Third Front Museums and Creative Parks in Urban Guizhou Guest Talk by Dr Paul Kendall, University of Westminster

Since its beginnings in the 1960s, the Third Front (三线) has undergone a major discursive transformation, from military secret under Mao Zedong and economic anachronism under Deng Xiaoping to industrial heritage under Xi Jinping. In the early twenty-first century, the commemoration of this massive military-industrial complex has included the appearance of numerous Third Front creative parks and museums. This talk explores how Third Front factories in urban Guizhou have been remade as sites of heritage and consumption but have also encountered problems in their attempts to attract visitors and businesses. It also examines the “Third Front spirit” (三线精神), as a model of selfless patriotic behaviour that is related to but not bound to the material heritage of Third Front factories.

This workshop is free to attend and open to all. Please reply to Fei Huang ([email protected]) to book your place by 4pm 27 February.

About the Speaker
Paul Kendall is a senior lecturer in Chinese cultural studies at the University of Westminster. His research interests include urban space, everyday life, memory, animation and translation. His most recent output, a co-edited special section in the China Quarterly, examined the contemporary afterlives of the Third Front, a huge Maoist military-industrial project.