Ethnic dance in Chinese painting of the second half of the 20th century in the context of the formation of the image of multinational new China

The article analyses the representation of ethnic dance in Chinese painting of the second half of the 20th century as a significant visual tool in the process of forming the image of multinational New China. The author considers the representation of ethnic dance in painting as a symbolic form of cultural communication that performs the functions of integration and dialogue between the center and periphery, tradition and modernity. The methodological basis of the study is M. Bakhtin᾿s concept of dialogue, supplemented by H. Bhabha᾿s theories of cultural hybrid, Y. Lotman᾿s semiotic model of culture and P. Ricoeur᾿s hermeneutical approaches. The study demonstrates that in the work of twentieth-century Chinese artists such as Ye Qianyu, A Lao, Huang Zhou and Chen Guangjian, ethnic dance acquires the status of a visual statement endowed with political-cultural significance. Through analyses of artistic techniques, iconography and stylistic strategies, the author reveals how painting transforms the ethnic into a universal symbol of national unity. The article shows that the depiction of dance in Chinese painting has become a mechanism of visual mythmaking that legitimizes cultural diversity as the basis of a coherent national identity.