Talk with Music Workers

On August 24, 1956, the conversation between Mao Zedong and the person in charge of the National Association of Music Workers was mainly about art forms and learning western art. It was an important document of Mao Zedong's cultural and artistic thought. It was included in the Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 7.

Mao Zedong has always been concerned about culture and art. In the mid-1950s, there was a debate about art form in China, and some dogmatism appeared. The first National Music Week was held. Taking this opportunity, Mao Zedong had a talk with the person in charge of the National Association of Music Workers.

The talk pointed out that the basic principles of art have something in common, but the forms of expression should be diversified, and there should be national forms and styles. "This is the law of nature and the law of Marxism."

It's very unlikely that "complete Westernization" will be accepted in art. It's better to take Chinese art as the basis and absorb some foreign things to create your own. Chinese and foreign things should be combined organically instead of applying foreign things. We should also oppose dogmatism in art, the content of socialism and the form of the nation, both in politics and in art.