Chinese leader calls for art to serve socialism
Chinas president, Xi Jinping: Socialist culture and art is, in essence, the culture and art of the people. Photograph: Feng Li/Getty Images
Clifford Coonan in Beijing
The purpose of art is to serve socialism and the people, President Xi Jinping said this week, a stark reminder of Chinas undimmed Communist credentials, and must not bear the stench of money nor be slaves to the market.
Socialist culture and art is, in essence, the culture and art of the people, he told a news conference, adding that serving the people and the socialist cause were what the party demanded.
Art and culture were indispensable to the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, the president, whose wife Peng Liyuan is an opera singer, told an audience of authors, actors, scriptwriters and dancers in Beijing.
Mr Xis remarks chime with a Marxist ideological position; they echo those of Chinas founding father Mao Zedong, who said in 1942: There is, in fact, no such thing as art for arts sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from, or independent of, politics.
Chinas dramatic economic rise over recent years has been built on socialism with Chinese characteristics, but the country is officially a Marxist-Leninist state run by the Communist Party.
Follow-up commentary on the state news agency said, despite a huge output, the countrys strength in culture has yet to be fully released.
This weakness goes against Chinas ambition in realising the national revival and sharpening its global image, it said.
Mr Xi said it was vital that artists learn from the masses, that artists should create works that are both artistically outstanding and morally inspiring, to serve the people and socialism and best illustrate socialist core values.
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Chinese leader calls for art to serve socialism