Introductory Chapter: Rethinking the Study of Exhibitions of Chinese Art

This chapter proposes to extend the study of the exhibitions of Chinese art to include its broader significance in China as well as Asia. It situates the exhibition studies of Chinese art within the ongoing debates on global art history, inclusive of multiple geo-cultural perspectives, as well as the dynamic creative practices that relate the art tradition or heritage to more universal spatiotemporal art experience and engagement. This chapter sets in the contexts to address the relationships between art, exhibitions, and society in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century China, the identity, and cultural politics of Chinese art in Asia from the 1950s onwards, and the recent technological, curatorial, and artistic interventions on Chinese art in the twenty-first century.