Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
With its bronze, intricate decorative elements, surely a Happy Meal in the Shang Dynasty couldn’t be on the value menu.
In Mai Dang Lao (McDonald’s), a hamburger box, fries container, fork, and knife are cast in bronze and adorned with traditional Chinese motifs like the taotie mask, typically featured on ancient ritual bronze vessels used in worship of the ancestors.
Here it is combined with the iconic logo of the fast-food giant, transforming the “Happy Meal” into a Shang-dynasty artifact. The Asian American artist Zhang Hongtu, a leader of the “Political Pop” movement in contemporary Chinese art, lives in Queens, New York, after emigrating from China in the 1980s. By creatively juxtaposing ancient China with contemporary America, and ritual art with consumer culture, Zhang whimsically critiques systems of power.
Explore more from our Arts of Asia and the Islamic World on the second floor of the Museum.
The Object Deep Dive series was made possible with support from the Freeman Foundation.
With its bronze, intricate decorative elements, surely a Happy Meal in the Shang Dynasty couldn’t be on the value menu.
In Mai Dang Lao (McDonald’s), a hamburger box, fries container, fork, and knife are cast in bronze and adorned with traditional Chinese motifs like the taotie mask, typically featured on ancient ritual bronze vessels used in worship of the ancestors.
Here it is combined with the iconic logo of the fast-food giant, transforming the “Happy Meal” into a Shang-dynasty artifact. The Asian American artist Zhang Hongtu, a leader of the “Political Pop” movement in contemporary Chinese art, lives in Queens, New York, after emigrating from China in the 1980s. By creatively juxtaposing ancient China with contemporary America, and ritual art with consumer culture, Zhang whimsically critiques systems of power.
Explore more from our Arts of Asia and the Islamic World on the second floor of the Museum.
The Object Deep Dive series was made possible with support from the Freeman Foundation.
