China Dreams and the “Road to Revival”

Grand entranceway of the renovated National Museum of China. Photo by Kirk Denton, Nov. 2011. 

Late-1890s French political cartoon showing China divided among Britain, Germany, Russia, France and Japan.

Xi Jinping (surrounded by other Politburo members) giving his “China Dream” speech at the National Museum of China, Nov. 29, 2012. 

The “Founding of the People’s Republic” exhibit in Road to Revival. Photo by Kirk Denton, Nov. 2011. 

Mao-era modernization exhibit in Road to Revival. Photo by Kirk Denton, Nov. 2011. 

The “For the Great Revival of the Chinese People” sculpture (foreground) and the Contemporary Resplendence mural (background) at the National Museum of China. Photo by Kirk Denton, Nov. 2011. 

Sculpture of Confucius in the outdoor courtyard of the National Museum of China. Photo by Kirk Denton, Nov. 2011. 

Chinese civilians buried alive during the 1937 Nanking Massacre by the Japanese military.

Ruins of the "Western style" Xiyanglou complex in the Old Summer Palace, burnt down by Anglo-French forces.

Policeman guarding the southern entrance of the Forbidden City in Beijing, known as the Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace), dominated by a giant portrait of Mao Zedong.

“Learn from Uncle Lu Xun’s spirit of struggle” (Shanghai ertong huaxuan; 1975)

Deng Xiaoping was the leader of China from 1978 until his retirement in 1992.

Jiang Zemin served as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003.

Xi Jinping is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Hu Jintao was the paramount leader of China between 2002 and 2012.

Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976.

Contemporary photo of a Republican-era Shanghai alleyway (linong).

Former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong announcing the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1 1949.

Destroying Chinese war junks, painting by E. Duncan (1843).