Chinese public art exhibitions between national identity and global image

This study examines how Chinese state museums have functioned as tools of cultural diplomacy and soft power, contributing to the construction and dissemination of an official narrative of national culture. Based on fieldwork and documentary analysis conducted between 2017 and 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the research focuses on exhibitions held at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing and the Power Station of Art (PSA) in Shanghai. It explores how the state promotes a form of “Chineseness” that strategically blends tradition and modernity within a double framework of “aesthetic of power” and “ideologically framed pluralism”. The analysis also extends to exhibitions organised by official institutions abroad, focussing specifically on two editions of the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, considered an emblematic example of the dialogue between exhibition strategies and China’s geopolitical positioning. Methodologically, this study employs qualitative research based on direct observations in museums and exhibitions, and analysis of museum-related documents such as curatorial statements, official press release, exhibition booklets, installation plans, and museums official websites. The findings reveal that while Chinese state museums and overseas exhibitions operate as vehicles of national cultural identity and international legitimacy, they also perform a culturally managed pluralism aligned with state narratives, exposing the tensions between ideological control, institutional modernisation, and the global circulation of contemporary Chinese art. This phenomenon, while analysed through Chinese case, is part of a broader global trend in which museums and exhibitions are increasingly mobilised as instruments of cultural diplomacy and national representation.