The “opening up” that began in the 1980s led to a more expansive view of artists’ role: now they would serve the people by boosting China’s national image and income. “Today,” says artist Liu Dahong, “we have a new cultural revolution.” The art market is booming and artists have unprecedented freedom to experiment and travel. And they serve people—and not only China’s people—in wildly different and distinctly individual ways. Many are rediscovering and revitalising the traditions that the Cultural Revolutionaries set out to destroy. Some struggle to separate history from ideology; others question the overlap—greater than ever in the digital age—between fact and fakery. Critiques of consumerism are common; a few artists express cautious criticism of corruption and censorship as well. But even those who focus on personal themes serve others by helping them see in new ways.

Serve the People surveys the best works of this new revolution, all as individual as their creators: from Yan Siwen’s old-fashioned love story and MadeIn’s glorious multicultural mash-up to Chili’s comic opera and Jin Feng’s 100-year history, printed from tank tyres and a broken statue of Mao.