More evidence of China's "superiority": the crushing of outspoken artists
Friday, May 21, 2010 at 12:08AM 
Wang Yi was, until recently, celebrated by the official Chinese media as the nation's answer to Mozart. His "Ode to China" symphony was a staple of state orchestras.
Last year he was arrested for corruption charges (he was also a financial officer of the Party in the way that only happens in China) and now he's universally derided by the official media. Some wags even claim he can't read music. Supposedly he took bribes in the millions of yuan to get tickets for businesspeople and officials who either wanted tickets to performances of his works or wanted to curry favor with him.
The truth is hard to ferret out of one piece. The guy was a longtime and powerful party official who never studied music and then, eight years ago, he starts singing and what comes out is a melody that eventually becomes this super-popular symphony. China has this thing for its leaders expressing themselves artistically.
But Wang definitely crossed somebody in the party and now he's gone, along with his musical legacy--however it came about.
Point of piece:
The case is one example of the extraordinary influence senior party officials with few or no artistic credentials wield over the Chinese arts.
Critics say these factors are the main reason China, the world's biggest exporter of manufactured goods, has produced relatively few cultural or artistic exports in recent years--despite a multibillion-dollar global campaign and regular exhortations from leaders to develop "the cultural industries" and "soft power" of the nation.
"The officials want China to be seen as a cultured, creative nation, but in this anti-liberal political society everything outside the direct control of the state is seen as a potential threat," says Ai Weiwei, a well-known contemporary artist and a bold critic of Communist Party rule.
"The people who control culture in China have no culture, and in this system art provide a hugely lucrative source of corruption."
So, it would seem that, no matter the truth of Wang's downfall, his career is gloriously emblematic of why the Chinese will continue to feel embarrassed by movies like "Kung Fu Panda."
Reader Comments (2)
Their government leaders control the art? Wow. I am having a tough time getting my head around that. Can you imagine art produced by Lyndon Johnson? Richard Nixon? J. Edgar Hoover?
The reverse of that idea does not work very well either. Andy Warhol as Secretary of Defense? Willie Nelson at Treasury?
Remember the French gave us the statue of liberty because they didn't think we could come up with anything decent on our own.
Ironic.
French Censorship of Art: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/12/sarkozy-art-row
Even America will criminalize certain types of free expression. Every society no matter how permissive has certain values that will inhibit free expression. What you consider worthy of suppressing is a matter of "politics".