Article: Cai Guo-Qiang: illuminating the new China; a regular on the international biennial circuit, the New York-based Chinese artist recently dazzled Shanghai with installations, paintings, gunpowder "drawings" and a signature fire-work performance--thus sparking intense debate over contemporary cultural identity.

Cai Guo-Qiang's recent solo exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum was a homecoming of sorts. The artist, who left his native China in 1986 and has since become a familiar, widely lauded figure on the international circuit, has been back to China several times since his departure. However, this event marked a special honor--the first one-person show by a contemporary experimental artist to be mounted in a government-run art museum in China. It was accompanied by full fanfare: an opening replete with Chinese dignitaries and a daylong conference featuring an impressive array of national and international scholars. These tributes followed Cai's star treatment at the Shanghai ...

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