20世纪80年代初期,在逐渐复苏的中国画坛上出现了被称为“乡土现实主义”的油画。这一崭新风格的出现,除了中国油画中根深蒂固的现实主义传统需要有新的题材来延续之外,还有两个社会学上的原因。其一是80年代初期中国农村所发生的变化最先反映出经济改革的初步成效,它无疑寄托了中国民众对新时期国家改革政策所寄予的普遍希望,这自然会引起艺术家的直按关注,其二是当时中国的经济结构基本上还处于农业社会的状态,还没有出现80年代后期的市场化倾向, In the early 1980s, oil paintings called “local realism” appeared in the gradually recovering Chinese painting society. This new style of appearance, in addition to the deep-rooted realist traditions in Chinese oil painting, requires new themes to sustain, as well as two sociological reasons. First, the changes that took place in the rural areas of China in the early 1980s first reflected the initial results of the economic reforms. They undoubtedly pinned on the widespread hope of the Chinese public over the reform policies of the country in the new period. This naturally will arouse the attention of artists directly. The other is that at that time, China’s economic structure was basically still in an agricultural society and no market-oriented tendencies emerged in the late 1980s.