Is it globalization and open access to communication that is changing cultural stereotypes or is it the reverse: Such a question was raised by Marshal McLuhan in 1960 in his book Understanding Media. It's doubtful many people nowadays under the age of 25 know who McLuhan was, but his ideas are apt. Note this new twist on Chinese folk art that was featured at the Hunan Folk Art fair:
The world may be fearful of China because it is contributing to the scarcity of useable energy sources and fearful because of its trade policies, but within China, the individual is now acknowledged as a 'site' of being as in no other time in its history. One 'pioneer' in the social realm has been a scholar/artist who has made the study of the nude prominent. There have been previous attempts at defying public doctrine as this photo from 1937--Published in a Shanghai newspaper--attests.
