Chinoiserie Gone Mad

It's a little like walking into a carnival sideshow. At the entrance to the new "What About China?" exhibit at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Feng Mengbo's life-size video game invites visitors to jump or stomp on a plastic mat; sensors underneath connect to a huge monitor where guns go off and gore flies. Beyond, a triumphal arch of polystyrene take-out food cartons leads to a vast gallery filled with dozens of movie and video screens, paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations and other objets d'art — a swirling kaleidoscope of color and sound.

Anticipating by six months France's 2004...