Deep Cross-Cultural Reconstruction Process in the Context of Cultural Potential: A Qualitative Study

Cross-cultural adaptation significantly impacts the development of individuals in different cultural environments. Because of art scholars’ intense cultural intervention, their cross-cultural process—cultural reconstruction—significantly differs from that of other groups. However, there is insufficient research on their process. In this study, 29 contemporary Chinese artists living in Germany were interviewed. Grounded theory was used to propose a new ladder theory. We found that the cross-cultural reconstruction process includes two sub-processes and seven ladder-like stages containing the “driver–strategy–outcome” logic. Arguably, the ladder model provides a stronger explanation for the mechanism of art scholars’ cross-cultural reconstruction process.