Prof. Pang Laikwan’s new book ‘The Art of Cloning: Creative Production during China’s Cultural Revolution’ is published by Verso in January 2017. Prof. Pang Laikwan investigates cultural production under Mao, and how artists and thinkers found autonomy in a culture of conformity. Pang examines the period of Cultural Revolution in Chinese history when ordinary citizens read widely, traveled extensively through the country, and engaged in a range of cultural and artistic activities. From the outside, China had become a monotonous world, a place of endless repetition and imitation, but a closer look reveals a range of cultural experiences, which also provided individuals with an obscure sense of freedom. The freedom they experienced, argues Pang, differs from the freedom, under Western capitalism, to express individuality through a range of consumer products. But it was far from boring and was possessed of its own kind of diversity. More information of the book can be found at https://www.versobooks.com/books/2266-the-art-of-cloning.
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