Chinese Modern. The heroic and the quotidian.

Analyzing a rich array of literary, visual, theatrical, and cinematic texts, the author portrays the cultural transforamation of China from the early 1900s through the founding of the People´ s Republic, the installation of the socialist realist aesthetic, the colapse of the idea of utopia in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, and the gradual cannibalization of the socialist past by consumer culture at the century´ s end.