as a propaganda tool under communism. An extraordinary account of the cultural life of rural North China over the period."--BOOK JACKET.