Xu Bing’s (1955) 1st Class is a material artwork composed of 500,000 “1st Class” brand cigarettes attached to a carpet via adhesive (480x180in). This work was originally exhibited in 2011 as part of Xu Bing’s Tobacco Project 3 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. 1st Class was later exhibited from February 7th, 2020 to August 2nd, 2020, at the Smart Museum of Art on the campus of the University of Chicago. The SMART hosted the exhibition: The Allure of Matter: Material Art From China with Wrightwood 659. The Allure of Matter features 35 works from 21 Chinese artists and was curated by Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen, and Orianna Cacchinone. Digital photos of the work are available on the University of Chicago’s LUNA Library of Art platform. The work is an expansive combination of cigarettes slanted against one another. Its appearance in photographs often looks like a rug in the center of the exhibition spaces. However, given the expanse and height of the glued-together cigarettes, it also appears as an island in the middle of its exhibition space. The cigarettes are arranged vertically at an angle and none are perfectly perpendicular to the floor. Throughout the work, some of the cigarettes are inverted such that the recognizable orange ‘filter-side’ of the cigarette is opposite the floor. Each cigarette is in pristine condition. Together they are organized in a pattern that appears to represent the skin of a tiger on the floor. While the pattern of the cigarettes does not illustrate a direct relationship between humans and tobacco, Xu Bing’s context of the Tiger’s skin represents larger themes of destruction caused by cigarettes.

China is often considered one of the largest producers and consumers of tobacco in the world. Statista (by way of WHO and World Bank) reports that in the year that this artwork was exhibited, 26.7% of the adult population in China smoked. This figure only slightly decreased to 25.6% in 2020. Moreover, in 2019 around 35% of male deaths in China were tobacco related. Xu Bing certainly recognized this phenomenon when he created this artwork. On Xu Bing’s website, he claims:

The project originates from Xu’s residency at Duke University in 2000, where he took an interest in the history of the Duke family, who made much of their fortune manufacturing and marketing cigarettes in the late 19th century. During this residency, Xu learned about all aspects of tobacco production, from historical to contemporary, and began this series of works made of and about the tobacco trade. The artist took a particular interest in the introduction of American tobacco businesses in China in the late 19th century, and their lasting effect on his home country, both socially and economically. (xubing.com)

Xu’s interest in this topic spans multiple Tobacco Projects; Each using tobacco as a focused material for expression. The cigarettes displayed in the work, though produced in America, are a Chinese symbol due to their prevalence across the nation. In Chinese culture, despite increasing prohibitive legislation, cigarettes are a social custom and represent friendliness, strength, and brotherhood. However, cigarettes are now understood to be harmful unanimously, though the use of smoking tobacco has not decreased substantially in China.

Xu Bing intentionally uses identical cigarettes leaning against one another to represent a unified issue of tobacco smoking. Xu recognizes that the issue of tobacco smoking is widespread, not just isolated to a few people. The cigarettes are identical, representing cultural commonalities shared by the Chinese people. However, the effects of cigarettes are nondiscretionary. The negative effects of smoking tobacco share these properties with smokers. Additionally, the size and number of cigarettes in the work portray the vastness of smoking in China. Smoking is a national problem, rather than shared by only a few. China is one of the largest countries on the planet and has a comparable tobacco market. The “1st Class” cigarettes are also slanted, representing a structural balance between strength and weakness.

Similarly, those who smoke cigarettes share a structural culture problem. As the cigarettes rely on one another to not collapse, Chinese tobacco smokers rely on the momentum of the cigarette industry and supply. The cigarettes are bolstered by another hidden force: the carpet with adhesive. Whereas the gluing work is hidden from view, large tobacco companies lobby and advertise their cigarettes to maintain demand in China. Overall, the composition of the work reflects motifs of unity as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the materials and the tobacco industry.

The macro outline of a tiger’s pelt represents the Chinese symbolism of cigarettes on the population. The tiger is one of the 12 Chinese zodiacs and is notable in Chinese culture. It is often described as the king of all beasts, representing royalty and bravery. In other folk tales, the tiger provides divine judgment. There are similarities between these idyllic understandings of a tiger and the role of tobacco in the Chinese population. The cigarettes represent brotherhood and bravery. Men are more likely to smoke in China for this reason: there is a connection of masculine identity shared over a cigarette. This connection is a step toward Chinese patriotism. In many Cultural Revolution era posters, Mao smokes a cigarette. He is often seen smoking while happy and productive. Second, the tobacco industry has a firm hold on Chinese history and culture. This hold complements the historical and cultural significance of the zodiac animals.

The Chinese beautiful and expensive tiger skins were likely traded for premium consumer items from the West, such as cigarettes. This trade happened for centuries before it was finally banned with China’s joining the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1975. However, the illegal trading of tiger pelts remains prominent in China. Chinese tigers are endangered, which can represent the endangerment of the Chinese people due to the widespread problem of smoking. Secondly, as previously discussed in the statistics of tobacco usage in China, the nation is figuratively the king of tobacco production and consumption. No other country quite rivals the prominence of cigarette usage. Cigarettes are such a staple of the PRC that they are often a luxury due to their association with a relaxed state while smoking. This luxury of cigarettes is associated with the luxury of tiger skins as a commodity. However, cigarettes are much less inexpensive and are small luxuries. Together they create the luxury good of an intact tiger skin, dwarfing in size and value to the 500,000 cigarettes. Xu’s piece demonstrates the financial and cultural significance of cigarettes and smoking to Chinese Culture through the scale and beauty of the piece.

While a strong identity relates to the Chinese population and tobacco usage represented by the cigarettes in 1st Class, Xu Bing uses the image of a tiger pelt to represent a darker edge to the meaning of the work. As previously mentioned, cigarettes are a known carcinogen, leading to severe complications and death. It is a leading killer of Chinese men, in particular, which the tiger symbolizes. However, there is further meaning in addition to the tiger pelt associating dead Chinese men with what they are made of tobacco. There is an economic incentive to the tobacco trade. For the Chinese to afford their tobacco addiction, they must increase profitability. In this continuum, the Chinese have farmed and illegally killed tigers for their valuable pelts. At the time of the exhibition, there were only a few dozen wild tigers left in China, with most of them inhabiting regions close to the Chinese border with Russia. The Chinese nearly drove the wild tiger extinct in their country in part to afford everlasting cigarette consumption. The piece itself represents the slaughter of these tigers to fuel the tobacco industry and the significance of over-consumption and consumerism to Chinese society.

Although the above themes relate to Xu Bing’s native country of China, the works were exhibited in the US. The artwork ties the United States and China through the trade between their countries and cigarettes. In some respects, the work is Chinese as it was composed by a Chinese artist. He incorporates aspects of life in China–where tobacco usage is prominent–as a material for expression. However, the work is American through where it was birthed. The tobacco was grown in the United States, and the cigarettes were processed in American factories. Moreover, Xu Bing’s recognition and understanding of the problem of cigarettes matured during his time in the United States. As a professor at a University in the heart of tobacco country, he learned more about these issues from the perspective of a native Chinese. This manifestation of his ideas took place in America, establishing the work as American.

Xu Bing’s First Class part of Tobacco Project 3, is a material artwork of cigarettes arranged in a tiger skin pattern to connect Chinese themes of tobacco use and its trade relationship with the United States. While a professor at Duke University, Xu began researching the prevalent role of American cigarettes in Chinese culture. As a result of cigarette introduction, Chinese society has been changed by ubiquitous tobacco smoking and resulting illnesses. Additionally, to afford these luxury goods, China needed to trade other luxury goods such as tiger skins. This economic relationship provided for the near extinction of the Chinese tiger at the end of the 20th century, and its prevalence continues to the modern era. 1st Class is a combination of ideas curated by Xu Bing to represent the ties between the two nations, though the artwork is birthed in the United States and uses its materials.