Wesleyan University's College of East Asian Studies Gallery presents "Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China" through May 21, 2022

Middletown, Conn.—"Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China," an exhibition featuring a collection of propaganda posters donated by the family of Ruth and Victor Sidel and curated by faculty and students, is on display in the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center, located at 343 Washington Terrace on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut, through Saturday, May 21, 2022. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from Noon to 4pm. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public. Please see below for more information about the exhibition and COVID safety guidelines.

An opening reception for Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff was held on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 which included remarks in the College of East Asian Studies Seminar Room by former Collections Assistant Sam Smith ’20, Collections Assistant Christina Lu ’22, Assistant Professor of History and East Asian Studies Ying Jia Tan, and Mark Sidel, the son of Ruth and Victor Sidel, who originally donated the posters to Wesleyan.

"The exhibition offers a different perspective on the Cultural Revolution and early days of reform and opening," said Ying Jia Tan, Assistant Professor of History and East Asian Studies. "While the political persecutions carried out during the Cultural Revolution traumatized an entire generation of Chinese people and led to great suffering, many policies were put in place to improve the public health of China's urban and rural regions. 'The healthy body is the fundamental investment for the revolutionary cause,' (or shenti shi geming de benqian), a quote attributed to Mao, is still used in daily conversation, when people encourage each other to develop better health habits."

"The exhibition offers us an opportunity to reflect on how societies choose to confront disease," continued Tan. "The centerpiece of the exhibition, a poster about the eradication of snail fever, sums up the challenges that we face in the post COVID-19 world. The caption reads 'Thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses bid farewell to the God of Plague.' Just as Mao had mobilized the people to eradicate schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease carried by water snails that afflicted peasants in rice-growing regions in south China, China today is pouring massive resources to maintain its COVID-Zero policy. It took decades of concerted disease control (1950s to the present) before schistosomiasis ceased to be a public health program in 2015. What can we learn from China’s experience at confronting public health challenges? What are the costs and benefits of public health policies aimed at disease eradication? The posters remind us that one cannot simply wish away the 'God of Plague.' The posters have generated stimulating discussions during class visits and have engaged in a whole host of topics, such as state surveillance, gender equality, and social injustices resulting from uneven access to public health facilities."

"This exhibition would not have been possible without the work of two students over the last two years: Sam Smith ’20 and Christina Lu ’22," said Wendi Field Murray, Adjunct Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies and Archaeology, and Archaeology Collections Manager, who supervised the student preparation of this new donation of posters for the exhibition. "Both have worked tirelessly on processing and researching the donated posters so we could make them available for class viewing, research, and exhibits. For me, the preparation that went into the exhibit demonstrated that object collections are beautifully effective in connecting students to the past, providing a concrete point of departure for exploring abstract concepts (like 'revolution' or 'health'), and helping them to use material culture to critically reflect on the present. Through their collections work, Sam and Christina both learned how to 'read' three-dimensional objects, to practice good stewardship of cultural objects (even those that embody difficult histories), and to tease out an object’s capacity to tell stories. The exhibition gives the public the opportunity to see those stories in full color, alongside the products of these students’ work - translations, cataloging, and research."

About the Exhibition

How did the government of the People’s Republic of China mobilize its people to implement public health campaigns and improve the health of hundreds of millions of people? The College of East Asian Studies presents an exhibition featuring a collection of propaganda posters donated by the family of Ruth and Victor Sidel. During their travels to China, the Sidels acquired more than 55 posters, most of which illustrated the underlying principles that governed Chinese public health policy during tumultuous years of revolution. ​This exhibition, curated by faculty and students, showcases common themes in the posters that contribute to a larger narrative on modern health practices in China. Additional contributors include Kevin and Mark Sidel, sons of Ruth and Victor Sidel, who supported the development of the exhibition and a forthcoming exhibition catalogue.

Co-sponsored by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life; the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program; the Fries Center for Global Studies; the Department of Government; the History Department; the Science in Society Program and Black Box Labs; and the Wesleyan University Library.

A movement workshop for Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff, "Yangge Dance and Politics in China," took place on Friday, March 4, 2022 in the College of East Asian Studies Seminar Room with Ellen Gerdes ’05. Participants learned basic Yangge (Chinese folk dance) movement with stepping patterns, group lead-follow dynamics, and fan skills. Yangge folk dance forms were promoted during the founding of the Communist Party of China to garner support, and now are practiced as part of the guangchangwu (plaza dance) phenomenon in public spaces. Amateur guangchangwu dancers gather together to socialize and stay healthy through exercise. At the same time, these dancers create autonomy from the Chinese state by making choices about what they dance and how they compete. Ellen Gerdes ’05 majored in Dance at Wesleyan. She currently teaches graduate courses in the Dance Department at Temple University. Her scholarship focuses on intersections of dance and politics in the People's Republic of China and Sinophone locations (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States). She holds an Ed.M. in Dance from Temple University, and a Ph.D. in culture and performance from U.C.L.A. The workshop was co-sponsored by Wesleyan's Dance Department, the College of East Asian Studies, and the Center for the Arts.

The College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center is curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts and Adjunct Instructor in Art Benjamin Chaffee and Exhibitions Manager Rosemary Lennox.

The last day the exhibition will be open is Saturday, May 21, 2022 during Wesleyan's Reunion and Commencement Weekend.

COVID Safety Guidelines

The general public is welcome to attend events at the Center for the Arts and to view exhibitions in both the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery and the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center. All patrons must adhere to and follow the University COVID-19 safety guidelines. Wesleyan requires all visitors to be fully vaccinated including booster shots. All visitors will need to provide proof of having been fully vaccinated. All patrons are required to wears masks while visiting indoor Center for the Arts exhibitions and during the entirety of any performance. By purchasing a ticket or making a reservation, patrons confirm that they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and will be able to provide proof of vaccination at the event. Due to current CDC age limits on vaccinations, individuals under the age of five will not be permitted at indoor events or in the galleries.