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Art Asian

The Cult of Happiness

Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China

by (author) James A. Flath

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2004
Category
Asian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774810340
    Publish Date
    Mar 2004
    List Price
    $34.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774842341
    Publish Date
    Nov 2011
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

History and art come together in this definitive discussion of the Chinese woodblock print form of nianhua, literally "New Year pictures." James Flath analyzes the role of nianhua in the home and later in the theatre and 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 as historical text, this extraordinary account offers original insight into popular conceptions of domesticity, morality, gender, society, modernity, and the transformation of the genre as a propaganda tool under communism.

About the author

Contributor Notes

James A. Flath teaches in the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario.