The Conformed Body: Contemporary Art in China.

The article reviews Jiang Jiehong's book *The Conformed Body: Contemporary Art in China*, which examines how Chinese contemporary art expresses and responds to state-imposed physical discipline and social conformity, a concept Jiang terms the "conformed body." The book traces the evolution of Chinese contemporary art from its post-socialist realism phase through its engagement with Maoist legacies and international postmodernism, focusing on local and corporeal forms of institutionalization and resistance. Key themes include the role of the danwei (work unit), symbolic emptiness in monumental art, social mimesis, and surveillance, with attention to how artists negotiate conformity and control in everyday life. Jiang also addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on bodily discipline and artistic practice, suggesting ongoing implications for art in a postdigitalized society.