China's Intrepid Muse

This illustrated study presents the life and work of China’s most famous living cartoonist and caricaturist, Ding Cong, who created under the name Xiao Ding. Ding was born in Shanghai in 1916 into a celebrated family in the arts, and lived through the tumultuous events that marked China’s history throughout the twentieth century. Widely acquainted with China’s artists and intellectuals, Ding suffered profoundly during the Anti-Rightist Movement beginning in 1957, as well as the later Cultural Revolution (1966-76). However, his great popularity stemmed from an intellectual and artistic integrity that made the inept and corrupt of both right and left fair game for his barbed art. Ding Cong’s vision is further enhanced by his additional and sometimes surpassing talents as a painter, woodblock artist, and caricaturist. Although he remains best known for his cartoon work, he ranks as one of China’s great artists of the twentieth century. In researching her book, Professor Ristaino spent many hours interviewing Ding Cong and his wife, Shen Jun, at their Beijing home. An exhibit of the artist’s work, including a video of some of the interview sessions, will be presented in October, 2009 at the George Mason University, College of Visual and Performing Arts; it will be held in conjunction with a symposium at the Library of Congress. This accompanying publication presents over 90 illustrations by the artist, with background text gleaned from this living witness to the events that inspired them. Together they offer a unique perspective on a fascinating and complex century of Chinese history.