Understanding Canton: Rethinking Popular Culture in the Republican Period

ISBN-13: 9780199282715 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 520 str.

Virgil Ho

Opis

This book broadens our understanding of the culture and society of Canton, the largest metroplois in South China, in the period between the two World Wars. It redresses serious misconceptions of the extent of damage inflicted by gambling, prostitution and opium consumption on the Cantonese society and its people. There is abundant evidence that common Cantonese were more receptive to a pro-Western mentality, despite their reputation for being jingoistic and anti-foreign. Tracing the rise of Cantonese opera as a major form of mass entertainment, and the emergence among the citizens a strong sense of pride in being a part of the modern city, help us learn more about the transformation of social and cultural life in this city in the modern era.

Recenzje

This is a very rich picture of the making of modern Canton, in all its complexity.

O autorze

Dr. Ho was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, before joining the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology where he now teaches modern Chinese history.