Chinese Dance: National Movements in a Revolutionary Age

This book documents and expands upon the exhibition “Chinese Dance: National Movements in a Revolutionary Age, 1945-1965,” which was on display at the Hatcher Library at the University of Michigan in the Spring of 2017. Emily Wilcox and Liangyu Fu co-curated this exhibition to showcase the Asia Library’s recently formed Chinese Dance Collection, which is currently the largest of its kind in North America. Drawing upon Wilcox’s expertise as a leading scholar of Chinese dance studies, the book contextualizes the University of Michigan Collection’s materials and offers an accessibly written, concise, and richly illustrated introduction to a foundational period of modern Chinese dance history. The book links dance to issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and class. It also details previously unknown stories of individual dancers and choreographers and explores relationships among dance, popular media, and global exchange.