In this original exploration of the dynamic and potent interface between Chinese culture and politics, Richard Kraus examines the impact of the market on the once-comprehensive system of state patronage of the arts in the PRC. The author uses all genres of art to explore the changing nature of politics, seen through such phenomena as ideology, propaganda, censorship, and the relationship of artists to the state. Kraus makes three provocative arguments: First, the commercialization of China's cultural life has been intellectually liberating, but also poses serious economic challenges that artists are sometimes slow to master. Second, despite conventional wisdom in the West that China's economic reforms have not been followed by serious political reform, he shows that the shift from state patronage to a mixed system of private and public sponsorship is in fact a fundamental political change. Third, Western recognition of the reformation in China's cultural life has been obscured by a combination of ignorance, ideological barriers, and foreign policy rivalry. Cogent, witty, and deeply informed, this comprehensive overview of the Chinese arts scene will be an essential text for all observers of contemporary China.

"An excellent resource in graduate and postgraduate teaching." - School Of Oriental and Asian Studies

"The book is valuable for both researchers and students because its in-depth research and creative analysis provide an engaging understanding of the often murky workings of the Chinese party-state as it engages in economic reform. . . . Students of Chinese culture, society and politics will learn much from The Party and the Arty, as will a broader readership who is interested in the culture-politics dynamic and institutional reform." - China Quarterly

"This is a book that must be read by anyone who wants to know more about the dynamics of present-day artistic life in China." - China Review International, (Spring 2005)

"Readers of Richard Kraus's previous two books, Pianos and Politics in China: Middle Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music (1989) and Brushes with Power: Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy (1991), know that he is one of the few Western scholars able to comment knowledgeably on the interaction between politics and the arts in contemporary China. Well informed about the arts generally, his books combined dedicated research with lively prose. This latest book similarly will not disappoint. One especially attractive feature is its coverage of the visual and perfrming arts as well as fiction and poetry." - The China Journal