“One of the delights, then, of exploring this collection is that of becoming privy to just how divergent were the views, how passionate the motives and how discerning the analyses by Chinese artists processing events in their world as they were happening. Wu Hung thus invites the reader to view the continuing search for new paradigms, for new language, through a window not yet beclouded by retrospection or devolution into simple explanations—we need no longer be hostage to a jumble of critical commentaries strewn across art journals or selectively sheltered in exhibition catalogs, but instead are empowered to construct more complex and holistic understandings.” — Carolyn M. Bloomer, The China Journal
“This book . . . serves a major function in bringing this material together and to the attention of the international art world. Furthermore, additional documents are constantly being added at the project’s Web site www.moma.org/chineseprimarydoc. . . . This book is refreshing primarily because of its subject matter, but also because it’s organized and written in a lucid and markedly open-minded manner.” — Bradley Winterton, Taipei Times
“Wu Hung . . . along with Peggy Wang . . . has done an incredible service to the field of English language contemporary art history and translation publishing this fact filled book documenting the rise of Chinese art post Cultural Revolution.“ — Ellen Pearlman, Leonardo Reviews
“Destined to become a key sourcebook on mainland Chinese artists. . . . Readers not fluent in Chinese can revel in 35 years’ wroth of texts and information never before available to them.” — William Pym, Art Asia Pacific
“Edited by Wu and Wang, this is the first sourcebook and anthology to systematically collect and translate into English principal documents on contemporary Chinese art that are scattered in hard-to-find Chinese publications. This volume provides students and scholars in the Western world with invaluable access to firsthand textual materials for studying and researching contemporary Chinese art. . . . Essential.” — T. Li, Choice
“Perhaps the most useful guide to China’s multilayered modern art worlds can be found in the careful source book Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents by the University of Chicago professor and curator Wu Hung. In this detailed synopsis and catalog Wu succeeds in creating a broad series of definitions we can use to bring order to our own thoughts and to any recent Chinese works we may encounter.” — Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books
“Recognized as one of the foremost authorities in both ancient and contemporary Chinese art, Wu Hung has served as a consultant on some of the most highly acclaimed exhibitions of current Chinese art to tour the United States.” — Garrett Holg, Chicago Sun-Times
“Respected on both sides of the Pacific . . . [Wu Hung] has helped introduce Chinese avant-garde art to the West.” — Erik Eckholm, New York Times
“Chinese contemporary art is the darling of the international art market today, but two decades ago who would have imagined this sudden phenomenon? And, what were the participants thinking? This indispensable reader shows us through selected writings from 1979 to 2000 by many of those who made it happen: the artists, the critics and theorists, the curators, the art historians. Even the table of contents imposes a sense of order on this complex art movement, and what follows will enlighten anyone who studies, buys, or simply looks at the Chinese art of our time.” — Jerome Silbergeld, P.Y. & Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History; Director, Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University
“This volume is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Chinese art, one of the most fascinating art scenes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The documents are judiciously chosen, translated, and categorized, while an extensive historical chronicle and introductions provide accessible contextual information.” — David Joselit, Carnegie Professor, History of Art, Yale University
“Wu Hung’s ingeniously selected montage of texts and images gives the reader an invaluable overview of Chinese art between 1976 and 2006. It can be savored on its own, or taken as a primer to read alongside the more widely available analyses of recent Chinese history and politics.” — Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China