This catalogue was published in conjunction with ‘The First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art’ which was held in Beijing and Hong Kong in 1996-1997. It was an exhibition offering a selection of works that showed the point to which Chinese contemporary art has evolved and its aims were to examine certain issues in contemporary art in China, especially questions concerning the relationship between art and society and culture. Art criticism was another focus of the exhibition. Featured in the present catalogue are articles about the development and evolution of contemporary art in China in the 1990s. The two themes which are fundamental to these studies are: ‘The Humanistic Responsibility of Art in the Informative Age’ and ‘Existence and Environment – the Chinese Way’. Brief biographies of participating artists, and introduction to contributors are provided. With prefaces by Huang Zhuan and Chang Tsongzung.