Ｔｈｉｒｔｙ　Ｙｅａｒｓ　ｏｆ　Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　Ｃｏｎｔｅｍｐｏｒａｒｙ　Ａｒｔ.docVIP

Ｔｈｉｒｔｙ　Ｙｅａｒｓ　ｏｆ　Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　Ｃｏｎｔｅｍｐｏｒａｒｙ　Ａｒｔ 　　 　　IN 2007, Chinese artists held a number of retrospective exhibitions, such as the Retrospective Exhibition of the No Name Group (1979), the Exhibition of 1985 Avant-garde Fine Art, the Retrospective Exhibition of the Star Art Group of 30 Years Ago, and the Exhibition of the Qingdao Dream of Modern Artists in the 1980s. Thirty years ago, however, many of the works now openly displayed were exhibited unofficially, and some were even banned by the government. 　　Conventional wisdom holds that China’s contemporary art can be divided into four periods ?C the first being the post-“cultural revolution” period of 1976-1984, the second lasting from 1985 to 1989, the third from 1990 to 1999, and the fourth from 1999 to the present. 　　 　　Awakening 　　 　　The latter half of the 1970s is considered by many to be the most important period in modern Chinese history, culminating as it did with the end of the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976). Following that decade-long upheaval, China embarked on a policy of reform and engagement with the outside world, and set out to remedy the political errors of the past. China’s central authorities instituted the principle of “seeking truth from facts,” and the new approach provided Chinese society with rich opportunities for development. 　　 　　Artists were inspired to begin reflecting the realities of modern life, which required an unflinching observation of people’s ordinary lives. Yet, in the early 1980s, Chinese fine arts academies were still under the strict control of academic formalism, and the individuality of artists and the artistic depiction of individuality were discouraged. 　　At the same time, China’s reforms and growing accessibility allowed Western modern art to be introduced. In 1979, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) held the Exhibition of 19th Century French Rural Landscapes. In the five years that followed, a number of Western modernist painting exhibitions were held i