Xi echoes Mao's era with plans to send artists to live in rural communities
China is to send artists, filmmakers, and television staff to live among the masses in rural areas in order to “form a correct view of art”, state media said today.
The move is the latest by the ruling Communist Party to echo the ideology of Mao Zedong's era, including the Cultural Revolution, during which intellectuals and others were “sent down” to work alongside peasants in the countryside.
It comes weeks after President Xi Jinping told a group of artists not to chase popularity with “vulgar” works, but instead to promote socialism. State media compared his remarks with those made in a speech by Mao in the 1940s.
Xi Jinping is under considerable pressure, because his anti-corruption campaign certainly has hurt a lot of vested interests. This is again a time of pressure tactics on the intelligentsia and on the critics
China’s media watchdog “will organise film and TV series production staff on a quarterly basis to go to grassroots communities, villages and mining sites to do field study and experience life”, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
Scriptwriters, directors, broadcasters and TV presenters will also be sent to work and live for at least 30 days “in ethnic minority and border areas, and areas that made major contributions to the country’s victory in the revolutionary war”, Xinhua added.
The move “will be a boost in helping artists form a correct view of art and create more masterpieces”, Xinhua said, citing the media administration.
Beijing imposes tight controls over art and culture, and ideological restrictions have tightened under Xi, with authorities censoring prominent dissident artist Ai Weiwei and other artists that it perceives as challenging its right to rule.
Joseph Cheng, professor of political science at City University, described the move as a Mao-style “rectification campaign” aimed at silencing potential critics as Xi leads a far-reaching anti-graft sweep.
“Xi Jinping is under considerable pressure, because his anti-corruption campaign certainly has hurt a lot of vested interests,” Cheng said. “This is again a time of pressure tactics on the intelligentsia and on the critics.”
The new edict harks back to the era of Communist China’s founder, when popular art was little more than propaganda.
However, Cheng said that whereas Mao’s Cultural Revolution was aimed at the entire intelligentsia, the current move was more targeted.
“This campaign is a bit different in the sense that as long as you don’t challenge the authorities – as long as you keep quiet – you are safe to keep making money,” he said.
In October, Xi told a group of artists that they should not become “slaves to the market”. The state-run China Daily likened his remarks to a well-known speech by Mao in 1942 during the Yanan rectification movement, which outlined his view that the arts should serve politics.
“Art and culture cannot develop without political guidance,” the paper said, congratulating Xi for “emphasising the integration of ideology and artistic values”.
