ABSTRACT
Following the approach taken in Chapter 3, this chapter focuses on the development in Britain of utopian images of China during the second half of the Cultural Revolution, the most compelling and influential vision of contemporary China and its visual culture propagated during this period. In order to contextualise this analysis, the chapter begins with an overview of the principal incidents and political campaigns of the final six years (1970-1976) of the Cultural Revolution, taking in US President Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972 and leading up to its conclusion with the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. It then moves on to a discussion of the key themes that influenced cultural production, before looking at contemporary British responses to the latter half of the Cultural Revolution in art, literature and popular culture.
