China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The recent targeting of the British Museum's The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army by campaigners supporting the Tibetans against the Chinese government underlines the fact that museums are not neutral spaces.

Discussion about the relationship between culture and politics regularly comes to the fore when museums host exhibitions of artefacts from countries with a problematic track record in human rights, democracy or the environment.

And so to the Victoria and Albert Museum's (V&A) latest blockbuster, China Design Now, a showcase of contemporary Chinese culture that coincides with extensive media coverage of the crisis in Tibet and the Dalai Lama's accusation that China is inflicting cultural genocide there.

It will prove difficult for the V&A to argue that culture should be judged separately from politics. The museum's 2007-2012 Strategic Report makes a commitment to cultural diplomacy and highlights the need to work with government departments to achieve this.

The museum pledges to build on the work undertaken by the thinktank Demos and published in the pamphlet Cultural Diplomacy, which was launched at the V&A in 2007. The report discussed the value of culture in supporting the delivery of foreign policy objectives and highlighted the crucial role that cultural professionals and institutions could play in making this a reality.

Interestingly, Demos also drew attention to the significance that emerging powers such as China placed on the role of culture in international relations, commenting that culture was a useful tool for China in providing "an alternative focus" from more contentious political issues.

It is against this backdrop of the V&A's advocacy of "soft power", or the use of cultural exchange to develop ties with countries where complex political relations prevail, that China Design Now should be considered.

HSBC is the sole sponsor of the exhibition and the bank's group chairman, Stephen Green, also heads China Now, the marketing organisation spearheading an ambitious programme of Chinese cultural activities in the UK.

China Design Now is part of this cultural onslaught, which is aimed at maximising China's international standing in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. It is curated by Zhang Hongxing and Lauren Parker and explores the impact of rapid economic and social change on contemporary culture in China's major cities.

The exhibition's three sections focus on different cultural forms - Shenzhen: Frontier City on graphic design; Shanghai: Dream City on fashion and lifestyle products; and Beijing: Future City on architecture.

Rebranding China

The design by architectural practice Tonkin Liu evokes a sense of urban dynamism and towering skylines through the use of vertical installations, strong graphics, colour and lighting. The narrative constructs a journey for the visitor that operates on a number of levels.

There is the geographical journey from the south to the north of China; a chronological one from the 1980s pioneers of graphic design to the architects of a futuristic Beijing; and a temporal one through dusk in Shenzen, night in Shanghai to dawn in Beijing.

It is a journey that is both rewarding and unsettling. Throughout the exhibition there are many examples of interesting creative developments such as the posters of Wang Xu that use traditional Chinese symbolism in new ways, and the series of family photographs by Weng Peijun, which capture the aspirations of the rising middle class in China.

The emphasis on innovation and progress communicates an image of a country that is committed to transparency and change. Implicit within the show is the message that the dynamic and youthful values represented here reflect the new order of a rebranded China.

But the omission of political and social context raises concerns about the reproduction of Chinese state power in the guise of cultural diplomacy.

Display or propaganda?

The utopian vision of China reaches its climax and the journey ends with the visitor encountering the new Beijing at dawn. Arguably the most spectacular section, with imposing 3D models and sophisticated CAD renderings, an artillery of new technologies is deployed for maximum impact.

China Design Now culminates in a digital grand finale, with wrap-around screens that offer an "immersive" journey through the new Beijing, from the Forbidden City via the Central Business District to the Olympic Green. But the thrill of the fly-through fails to dispel the growing sense of unease generated by what appears to be a conflation of museum display and place-marketing propaganda.

The uncritical celebration of Chinese progress is surprising, particularly as the exhibition catalogue does not shy away from tackling difficult issues and directly engages with the conflicts and contradictions.

Of all the art forms, architecture is the one most closely associated with money and power and it is in the final section of China Design Now that these themes are clearly revealed.

The built environment frames the activities of everyday life and creates spaces for the symbolic display of public ritual and state ceremonies. Here, the new China is re-presented through images of its transformation, including the skyline of Beijing populated by iconic buildings designed by European architects.

But the modernist architecture is still utilised today in the same way that the grand buildings of Tiananmen Square once were. They are symbols that legitimise authority. As you watch the balloons digitally rise from Herzog & de Meuron's National Olympic Stadium, you can't help but feel the controlling hand of the state upon you.

Nicky Ryan is the principal lecturer in cultural and critical studies at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London