Introduction: Postmodernism and China

This collection of discussions on postmodernism and China undertakes two tasks. The first task is to map out the terrain of what might be construed as postmodern in intellectual and creative activity, focusing for the most part on the People's Republic of China (PRC). The second task is to engage the question of whether postmodernity and postmodernism are relevant concepts for grasping the condition of contemporary Chinese societies, including but not restricted to the PRC. Postmodernism as a concept was introduced to Chinese intellectual circles in the mid-eighties, with the works of Fredric Jameson playing an important part in the Chinese appreciation of postmodernism (other important figures contributing to the Chinese appreciation of postmodernism were JOrgen Habermas, Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon, Jean-Frangois Lyotard, and William V. Spanos).1 Since then, there has been a proliferation of work