(Sorry about the late posting. I had some issues with inserting images.)

The last couple weeks I have been in China on vacation. I will be writing about my trip on and off for the next couple weeks as I am able to sort out my notes.

A friend invited me to join her in accompanying her father as he returned to his hometown near Tianmu Lake to celebrate his 90th birthday. While we were in the area, we visited the site of a Buddhist temple complex being built nearby. With the support of the local and central government, the temple, surrounding access roads, dormitories and other buildings have been constructed very quickly.

My friend noted that the government was very happy to have the temple there because the head monk had fled to Taiwan during the Cultural Revolution but had agreed to return.  The fact that the temple will attract the monk’s predominantly Taiwanese followers probably factors well into the central government’s long term goals to remove relationship barriers with Taiwan. Apparently not long before we visited there was a large pilgrimage/gathering of about 40,000 people.

While we were there, my friend made a comment that China had made a mistake in rejecting its culture and alienating/persecuting the practitioners and scholars and now was paying a large price to get it back.

That comment got me thinking about about cultural policy in the United States and whether the country might be in a position at some time in the future of paying a high price to reclaim what it has rejected/neglected.

China’s 5000 years of history gets mentioned so often by Chinese that it is almost a meme. Except that it pre-dates memes, so I guess along with everything else, China also invented memes.

In that context of such a long history, it can seem horrifying that a country would decide it needed to essentially reject 5000 years of culture in order to advance. Granted, this is a gross simplification of a tumultuous time, but was encapsulated during the Cultural Revolution by the call to destroy the “Four Olds” – Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.

Actually, though it had never been done to such an extreme degree as the Cultural Revolution, destruction of literature and killing of scholars is  part of China’s 5000 years of history and culture. The very first emperor burned books he considered subversive and purported buried 460 scholars alive (the latter which may have been a bit of revisionist propaganda written 100 years later).

The Cultural Revolution sought to replace old art, culture and literature with proper, approved material that included everything from new songs, plays, names and architecture. However, 5000 years of culture doesn’t go quietly and easily. Just as every conqueror of China ended up being assimilated into the culture rather than importing their own, the country’s cultural heritage appears to be reasserting its presence and influence.

So contrast that with the United States. Instead of actively trying to destroy our own arts and culture, there seems to be more of an attitude of neglect. There is a sentiment that arts/literature/cultural careers aren’t worthwhile. There is a belief that the arts have no value in ones life. (Possibly attributable to the fact people don’t perceive themselves as having the ability to participate and create.)

We have probably all heard the idea that the opposite of love isn’t hate, but indifference. In this context, I wonder if the philosophical approach to arts in the US may ultimately prove more destructive than the active rejection that occurred in the Cultural Revolution. While it may have been dialectical and replete with propaganda, the Cultural Revolution at least recognized the need to continue to create works of art and literature.

Of course, it is often noted that there is no lack of literature, art and culture being created every day in the United States on social media channels, Hollywood, bedrooms and backyards. Just because it may not match the classical definition of art with which we are comfortable and accustomed and just because it is difficult to make a living practicing it doesn’t mean there aren’t more opportunities than ever to generate it.

Going back to my original question, does the current activity represent authentic expression of our culture or will we regret neglecting/rejecting things 40 years down the road and end up paying a high price to reclaim those things?

Is the Cultural Revolution idea that the old is not appropriate for the future any less of a utilitarian view of art than the expectation that arts organizations need to be self supporting?

A book could be written on the subject and not come to a satisfying conclusion so this blog post sure as heck isn’t going to resolve even a fraction of the factors and forces that need to be taken into consideration.

We so often compare the arts and culture in the US to Europe, it may be worthwhile to make an effort to ponder the same questions in relation to the longer history and culture of Asia.