Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
China Modern: Designing Popular Culture 1910-1970
The Pacific Asia Museum presents an exhibition that demonstrates how political ideologies and cultural values are transmitted via everyday objects in China.
China Modern: Designing Popular Culture 1910-1970 demonstrates how political ideologies and cultural values are transmitted via everyday objects, with a selection of over 100 iconic pieces. The exhibition focuses on the creation of advertising images, along with commodities, and things made for the modern home in two main periods: 'Cosmopolitan Capitalism: Shanghai Under the Republic, 1910-1949' and 'A Revolution in Culture: Designing the People’s Republic, 1949-1970'.
Viewers will start at the late Qing Dynasty, when there were New Year woodblock prints in every household. From there, they will journey through the streets of Shanghai, the commercial/cultural center of the Republic Era, where western-style modernity was embraced by the elite and started to influence Chinese cinema, music, advertisements, fashion, and publishing.
Next, they will move on to the People's Republic of China and explore how the Communist Party used popular culture as a mean to spread the new ideology and consolidate power. Propaganda posters, plays, and operas were used to promote political campaigns, such as the “Hundred Flowers Campaign” or “The Long March” The campaigns peaked during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when the image of Chairman Mao could be found everywhere from the Politburo to everyday household items, such as teapots. This section will begin in a town square setting where political slogans and propaganda are mounted. Then, viewers will be invited into a household where day-to-day items, such as eating utensils, appliances, and toys, are displayed.
After learning about these two main periods in 20th century graphic design in China, the exhibition will invite viewers to consider the period from the end of the 1970s to the present. Designers have propelled the known popular vocabulary to a new height: the image of Chairman Mao is no longer used merely to promote political ideology but to promote products, and Shanghai modern beauties have been revived to sell teas, cosmetics, and fashions.
Guest Curator: Kalim Winata
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Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.