In the early twentieth century, China began to import and then to manufacture thousands of consumer goods. These commodities changed the life of millions of Chinese, but the influx of imports and the desires they created threatened many in China. Politicians worried about trade deficits and new consumer lifestyles. Intellectuals, inspired by Western political economy, feared the loss of national sovereignty. And manufacturers wondered how they could survive the flood of inexpensive imports. This book argues that the responses of these groups to the emerging consumer culture helped define and...
In the early twentieth century, China began to import and then to manufacture thousands of consumer goods. These commodities changed the life of milli...
Chinese people should consume Chinese products This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link consumption and nationalism by instilling a concept of China as a modern nation with its own national products. From fashions in clothing to food additives, from museums to department stores, from product fairs to advertising, this movement influenced all aspects of China's burgeoning consumer culture. Anti-imperialist boycotts, commemorations of national humiliations, exhibitions of Chinese products, the vilification of treasonous consumers, and...
Chinese people should consume Chinese products This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link con...
In this revelatory examination of the most overlooked force that is changing the face of China, the Oxford historian and scholar of modern Asia Karl Gerth shows that as the Chinese consumer goes, so goes the world. While Americans and Europeans have become increasingly worried about China's competition for manufacturing jobs and energy resources, they have overlooked an even bigger story: China's rapid development of an American-style consumer culture, which is revolutionizing the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese and has the potential to reshape the world.
This change is...
In this revelatory examination of the most overlooked force that is changing the face of China, the Oxford historian and scholar of modern Asia Kar...
