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Arts & Communication 1980s: A turning point in the Chinese art market

published an editorial stating that “literature and art serve of Cultural Market introduced the idea of the cultural
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the people and socialism” instead of the previous notion of market for the first time, marking the official emergence of
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serving the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and the politics entertainment culture.
of the proletariat.” Since then, “a hundred flowers bloom
on artistic issues, a hundred schools of thought contend on 3.2 Chinese art business organizations
academic issues” and “literature and art serve the people Herein, we mainly discuss two kinds of organizational
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and serve socialism” became the basic principles for leading forms of enterprises: collective ownership enterprises and
literature and art in the new era of socialism. Literature Sino-foreign joint ventures. An enterprise under collective
and art influenced the trends of the period and became ownership refers to an economic organization where
the spiritual vane of China’s modernization. During this working people collectively own the means of production,
period, discussions on the art market between literary work together, and distribute outcomes according to
and artistic groups covered topics such as ownership and individual contributions. Conversely, Chinese-foreign
management consciousness, the fundamental distinction equity joint ventures refer to enterprises where Chinese
between creative creation and general production, market and foreign entities jointly invest and operate within the
conduct and management, and domestic markets and territory of China following the provisions of Chinese law
circulation links. The internal and external mechanisms and share profits, risks, and losses in proportion to their
of art production focused on the recognition of the investments. 13
commodity nature of artworks, adhering to the aesthetic 3.2.1. Management of collective ownership — Yanjing
creation law, and understanding the law of commodity Calligraphy and Painting Association
value.
The Yanjing Calligraphy and Painting Association, one
Published conversations from this time also of Beijing’s largest professional stores catering to both
demonstrated how artistic creation stresses emotions Chinese and foreign visitors, was founded in June 1979 and
and personal esthetics, considering professional abilities stands as the city’s inaugural collective art gallery. It has a
and subject matter as equally significant perspectives. solid reputation both domestically and internationally as
Regarding the management system, galleries and one of the first foreign tourist-designated shopping stores
painting shops adopt various ownership forms, including authorized by the government. More than 20,000 different
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the entire populace, collectives, individuals, and Sino- types of goods across 18 categories could be found in the
foreign joint ventures. The market for cultural relics store, with the majority being Chinese calligraphy and
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and arts and crafts was vibrant in various regions with paintings, the four treasures of study, jewelry and diamonds,
the emergence of cluster development. In addition to gold and silver jewelry, printing materials and seals, enamel
state-owned cultural relic shops and arts and crafts and lacquer carving, ivory and jade carving, silk products,
shops, the dual-track system of state-owned and private and folk crafts, among others. In addition, there are
(collective and individual) enterprises was implemented, departments dedicated to the acquisition, identification,
entailing simultaneous regulations by the state and curation, and processing of calligraphy and paintings, as
market, transitioning from planned control to a two-way well as mounting and other related activities. The period
regulation. from 1979 to 1990 is often considered the pinnacle of the
Yanjing Calligraphy and Painting Association. The tourism
In 1981, the government imposed stringent regulations
on cultural artifact exports, ending the widespread export boom in Beijing further propelled its sales, with 44 stores
strategically positioned across prominent tourist spots in
of such items. The culture fever of the 1980s involved Beijing, significantly increasing its revenue. By 1983, its
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contemplation and debate on traditional material culture. income had reached 3 million yuan and soared to over 10
In 1988, the Notice on Strengthening the Management million yuan 4 years later from an 81,000 yuan profit in its
st
7 Zedong Mao’s “Speech at the Yan’an Forum on Literature 1 year. At its peak, the association contributed nearly 30
and Art” put forward the idea of taking the people as the million yuan to the country. In 1988, under the leadership
center to carry out literary and artistic work. of its founder Shi Shuling, the association expanded its
8 The “Double hundred” policy is the basic policy of the party ventures by establishing the Temple of Heaven Hotel,
and the state on the development of literature, art, science, Yanjing International Travel Agency, and other diversified
and technology.
9 The cultural craze of the 80s refers to the cultural trend of the 10 The Ministry of Culture and the State Administration
Chinese mainland in the 1980s when the main discussion for Industry and Commerce jointly issued the Notice on
was about modernization and traditional culture, as well as Strengthening the Management of the Cultural Market.
the issue of Confucianism. Released February 1988.

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 5 doi: 10.36922/ac.2028