Modernism in China: Too Early and Too Late

Abstract

Modernism came to China from Europe for the first time in early twentieth century. It was too early not because of anachronism but because of a logical problem. According to Jameson, modernism should follow realism. But China did not have realism before modernism’s entry. Modernism and realism entered into China almost at the same time. Modernism was defeated by realism not only due to its logical priority but also due to the revolutions in China. Modernism came to China again in 1980s. This time it was too late not because of a logical problem but because of anachronism. After initial enthusiasm for modernism, Chinese scholars recognized that they had a cause for embarrassment due to an anachronism—the rest of the world has been in the process of transformation of art into postmodernism and the contemporary. Modernism seems to remain ungraspable in China. We could say that there exists something like the condition of Beijing, i.e. to be always escaping determination and arriving both too early and too late.