Spectacle and the city : Chinese urbanities in popular culture and art / edited by Jeroen de Kloet and Lena Scheen.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kloet, Jeroen de, editor.

Scheen, Lena, editor.

Series:

Cities and cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

China--Social life and customs--20th century.

China.

Manners and customs.

Popular culture--China.

Popular culture.

Cities and towns--China--Growth.

Cities and towns.

Growth.

Physical Description:

261 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2013]

Summary:

China is urbanizing at an unprecedented speed. Filmmakers, artists, musicians, and writers all try to come to terms with these changes in the nature of their cities. How is the Chinese city-as-spectacle visualized and thus imagined and reimagined, if not contested, in art and popular culture? What possible escape routes from a completely commodified cityscape are there? How can you realign artistic expressions of the spectacle with everyday practices? The imaginations of the Chinese city in art and popular culture that this book explores are not merely mirroring or reflecting 'reality'. They are part and parcel of the construction, destruction and deconstruction of that reality. As such, these imaginations are enmeshed in the social, material and political realities that produce Chinese cityscapes. Spectacle and the City: Chinese Urbanities in Art and Popular Culture collects essays written by an interdisciplinary team of experts on Chinese cities, as well as leading cultural critics. Aiming to steer away from an exclusive focus on Mainland China, the adjective Chinese is given a cultural meaning and includes places like Singapore and Hong Kong. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Speed and Spectacle in Chinese Cities / Ackbar Abbas Abbas, Ackbar 21

2 Planned Demi-monde and its Aestheticisation in Singapore / Chua Beng Huat Huat, Chua Beng 27

3 Coming of Age in RMB City / Robin Visser Visser, Robin 43

4 The Architecture of Utopia: From Rem Koolhaas' Scale Models to RMB City / Yomi Braester Braester, Yomi 61

5 Imagining a Disappearing and Reappearing Chinese City / Jeroen de Kloet Kloet, Jeroen de 77

6 Tuning Urban China / Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau Groenewegen-Lau, Jeroen 97

7 The City's (Dis)appearance in Propaganda / Stefan Landsberger Landsberger, Stefan 121

8 Claiming the Past, Presenting the Present, Selling the Future: Imagining a New Beijing, Great Olympics / Gladys Pak Lei Chong Chong, Gladys Pak Lei 135

9 Shanghai in Film and Literature: The Danger of Nostalgia / Gregory Bracken Bracken, Gregory 157

10 Nostalgia, Place, and Making Peace with Modernity in East Asia / Margaret Hillenbrand Hillenbrand, Margaret 171

11 Femme Fatales and Male Narcissists: Shanghai Spectacle Narrated, Packaged and Sold / Lena Scheen Scheen, Lena 191

12 City Regeneration and Its Opposition / Ou Ning Ning, Ou 211

13 Law, Embodiment, and the Case of 'Harbourcide' / John Nguyet Erni Erni, John Nguyet 227.

Notes:

"This book is the outcome of a workshop hosted by the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis and the International Institute of Asian Studies"--P. 9.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789089644459

9089644458

OCLC:

867123478