Streetlife China (Cambridge Modern China Series) [Paperback]

Michael Dutton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0521637198 | ISBN-13: 978-0521637190

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I have never come across a reader as imaginatively conceived and stylishly executed as Streetlife China. It offers a remarkably thoughtful, unusual, accessible, sophisticated and rich guide to contemporary China. Dutton shows us official strategies and discourses in their subaltern mirror, and this subtle theoretical move enables him to include materials that articulate and complicate contemporary discourses. One comes away with an incredibly full picture of China's cultural politics, and a vivid sense of the multiple and layered meanings of reform in China." Gyan Prakash, Princeton University

"...underscore the unique qualities of Chinese culture..." Foreign Affairs

"...a worthwhile book...Streetlife China is potentially useful for teachers of modern China (history, society, politics, economics and gender) who wish to give their students a different taste of the vast Chinese banquet." Education About Asia

"...a worthwhile book that uncovers new ground in today's China. Let's hope that the present work is just a beginning. Streetlife China is potentially useful for teachers of modern China (history, society, politics, economics and gender) who wish to give their students a different taste of the vast Chinese banquet." Education About Asia

Book Description

This imaginative 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 how this intersects with the 'floating population'. Underlying much of the discussion of contestation and transformation is the notion of human rights. There will be no better introduction to the discourses of contemporary China, and few more entertaining and stimulating accounts of shifts in cultural life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (January 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521637198
• ISBN-13: 978-0521637190
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars China As Left Undefined By Most Academics, December 20, 2000

By 

Read Taylor - See all my reviews

This review is from: Streetlife China (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Paperback)

If you were in China and studied American history, you would never learn about slackers, pop music or be able to quote the movie the Princess Bride. Were you to then come to America, you would find yourself in an area whose history and political structure you understood, but in a society beyond what you had read and filled with people who can quote beer commercials you've never seen.

Fortunately for those outside China looking in, we have Dutton. Like Barme, Dutton looks at the stuff that most people miss: advertisements for STD cures on flyers in Beijing, new slang, fads that come and go without changing the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, but that slightly touch millions of lives in China. Without overstepping his bounds and claiming to have great insight in to the Chinese psyche based on these little facets of society, Dutton looks at the general attitudes on the street that he's gathered while in China. Apart from the propaganda bureau and the Public Security bureau (China's cops), no political actors pop up in his book. He quotes artists, triads and prostitutes for a look at China that lets students get a little of what they would have learned by living and slumming on the streets of Beijing.

This is not a great way to start understanding China, but is a fantastic addition to your bookshelf if you want to flesh out your academic learning with a bit of street-level detail.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Insight Into An Unseen World, February 12, 2003

By 

driverzhuang (Asia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Streetlife China (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Paperback)

This is possibly the most interesting book I have read in several years. Considering that the book, strictly speaking, is an academic study, this makes it all the more remarkable that Michael Dutton has created a highly readable account of a shadowy world within a world: China's "floating population". Weaving his own insights into carefully selected excerpts of translations of Chinese scholars, government documents, and personal interviews, Dutton creates a vision of China virtually ignored by the Western media.

Dutton correctly asserts at the beginning of the book that the dominant image of China in the Western mind is the infamous incident of the lone dissident facing off against a tank in Tiananmen Square. Dutton's insight is reinforced by numerous examples, such as Mike Wallace's ineffectual interview of Jiang Zemin, where he brings up this precise incident, clearly oblivious to far more interesting topics. (See ...C-SPAN "when they" aired the much more revealing unedited version of the interview). However, while the outside world only imagines China, the daily reality of living in China's large cities, such as Shanghai, brings one face-to-face with the reality of the floating population; and if one is up to it, face-to-face with their often dismal fate.

This is a remarkable and disturbing book, and a must-read for anyone seeking to understand contemporary China.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Book of erratic quality, October 17, 2007

By 

Michael R. Gallagher (Shenzhen, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Streetlife China (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Paperback)

I guess this goes with the territory of how this book was put together, but some of the essays are good and some are bad. Some of the essays written by the Chinese have good context, but others are devoid of a context for the foreign reader or are too reflexively pro/anti China. Some of the essays are quite informative while others (such as those on tattoos) are simply someone trying to be profound. The introductions to each section can be totally glossed over.

However, this is a good book that puts together various aspects of China that are not talked about much and done in a way that balances perspectives.