Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture: Tradition, Modernity, and Gl ...

Chapter 1

Regarding Tradition
as a Document

Wang Huangsheng

Individuals must confront cultural tradition in art history all the time—it is a circumstance that cannot be avoided, which is a constant reminder of its significance in relation to humanity. Indeed, tradition is connected with both the present and the future. But what is tradition? In what way does it exist, and what is our relationship with it? How should people perceive tradition and with what kind of attitude? The questioning and exploration of cultural tradition leads to a new kind of open interpretation of artistic tradition which, in turn, can be given new significance.

One point of view asserts that tradition can be regarded as a kind of document. This is a reasonable position and a productive academic approach for dealing with it. The following six points lay out the main arguments regarding tradition.

First, tradition is something created in the past which has already been made permanent in many ways. This permanence can be regarded as a