EXHIBITION
“Women carry half the sky on their shoulders” This quote from Chairman Mao was conveyed in the 1970s by posters showing them smiling, looking towards a bright future. Where were they in reality as the opening to capitalism (“Getting rich is glorious!”) began to transform their country into an economic superpower ?
The 1949 Revolution freed Chinese women from the shackles of Confucian doctrine. “Bye, Bye!” the foster mothers working in the fields, taking care of their husbands, children and elderly in-laws? “Bye, Bye”, of course, to a certain extent. The grayness of the factories replaced the green countryside, but they continued to assume their family responsibilities. The family remains a fundamental value in China. But founding one is no longer a female priority anymore. A dramatic reality that strikes the country of the one-child policy .
The Chinese women of today claim their half of the sky! It was time.
It is this social fresco that the Royal Museum of Mariemont unfolds in the exhibition “La Chine au féminin. Une aventure moderne” (French). So “Feminine Chine A Modern Adventure.” Between wars and Revolution, it shows us the woman worker, fighter, bearer and model of values… in short, far stereotypes that fixed it at the end of the 19th century. The exhibition gives to discover in addition to authentic objects (dresses, jewels and pieces rarely exhibited) posters, photos, film extracts showing Chinese heroines pinned by literature and cinema.
Seven Belgian and French institutions have lent works that enrich this fascinating discovery of China in the feminine. And, a great first, it is at the Royal Museum of Mariemont that we will be able to discover documents exhibited for the first time: the collection of propaganda posters by Jasmine Sour.
Till October 22, 2022
Royal Museum of Mariemont
100 chaussée de Mariemont
7140 Morlanwez, Belgium
