Sport played a very important role during the Mao period. It was an instrument and expression of the new political reality, as were broadcast exercises. Both were forceful, regulated, and full of group slogans. They trained the public to have discipline and obedience……Ren’s “Broadcast Exercise” Series reflects two phenomenon of the new generation: One is the consciousness of “being cute” and the desires manifested from the body, another one is emphasizing the contradiction between the indulgence and regulation from the government during the Post-ideological period. The indulgence of the body (sensory) and entertainment consumption are the basis of the ideology of this generation.

-----Extracted from Zhu Qi “Sihong Ren: the culture characters of the ‘cute Mao’ and the period of ‘post-Mao’”