FENG SHANYUN
(b. 1949) Yanchuan, China

"Education" 1977
woodcut heightened by gouache varnished, 52 1/8" x 36 1/4"

Reforms in education were implemented to support the modernization of science and technology. Following the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, the new leadership began to promote the policy of “four modernizations:” agriculture, science and technology, industry, and the military. Education was no longer dominated by political slogans and ideological correctness, or “redness” as it was called. The return to traditional subjects placed the emphasis on developing expertise that would serve the modernization of the country.