Combs, Nicole E.2017-08-162017-08-161999-06https://hdl.handle.net/1794/22587149 pagesThe reopening of China's economic and cultural doors in the 1970s provided the fundamental stage for development of a new art. The Chinese government focusing its efforts on economic development created policies that actually encouraged an awareness of global culture, tending to an environment conducive to artistic change. The 1980s supplied artists with an introduction to, or reintroduction to Western art theory and practice. Many artists continued to work in traditional style and technique, but others, under the influence of non-Chinese modern art, began infusing their works with a dramatically different feel inspired by the changing society. As a dialogue between global culture and China, Chinese contemporary artists are creating a discourse on the transformation taking place within their society over the past two decades. It is therefore important to look at their art as a "registering apparatus" and realize that its production stems from a reaction to the postmodern, global culture.enCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USThesis / Dissertation