This richly illustrated book examines the changing significance of ruins
as vehicles for cultural memory in Chinese art and visual culture from
ancient times to the present. Leading scholar of Chinese art Wu Hung
shows how the story of ruins in China is different from but connected to
"ruin culture" in the West. He investigates indigenous Chinese concepts
of ruins and their visual manifestations, as well as the complex
historical interactions between China and the West since the eighteenth
century.
Analyzing a broad variety of traditional and contemporary visual
materials, including painting, architecture, photography, prints, and
cinema, Wu also embraces a wide variety of subjects--from indigenous
methods of recording damage and decay in ancient China, to realistic
images of architectural ruins in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
to the strong interest in urban ruins in contemporary China, as shown in
the many artworks that depict demolished houses and decaying industrial
sites. The result is an original interpretation of the development of
Chinese art, as well as a unique contribution to global art history.