The China Project

301 2007 China overtakes Germany to become the world’s third largest economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), after the United States and Japan. Reports claim China has carried out a missile test in space. International concern is expressed over China’s military build-up. Wen Jiabao is the first Chinese leader to address the Japanese parliament. Both countries agree to settle differences over their shared history. The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art opens in Dashanzi art district, Beijing. Established by Guy and Myriam Ullens, it is one of the first non-profit contemporary art spaces in China. ‘The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China’ opens at Tate Liverpool, the first survey exhibition of contemporary Chinese art in a British museum. Ai Weiwei’s work Fairytale involves bringing 1001 Chinese people to Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany. The Zhang Huan survey exhibition ‘Altered States’ opens at the Asia Society, New York. The Shanghai contemporary art fair is launched in Shanghai. This timeline was compiled using the following sources: BBC News. Timeline: China. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ world/asia-pacific/1288392.stm>, viewed February 2009. Berghuis, Thomas. Performance Art in China . Timezone 8 Limited, Hong Kong, 2006. Chang Tsong-Zung (ed.). Paris-Pekin [exhibition catalogue]. Chinese Century Press, Paris, 2002. Chiu, Melissa and Zheng Shengtian. Art and China’s Revolution . Asia Society, New York, 2008. Gao Minglu (ed.). Fragmented Memory: The Chinese Avant-Garde in Exile [exhibition catalogue]. Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, 1993. Gao Minglu (ed.). Inside Out: New Chinese Art [exhibition catalogue]. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Asia Society Galleries and University of California Press, San Francisco, 1998. Watson, Scott and Zheng Shengtian. Art of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966–1976 [exhibition catalogue]. Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery and Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2002. 2008 Demonstrations and riots break out in Lhasa, Tibet. The Olympic torch relay generates heated clashes between pro-Tibet demonstrators and Chinese supporters around the world. A massive earthquake (magnitude 7.9) occurs in Sichuan Province. More than 80 000 people are recorded dead or missing and millions are left homeless. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the first Chinese- speaking Western leader, visits China. China hosts the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing. Direct air, sea and postal services are established between China and Taiwan. The global financial crisis has a major impact on the Chinese economy, dramatically slowing the rate of GDP growth. Contemporary artists feature prominently in the Beijing Olympics, with Ai Weiwei co-designing the ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium, and Cai Guo-Qiang designing the fireworks display. Filmmaker Zhang Yimou heads the creative team for the opening and closing ceremonies. The Asia Society, New York, presents ‘Art and China’s Revolution’, a survey of art produced in China from 1949 to 1979. British collector Charles Saatchi displays his contemporary Chinese collection in the exhibition ‘The Revolution Continues’ at the Saatchi Gallery, London. The Ai Weiwei survey exhibition ‘Under Construction’ opens at Campbelltown Arts Centre and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney. The retrospective exhibition ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe’ opens at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, later touring to Beijing and Bilbao.