The Teahouse Under Socialism
The Decline and Renewal of Public Life in Chengdu, 1950-2000
Published on 15. June 2018
Book
Hardback
330 pages
978-1-5017-1548-8 (ISBN)
Description
To understand a city fully, writes Di Wang, we must observe its most basic units of social life. In The Teahouse under Socialism, Wang does just that, arguing that the teahouses of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, are some of the most important public spaces-perfect sites for examining the social and economic activities of everyday Chinese.
Wang looks at the transformation of these teahouses from private businesses to collective ownership and how state policy and the proprietors' response to it changed the overall economic and social structure of the city. He uses this transformation to illuminate broader trends in China's urban public life from 1950 through the end of the Cultural Revolution and into the post-Mao reform era. In doing so, The Teahouse under Socialism charts the fluctuations in fortune of this ancient cultural institution and analyzes how it survived, and even thrived, under bleak conditions.
Throughout, Wang asks such questions as: Why and how did state power intervene in the operation of small businesses? How was "socialist entertainment" established in a local society? How did the well-known waves of political contestation and struggle in China change Chengdu's teahouses and public life? In the end, Wang argues, the answers to such questions enhance our understanding of public life and political culture in the Communist state.
Wang looks at the transformation of these teahouses from private businesses to collective ownership and how state policy and the proprietors' response to it changed the overall economic and social structure of the city. He uses this transformation to illuminate broader trends in China's urban public life from 1950 through the end of the Cultural Revolution and into the post-Mao reform era. In doing so, The Teahouse under Socialism charts the fluctuations in fortune of this ancient cultural institution and analyzes how it survived, and even thrived, under bleak conditions.
Throughout, Wang asks such questions as: Why and how did state power intervene in the operation of small businesses? How was "socialist entertainment" established in a local society? How did the well-known waves of political contestation and struggle in China change Chengdu's teahouses and public life? In the end, Wang argues, the answers to such questions enhance our understanding of public life and political culture in the Communist state.
Reviews / Votes
Written in plain language, this book is easily accessible to non-professionals interested in Chinese urban culture. Meticulously researched, it also offers new material and insights to scholars in modern Chinese history, urban studies, cultural anthropology, and the sociology of leisure.(Journal of Interdisciplinary History) This book is clearly indispensable reading for anyone interested in modern Chinese social history, but given its accessibility and entertaining narrative style it will appeal to a general audience with concerns about the ways in which urban public space enhances everyday social and cultural experience.
(China Review International) The Teahouse Under Socialism is a captivating account of the way in which broad political changes are manifested in small urban spaces. [A] deeply-researched and trans-disciplinary study, [it] makes a valuable contribution not only to Chinese and global urban history but to our understanding of civil society and the public sphere in non-Western contexts.
(awards citation from Urban History Association, co-winner of Best Book in Non-North American History, 2017-2018) Anyone who studies or is interested in PRC history or modern Chinese society should not miss the chance to read this book.
(China Review) The Teahouse under Socialism is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand political and cultural change in Mao-era and post-Mao China.
(History Reviews of New Books)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ithaca
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Adult education
Product notice
Paper over boards
Illustrations
33 b&w halftones - 33 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
907 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5017-1548-8 (9781501715488)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2018
Cornell University Press
€25.49
Available for download
Person
Di Wang is Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of History, University of Macau. Among his many books are The Teahouse: Small Business, Everyday Culture, and Public Politics in Chengdu, 1900-1950 and Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870-1930.
Content
Introduction: Urban Political Transitions under Socialism
Part I. The Decline of Public Life, 1950-1976
1. The Demise of the Chengdu Teahouse Guild and the Fall of Small Business
2. State Control and the Rise of Socialist Entertainment
3. The Decline of Public Life under Mao's Rule
Part II. The Return of Public Life, 1977-2000
4. The Resurgence of Teahouses in the Reform Era
5. Urban Residents and Migrant Workers in Public Life
6. The Power of Mahjong
Conclusion: The State, the Teahouse, and the Public Sphere
Part I. The Decline of Public Life, 1950-1976
1. The Demise of the Chengdu Teahouse Guild and the Fall of Small Business
2. State Control and the Rise of Socialist Entertainment
3. The Decline of Public Life under Mao's Rule
Part II. The Return of Public Life, 1977-2000
4. The Resurgence of Teahouses in the Reform Era
5. Urban Residents and Migrant Workers in Public Life
6. The Power of Mahjong
Conclusion: The State, the Teahouse, and the Public Sphere