Streetlife China

ISBN-13: 9780521637190 / Angielski / Miękka / 1999 / 324 str.

Michael Dutton; William Kirby

Opis

This imaginative and incisive collection of pieces about life in contemporary China reveals, like a series of snapshots, a picture of the lives of ordinary people and the rules and rituals that govern their daily existence. Key themes surface: in particular, the emergence of a consumer culture driven by the market, and the way in which this intersects with the "floating population" of vagrants, prostitutes and liumang (hooligans). We see how, in turn, the official strategies of the state deal with this perceived social disorder and how the street responds. Underlying much of the discussion of contestation and transformation is the notion of human rights. Street life is shown to be a creative, dynamic, dissenting, deviant and often compliant aspect of the economic, political and cultural face of China. Articles, written by Chinese scholars and journalists, as well as reports, official documents and interviews, all engaging and interesting in themselves, range from discussions of the work unit system to architecture, murder rates, acupuncture and Mao fetishes. Some of the pieces are quirky: we learn about the Chinese version of "Monopoly," translated as Entrepreneur, the Chinese Ethnic Culture theme park and the increasing popularity of tatoos, for example. Readers are guided through the book by extensive commentary written by Michael Dutton. There will be no better introduction to the discourses of contemporary China, and few more entertaining, vivid and stimulating accounts of shifts in cultural life and politics.

Recenzje

'As always, there are two Chinas: the official and the unofficial. and while experts dissect every word that Beijing's bosses say, the ordinary Chinese on the street are doing what they've always done: going about the struggle of daily life, whether selling Mao badges or posters (regaining popularity), finding a life partner, or - for under one percent of the population, 'an awful lot of people' - resorting to crime. Dutton's text is mesmeric in weaving these diverse backstreet threads into mainstream visions.' The Weekend Australian

Spis treści

Streetlife Subalterns; Part I. Rights, Traditions, Daily Life and Deviance: 1. Rights and traditions; 2. Daily life in the work unit; 3. Defining 'outsiders', labelling Liumang; Part II. The 'Strategies' of Government and 'Tactics' of the Subaltern: 4. Analysis; 5. Government strategies I; 6. Government strategies II; 7. Subaltern tactics and government response; Part III. Naming, Framing, Marking: 8. Naming; 9. Framing; 10. Marking; Part IV. The Architecture of Life: 11. City space; 12. Social relations and the architecture of life; 13. Out of the work unit; 14. Changing landscapes, changing mentalities; Part V. Stories of the Fetish: 15. Chairman Mao; Part VI. Market Trainings.