Published in conjunction with an ambitious multi-part exploration of Chinese culture in the Netherlands at The Groninger Museum and The Drents Museum in Assen, this volume considers art produced in China from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. This volume offers an art historical overview of the period, investigating a selection of works by 25 artists, including Huang Yong Ping, Ma Desheng, Luo Zhongli, Fang Lijun and Zhang Xiaogang. The publication also includes essays by journalist Eduardo Welsh, critic Francesca Dal Lago and curator Thomas Berghuis.

The death of Mao Zedong in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution and a relative increase in freedoms. This volume considers the art produced in China from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Art from this period is also known as avant-garde art and represents the beginnings of Chinese modern art. Knowledge of this avant-garde art is crucial to understanding the Chinese art world of today.
Shortly after Mao's death, art continued in part in the tradition of the official realism propagated by the state, though it became more socially engaged in its subject matter. After 1989, art was characterized by, among other things, a cynical attitude towards the political, economic and social systems that had emerged in the recent past. The palpable influence of the West, manifest in, for example, the pointed references to Western consumer society, is one component of the quest for a new Chinese identity.
This volume offers an art-historical overview of the period, investigating a selection of works by about 25 important artists, including Huang Yong Ping, Wang Kepin, Huan Rui, Ma Desheng, Luo Zhongli, Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang, Chen Danqing, Ai Xuan and He Duoling.