International Conference on Postcolonial Studies: Trajectories and Transitions of (Post)Colonialism
organised by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research
on-line, 27 July 2025
Unsettled Pasts, Decolonial Futures: Decolonial Artistic Practices and the Afterlives of Semi-Colonialism in the Chinese Context
by Yining He
Abstract
Though China was never fully colonized, its semi-colonial past still shapes cultural, social, and political dynamics, raising questions about its place within postcolonial discourse. This paper examines how contemporary Chinese artists confront unresolved colonial legacies through decolonial artistic practices. Analyzing works from the past decade, it demonstrates how these interventions disrupt dominant historical narratives, recover marginalized memories, and interrogate China’s ambiguous position in global structures of coloniality.
Drawing on my PhD project, Confronting the Legacies of Colonialism: Decolonial Art Practices in Chinese Contemporary Art, this presentation explores how artists respond to enduring traces of colonialism. Situated within transnational decolonial debates, these works mobilize the spectral residues of semi-colonial trauma to critique persistent forms of coloniality and envision emancipatory futures. Their approaches challenge Eurocentric boundaries in postcolonial theory, which often overlook regions marked by partial or indirect colonial rule.
By foregrounding China’s distinct historical trajectory—neither wholly colonized nor impervious to imperial power—this research expands decolonial scholarship, underscoring that colonialism’s legacies transcend rigid geographic and temporal categories. It advocates for a more nuanced lens to address the plural, entangled afterlives of colonialism in contexts like China, where a semi-colonial past remains a site of cultural and political negotiation. Ultimately, the presentation highlights the urgency of integrating such liminal histories into global decolonial discourses, revealing how artistic practices can reimagine cultural identity, reclaim historical narratives, and foster new forms of social engagement in the wake of colonial legacies.
Keywords: Semi-colonialism, Decolonial Artistic Practices, Colonial Legacies