EVENT DETAILS

Cultural Revolution for Dinner? History, Memory, and Nostalgia in the Marketplace

In China’s contemporary cultural marketplace, the Cultural Revolution is now being served up to satisfy customers’ palatal and
entertainment needs at the dining tables of restaurants. Interestingly enough, while one physical space such as a museum for the
Cultural Revolution, advocated by Ba Jin and many others, has yet to find a place to materialize in China’s political reality today,
Cultural Revolution restaurants have in recent years mushroomed, all with red, hot business guaranteed by honing and offering the
red, hot Cultural Revolution culture and experience. This presentation introduces the new Cultural Revolution restaurant
phenomenon and discusses the values, meanings, as well as problems in the history of the Cultural Revolution now commoditized as restaurant culture in China.

For additional information: bscruggs@uci.edu

Sponsored by The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures & The Center for Asian Studies