Contemporary appropriation of Confucian aesthetics in China

In 2014, China’s leader Xi Jinping delivered his “Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art”, discussing the social function of art and its relation to morality. He encouraged artists to celebrate Party-sanctioned morality, cultural heritage, and nationalist sentiment. He used the term meihao to describe a “better life” in China, meaning a life that is aesthetically pleasing and morally ordered. He also related contemporary creativity to Chinese traditional culture to represent a firm foothold within cultural globalism. This presentation is to investigate what Xi has appropriated from the traditional Confucian aesthetics and to what extent his claim has manifested its spiritual dimension. The argumentation refers to traditional Confucian theories of music, poetry and literary writing to reveal the metaphysical fervors and social discourses within, and contrasts the morality claims of art in Xi’s speech, and examines his contemporary appropriation of the aesthetics tradition in the current context of China.

Join us as Prof Eva Kit Wah Man examines contemporary appropriation of Confucian aesthetics in conversation with Prof Kerry Brown, on 5 Nov, 6:30-7:30pm at King’s College London Strand campus.

This is an in-person event. Registration is required. Those without tickets will not be admitted.

Prof Eva Kit Wah Man is Chair Professor of Humanities at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan. She publishes widely in comparative aesthetics, comparative philosophy, woman studies, feminist philosophy, cultural studies, art and cultural criticism. She was a Fulbright scholar and conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley in 2004. She was named AMUW Endowed Woman Chair Professor of the 100th Anniversary of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in 2009. She is Kiriyama Professor of The Center for Asia and Pacific Studies at University of San Francisco in 2023. She contributes public services to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, M+ of Western Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong Museums Advisory Committee and other capacities.

Prof Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House, London, an adjunct of the Australia New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and the co-editor of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, run from the German Institute for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is the author of almost 20 books on modern Chinese politics, and has written for every major international news outlet, and been interviewed by every major news channel on issues relating to contemporary China.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or specific participatory requirements.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

King's College London, Strand, London, United Kingdom

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