Shanghai Art Research Articles

Understanding the Guanxi Culture in Chinese Art Market: Okada Kosho and Shanghai Art World in the Late-nineteenth Century

Shanghai art market had developed a strong international trade system since China was forced to have her gate ajar in the late-nineteenth century. In 1873, a Nagasaki doctor Okada Kosho (1821-1903) travelled to Shanghai and Suzhou. Thanks to the development of stochastic models for the analysis of social networks in contemporary statistics, the structure of Okada’s guanxi (social connections) in Shanghai and Suzhou in the late nineteenth century can be represented by the model, which illustrated that Okada was connected with a few “bridges”, including the Japanese artist Yasuda Rozan, Japanese Consulate Shinagawa Tadamichi, an official dispatched at the end of 1860s to Shanghai, Kumashiro Encho, and the prominent art collector of the Guoyun Chamber, and Gu Cheng, all of whom helped Okada Kosho to explore the Shanghai and Suzhou art world. Through the bridging ties spanned by these individuals, Okada interacted closely with a particular cluster of Chinese artists, art collectors and art dealers. This proved that the Chinese art community heavily relied on social connections of the “bridges” in advertising itself and spreading its reputation. This paper first outlines the Shanghai art market in the late nineteenth century based on Okada Kosho’ s Diaries of Shanghai and Suzhou (1890). It then argues for the opportunity and limitation of building guanxi in the context of the Chinese art market. Finally, it suggests research approaches based on viewing the late-nineteenth-century Shanghai art market in this new way.

Freeport as a Hub in the Art Market: Shanghai Art Freeport

With the soaring interest in art as an alternative investment approach and an asset class, there has been a remarkable rise in the volume of artwork transactions globally. However, trading in the art market differs from the traditional financial market; the cost of taxes, logistics, storage, and other transaction services is enormous for collectors, stimulating the emergence of related businesses, such as warehousing, bonded exhibitions, and art financial services. As an exceptional area serving the offshore economy, art freeports have become an essential venue for art trading and a ‘one-stop-shop’ centre that converges all art market participants. This article critically analyses the current literature and conducts empirical research on Shanghai FTZ International Culture Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (FTZART). It can be concluded that the current research on art freeports is limited and excludes FTZART from those that specialise in storing artworks, overlooking its potential influence in the Asian market. The art freeport has distinctive features that differ from traditional freeport models, and the context, business model, and operations of FTZART match these characteristics. Therefore, as a hub in the art market, the global art freeport agenda should not overlook FTZART, and it is essential to complement this gap in knowledge.

The profile of HIV-1 drug resistance in Shanghai, China: a retrospective study from 2017 to 2021.

HIV-1 drug resistance is a huge challenge in the era of ART. To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of acquired HIV-1 drug resistance (ADR) in Shanghai, China. An epidemiological study was performed among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) receiving ART in Shanghai from January 2017 to December 2021. A total of 8669 PLWH were tested for drug resistance by genotypic resistance testing. Drug resistance mutations (DRMs) were identified using the Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database program. Ten HIV-1 subtypes/circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) were identified, mainly including CRF01_AE (46.8%), CRF07_BC (35.7%), B (6.4%), CRF55_01B (2.8%) and CRF08_BC (2.4%). The prevalence of ADR was 48% (389/811). Three NRTI-associated mutations (M184V/I/L, S68G/N/R and K65R/N) and four NNRTI-associated mutations (V179D/E/T/L, K103N/R/S/T, V106M/I/A and G190A/S/T/C/D/E/Q) were the most common DRMs. These DRMs caused high-level resistance to lamivudine, emtricitabine, efavirenz and nevirapine. The DRM profiles appeared to be significantly different among different subtypes. We revealed HIV-1 subtype characteristics and the DRM profile in Shanghai, which provide crucial guidance for clinical treatment and management of PLWH.

The influence of Shanghai Art societies on the development of fine arts in the early twentieth century

The object of the article is the artistic life of Shanghai at the beginning of the 20th century, in which the most attention is paid to the study of the activities of art societies in order to scientifically reconstruct the creative process of Shanghai of the last century. The topic of the research is the contribution of the artistic associations to the cultural life of the city. Their activities are aimed at introducing European painting techniques and modernist trends into the visual culture of the country. The article attaches particular importance to the unique character of the city, tolerant and open to experiments in the field of visual culture. The paper describes three vectors of art development through the activities of art societies: upholding the foundations of traditional Chinese painting, the active inclusion of the European visual language and the synthesis of these two seemingly mutually exclusive streams. Using the historical method, the author analyzes the activities of art societies that significantly influenced the formation of a new scenario for the development of the visual culture of Shanghai in the first third of the 20th century. Firstly, at the beginning of the last century, this metropolis became the largest economic and cultural center of China. Secondly, most of the local artists who joined public organizations received Western education. Thirdly, the activities of art societies have significantly enriched and expanded the creative possibilities of the masters, attracted the attention of the population to the fine arts, and modernized the painting traditions of China. The author of the article comprehends the influence of Russian artists on the cultural life of Shanghai, and also focuses on the emergence and development of "female" art in Chinese culture during the period under study. This research has not only theoretical value, but also practical significance, and allow to determine the scenario of the development of Chinese fine art at the present stage.

Rediscovering Shanghai modern: Chinese cosmopolitanism and the urban art scene, 1912–1948

AbstractRepublican Shanghai was a renowned art capital. This article is based on a large-scale digital mapping project of the residential locations of 1,349 Shanghai artists. We analysed the transformative spatial distribution patterns of artists in relation to the city's social and urban conditions, and developed an artists’ habitation approach to elucidating the issues of Republican-period Shanghai urban and art history from the perspective of Chinese cosmopolitanism. We mapped areas of high artist concentration and identified a higher percentage of artists residing in the concessions (compared with the Shanghai general population) and the incremental convergence of art clusters in the concessions. We argue that the concessions provided a favourable environment for cultural diversity and the ungovernable, elite spirit of the literati tradition. The mainstream Shanghai art practices, known as haipai, were modern, as they were rooted in the urban modernity of the concessions and embodied Chinese cosmopolitanism.

‘Mapping the Most Influential Art Districts in Shanghai (1912-1948) through Clustering Analysis’

This research proposes a new method to map and classify art clusters, combining multiple dimensions of spatial and social network analyses. This method innovatively blends a historic GIS approach, spatial statistics and qualitative data analysis, and experiments with the Republican-period of Shanghai art world, known as the golden age of art and culture in Shanghai. The outcome is the identification of 11 major art clusters in eight selected years with unique characteristics. It also uncovers a partially correlated yet dialectic relationship between social network dynamics and cluster transformation in Shanghai. These findings fill a knowledge gap in Chinese art history.

Longitudinal trajectory of the association between quality of life and depression among people living with HIV in China: a mixed effects model

ABSTRACT Although depression has been associated with low QOL, limited research has quantified the change of depression to improvement of QOL among naïve PLHIV using ART in Shanghai, China. This study examined the association between depression symptoms and QOL among Chinese PLWH in a six-month longitudinal study. Data were collected from 111 people living with HIV at baseline, 3rd month and 6th month after initiating ART, using the WHOQOL-HIV BREF and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and analyzed using a mixed effects model. QOL is improved after initiating ART, while the symptoms of depression did not decrease significantly. The depression symptoms were strong and negatively associated with QOL and all domains of QOL, and the strength of this association decreased over time in the six months follow-up. ART had different impacts on depression symptoms and QOL. Besides, depression symptoms were strong and negatively associated with QOL among PLHIV over time. Mental health practitioners and nurses should consider the ART and time factors when designed interventions to improve QOL by targeting depression symptoms. Interventions designed to improve QOL and depression symptoms should be developed targeting both ART and self-management among PLHIV.

The Discourse of Guohua in Wartime Shanghai

Abstract This article looks at artists’ engagement with artistic activities carried out in wartime Shanghai, with a particular focus on guohua (lit., ‘national painting’). Drawing on primary sources such as archival materials, diaries, paintings, magazines and newspapers, it explores the layered meanings attached to and social functions of guohua and the institutional structure of the Shanghai art world from the gudao (solitary island) period to the advent of full occupation from December 1941 onwards. As a symbol of Chinese elite culture, guohua continued to dominate the Shanghai art world with support from Wang Jingwei’s regime and the occupying Japanese, and was deemed the root of East Asian art and one of the crucial pillars of the East Asian renaissance in the discourse of the new order of East Asian art. Through closely examining the discourse of guohua in occupied Shanghai, this article advances our understanding of the production and consumption of art in wartime Shanghai by going beyond the paradigmatic binary of ‘collaboration’ and ‘resistance’.

An unfinished task: Viewing the legitimization of contemporary Chinese art from the Third Shanghai Biennale

The Shanghai Biennale, initiated in 1996, was launched by the Shanghai Art Museum under the background of the proliferation and expansion of the biennial/triennial exhibition system outside Europe and the United States in the last decade of the twentieth century. Based on the investigations of the themes and tasks of the First and Second Shanghai Biennales, this article focuses on the Third Shanghai Biennale opened in 2000, which has made remarkable breakthroughs in its curatorial strategy. By including international curators and artists in the exhibition, the Shanghai municipal government and the Shanghai Art Museum were committed to establishing an international profile of the Shanghai Biennale and further making it an integral part of its namesake city’s cultural branding in the era of globalization. Soon after the opening of the Shanghai Biennale, it was prevalently regarded as a significant landmark of legitimization in many discourses, which was hard fought for by Chinese practitioners after 1989. By analysing the background, curatorial concepts and impacts of the Third Shanghai Biennale and Fuck Off, this research deciphers the connotation of legitimization advocated by contemporary Chinese art circle, as well as the complex relationship with both conflict and cooperation between the official and unofficial arts. Did the task of legitimizing contemporary Chinese art fully accomplished? In this process, what sort of effects did China’s governmental manipulation have on the legitimization of contemporary Chinese art at home and its value output on the international arena? The above lines of inquiry offer a new perspective on contemporary Chinese art, especially with regard to further media experimentations, curatorial practice and value assessment in art practice after 2000.

The Evolution of Shanghai's Choral Culture in Terms of Interaction with the Traditions of European Musical Art

Relevance of study. There are considered the features of the development of Shanghai choral culture in historical retrospective. The choral performance of Shanghai is characterized as a separate musical infrastructure, for the successful development of which it is necessary to implement industries and activities that ensure the functioning of the entire system. Main Objective.The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the formation of Shanghai performing choral in terms of interaction with the traditions of European music.Methodology. In the process of research, a set of analytical methods was used. The main of them were the structural method (in understanding the system of choral art infrastructure in Shanghai), factual (collection and comparison of various information), archival and bibliographic (during the work with primary sources) and historical-typological method, that helped to summarize information on the history of choral art in Shanghai in the twentieth century.Results/Finding and Conclusions. It is revealed the evolutionary nature of the formation of the Shanghai choral infrastructure. It is determined the role of mental attitudes of the Shanghai population in the process of assimilation of the traditions performing music of other countries (including choral art). It is noted that the active period of the development of Shanghai choral art began in the 1920s. It was associated with mastering by Chinese musicians of the Western European traditions of choral singing. It was happening mainly in virtue of listening to and performing pieces by European composers. It is noted the importance of the Shanghai Music Conservatory in the process of professionalization and intensification of the Shanghai choral culture. The Europeanization of choral art took place under the influence of teachers who received a Western-style education. It was determined that the concert activity of choral groups, including from students of the conservatory, has become an important component of the infrastructure of Shanghai choral culture. The most productive period of Chinese choral music began in the last quarter of the twentieth century and was associated with the “openness policy” of the country. It is concluded that today Shanghai is considered one of the centres of choral art. More than 2,000 choirs are guides of Chinese traditional and Western European musical culture.

Independent spaces to the street: Participatory art in Shanghai

Abstract The culture of accelerated museum building and promotion of contemporary art in Shanghai has created a spill-over effect in the upsurge of independent art spaces and self-organized artistic projects on the streets. Yet, participatory art in China that directly engages the viewers has its own prescriptions for ‘publicness’ that does not readily conform to western concepts of site-specificity or the public sphere. By foregrounding cross-disciplinary methods and years of primary field work, this research is a dedicated and vigilant observation of how a new generation of artists are incorporating the community as an integral aspect of their practice to expand the discourse of contemporary art in Shanghai. This article sets the context by providing a brief art historical evaluation of art outside museums and institutions as they emerged in the West and in China. Then, three contemporary case studies in Shanghai are examined to contend that artistic producers who recognise the shifting identities and needs of the public are interrogating the value and potentiality of socially engaging art to expand the cultural literacy for members of its community.

Trends in baseline CD4 cell counts and risk factors for late antiretroviral therapy initiation among HIV-positive patients in Shanghai, a retrospective cross-sectional study

BackgroundsThere are few studies focus on the factors underlying the late initiation of ART in China. We analyzed the trends in the median CD4 cell counts among different patient groups over time and the risk factors for the late initiation of ART in Shanghai, China.MethodsA retrospective cross-sectional survey was made in the Department of Infectious Disease of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center which is a designated diagnosis and treatment center for HIV-positive patients in Shanghai during the period of January 1st, 2008--June 30th, 2014. Late ART initiation was defined as a CD4 cell count <200 cells/mm3 or having a clinical AIDS diagnosis prior to ART initiation. Trends in the median CD4 cell count at ART initiation and the proportion of late ART initiation by year were evaluated using Spearman’s correlations and Chi-squared methods, respectively. We used a logistic regression model to analyze the risk factors for late ART initiation. The related factors collected in the multivariate model were the patient’s age, gender, infection routes and marital status.ResultsA total of 3796 patients were analyzed in this study, with a median baseline CD4 cell count of 205 cells/mm3 [interquartile range: 75–287]. The median CD4 cell counts of patients initiating ART late increased from 76 cells/mm3 in 2008 to 103 cells/mm3 in 2014 (p < 0.001), and the proportion of late ART initiation decreased from 80% to 45% (p < 0.001). The risk factors for late ART initiation were male gender, heterosexual transmission and older age (>30 years) (p < 0.001).ConclusionsNotable improvements were made in the median CD4 cell count at ART initiation and the proportion of late ART initiation from 2008 to 2014. However, persons with high risk of HIV exposure who are male, older even heterosexual orientation should be given more opportunities to receive frequently screening, earlier diagnoses and timely treatment.

The Shanghai Art School: Relocating Chinese Art Teaching from The Private Studios To The Public Education System, 1913-1937

This article examines the role of modern art educational institutions that emerged in the early 20th century China in transforming Chinese artists and their art, by comparing the manner of art teaching and other artistic activities in the traditional literati master’s private studio and those found in the Shanghai Art School, an early and important art school in Republican China. The research draws upon a wide range of primary sources as well as secondary documents. It shows that when teaching in the public institution of the School, artists’ teaching techniques were enriched, and their teaching psychologies were restructured. This article finally contributes towards an improved understanding of “modern” artists and “modern” art in China.

Interviews and documentary sources in Chinese contemporary art research: Towards the critical use of polylogues

This article gives an account of the research methods and editing procedures used to inform the production of two recent books,Contemporary Art in Shanghai: Conversations with Seven Chinese Artistsand‘Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979-1989, focusing on issues related to the use of interviews and documentary sources in Chinese contemporary art research. As well as drawing attention to a range of contingent factors impinging on the reliability of interviews and documentary sources within the particular discursive contexts of China and to ways of mitigating their effects, it argues for the productive possibilities of the serial use of interviews in combination with other texts as critical polylogues.

The New Face of Censorship: State Control of the Visual Arts in Shanghai, 2008–2011.

ABSTRACTThis essay examines the factors that influence censorship of the visual arts within the PRC including the backgrounds of institutions/curators/artists, locations of exhibitions, dates of exhibitions in the ‘communist calendar’, media attention and political or sexual content of artworks. The article draws mainly on events in Shanghai during 2008–2011. It seeks to explain in detail the workings of the surveillance apparatus surrounding the showing of contemporary art in Shanghai and explores several strategies that have been employed to deal with censorship issues by curators and artists.

Selling the Artist: Advertising, Art, and Audience in Nineteenth-Century Shanghai

Art advertisements found in the classifieds section of the Shanghai newspaper Shenbao offer rich documentation of the nineteenth-century Shanghai art world's producers, products, and prices; they are also highly revealing of the changing relationship between artist and audience in the late Qing era. The examination of a selection of advertisements promoting works by artists ranging from the celebrated, such as Ren Bonian (1840–1895), to the completely obscure reveals how Shanghai artists positioned themselves in the marketplace, cultivated a public image, pitched their works, and negotiated their relationship with a large and anonymous urban audience.

Private Tutorial Art Schools in the Shanghai Market Economy

Drawing on school archives and other primary sources, this article looks at a category of art schools in early twentieth-century Shanghai that has long been ignored in modern Chinese art history studies, namely the early private tutorial art schools. It focuses on the early history of the Shanghai Art School ( Shanghai meizhuan ) as a typical case. It argues that, in contrast to government schools, which represented national ideals and were involved in “the Chinese response to Western influence,” the beginning of early private tutorial art schools was a product of new market demand for commercial art. In the 1910s, they were extensively involved in Shanghai's commercial art scene and in its mass culture. In this unique way, they contributed to the modernization of culture in China.

The Profits of Philanthropy: Relief Aid, Shenbao, and the Art World in Later Nineteenth-Century Shanghai

������ ��� Painting in Shanghai of the later nineteenth century occupies an uncertain place in the history of Chinese painting. Often referred to as the “Shanghai School,” artists active in the melting–pot of Shanghai from the 1860s onwards were not in fact part of any school nor were many from Shanghai; instead, they came from a broad spectrum of social backgrounds and worked in an equally wide range of styles and subjects. What many did share in common was their Shanghai sojourner status, created by the violent events of the Taiping Rebellion. Uprooted from their Jiangnan hometowns, many chose to flee to the relative safety and prosperity of the recently–established treaty port. Shanghai’s merchant population provided a ready market for their goods; it was the tastes of this clientele and the cosmopolitan stimulus of Shanghai itself that helped shape a body of works that were brash and dynamic, vibrant and sophisticated, and that favored popular and auspicious subjects. Art was undeniably a thriving business in Shanghai, and whether literati or professional, artists working in Shanghai were there to earn money. Their often forthright commercialism has proven to be a significant obstacle in the study and understanding of later Shanghai painting. Art historians have tended to avert their eyes from this aspect of Shanghai artistic production, usually preferring to anchor the period to its past by tracing its roots in and relationships with older art. 1 The prominent place economic issues hold in Shanghai art remains to be acknowledged: in a city that was commercial to the core, art world business practices played a crucial role in shaping the identity of the artist, transforming his clientele, his relationship to that clientele and to the public at My thanks to Jonathan Hay and especially Wu Pei–yi for sharing their erudition and support. I am also indebted to Rowan Corpus for moving things along. I am very grateful to the two anonymous Late Imperial China readers for their helpful comments and suggestions. 1 The bibliography on nineteenth–century Shanghai painting is vast and heterogeneous, yet there are few overviews of the period. Chou Ju–hsi and Claudia Brown, 1992, provide a sound introduction to artists and sources; for pictorial overviews, see Pan Shenliang, 1997, and Shan Guolin et al., 1991.