China Gold, an exhibition curated by Alona Kagen, features 25 artists who dare to explore the paradoxes that characterize contemporary Chinese society: phenomenal economic growth catalyzed by an exodus of rural populations leaving the countryside for cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing as they become megacities of the future. Drawing on an ancestral culture dating back thousands of years, the contemporary artists are heirs to this tradition as they attempt to translate the extraordinary sociological kaleidoscope of 21st-century China in their work. The wide use of mixed media material such as videos, photographs, film happenings and installations in an effort to grapple with China’s rapidly socio economic shifts while engaging with more traditional painting and sculpture techniques. The challenges facing contemporary Chinese art are vast: development of aesthetics in a rapidly changing world, expression of the collective and individual experiences generated by the modern world, and the introduction of themes that have been previously censored such as the representation of the nude or the image of the body. At the same time the artist simultaneously honors and recontextualizes the history and specificity of Chinese culture, such as calligraphy or silk painting.