INTERVIEW: Yang Zhichao – Unveiling History Through the Ordinary
Yang Zhichao’s monumental installation, Chinese Bible (2009), exhibited at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation as part of Go East: The Gene & Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Collection, provides an intimate yet sweeping look at everyday life in Communist China. Comprising 3,000 found diaries spanning five decades, the work is both deeply personal and historically profound. We spoke with the Beijing-based artist about the origins of the piece, its themes, and its significance today.
What inspired you to create Chinese Bible?
Yang Zhichao: It began with my visits to second-hand markets in Beijing. I came across these discarded diaries and realised they contained fragments of lives that would otherwise be forgotten. Each diary holds personal histories—some mundane, others politically charged. Collectively, they tell a story of a time and place shaped by vast social and political changes. I wanted to preserve these fragments and give them a new voice in the present.
The diaries span the first five decades of Communist China. What struck you most about their content?
What struck me was their duality—on one hand, they are deeply personal, with notes on shopping lists, knitting patterns, and family anecdotes. On the other hand, they reflect the political climate of their time, with quotations from Chairman Mao, self-criticisms, and phrases from language textbooks. This intersection of the personal and the political paints a more nuanced picture of history than official accounts ever could.
You’ve described Chinese Bible as a “patchwork memory quilt.” Could you expand on this metaphor?
The diaries, when displayed together, form a cohesive yet fragmented whole, much like a quilt. Each diary is unique, but when arranged en masse, they create a tapestry of collective memory. The randomness of their content—ordinary lives stitched together—offers a perspective on history that feels authentic and deeply human.
The process of collecting, washing, and arranging the diaries must have been labor-intensive. How did this shape your relationship to the work?
It was an act of care and reverence. By washing the diaries and preparing them for display, I felt a sense of responsibility to these forgotten lives. It was as though I was giving them a second life, bringing them into dialogue with a contemporary audience.
How do you see Chinese Bible resonating with viewers today?
For many viewers, the diaries are a window into a time they might not have lived through or understood. They reveal the complexities of life during a politically charged era, but they also remind us of the universality of human experience—the desire to document, to remember, and to make sense of our lives.
The work is monumental in scale. How does its size contribute to its impact?
The scale is intentional. When you walk into the space and see 3,000 diaries displayed together, it’s overwhelming. The sheer number emphasizes the collective nature of memory and history. It’s not just about one person’s story—it’s about thousands of untold stories coming together.
How do you think your background as a performance artist informs Chinese Bible?
Performance is about presence, action, and time—all of which are embedded in Chinese Bible. My role in collecting and preparing the diaries was performative in its own way, a durational act of engagement with history. The installation itself invites viewers to perform their own act of discovery as they navigate the work.
What do you hope audiences take away from this installation?
I hope they leave with a deeper understanding of how history is lived and recorded—not just by governments or leaders, but by ordinary people. These diaries are relics of the everyday, yet they carry profound significance. They challenge us to reflect on the fragility of memory and the importance of preserving it.
Yang Zhichao: Chinese Bible
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney
Exhibition dates: 14 May – 1 August 2015
For more information, visit sherman-scaf.org.au.
