China Off Center

by Blum, Susan Debra; Jensen, Lionel M.

• ISBN13: 9780824823351
• ISBN10: 0824823354
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr

Summary

China Off Center takes as its fundamental assumption that contemporary China can only be understood as a complex, decentralized place, where the view from above (Beijing) and from tourist buses is a skewed one. Instead of generalizing about China, it demonstrates that this diverse national terrain is better conceived as it is experienced by Chinese, as a set of many Chinas. To that end, this anthology of interpretive essays and ethnographic reports focuses on the everyday, the particular, the local, and the puzzling. Among the many topics covered are ethnic minorities, linguistic diversity, competing regional loyalties, sexuality, gender and work, the floating populations, rock and roll, qigong (spiritual and martial arts), and popular religion. Together with contextualizing introductions, the readings provide students with a compelling look at some little-known but significant aspects of China from the past decade; for those already familiar with China, they furnish an assortment of uncommon viewpoints in a single, convenient volume.

Author Biography

Susan D. Blum is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. Lionel M. Jensen is associate professor and chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

Foreword Sovereignty and Citizenship in a Decentered China	xiii
Prasenjit Duara
Preface	xvii
Susan D. Blum
Lionel M. Jensen
Acknowledgments	xxi
Introduction: Reconsidering the Middle Kingdom	1	(24)
Susan D. Blum
Lionel M. Jensen
Part I THE CENTER AND THE NONCENTER
How Much of China Is Ruled by Beijing?	25	(6)
Liu Binyan
Symbols of Southern Identity: Rivaling Unitary Nationalism	31	(14)
Edward Friedman
The Languages of China	45	(26)
S. Robert Ramsey
Part II GEOGRAPHIC MARGINS
Northwest
Chinese Turkestan: Xinjiang	71	(35)
A. Doak Barnett
Ethnoreligious Resurgence in a Northwestern Sufi Community	106	(25)
Dru C. Gladney
Southwest and the Diaspora
Town and Village Naxi Identities in the Lijiang Basin	131	(17)
Sydney D. White
Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity in Kunming	148	(19)
Susan D. Blum
The Construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese Identities	167	(18)
David Yen-Ho Wu
South and Southeast
The Secret History of the Hakkas: The Chinese Revolution as a Hakka Enterprise	185	(36)
Mary S. Erbaugh
Part III SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MARGINS
Sexuality
Sexual Behavior in Modern China	221	(17)
Dalin Liu
Man Lun Ng
Li Ping Zhou
Erwin J. Haeberle
The Cut Sleeve Revisited: A Contemporary Account of Male Homosexuality	238	(11)
Vincent E. Gil
Gender and Work
``The Moon Reflecting the Sunlight'': The Village Woman	249	(24)
James Tyson
Ann Tyson
Economic Margins
The Floating Population in the Cities: Markets, Migration, and the Prospects for Citizenship	273	(18)
Dorothy J. Solinger
Popular Culture: Rock and Roll
The Politics of Popular Music in Post-Tiananmen China	291	(20)
Andrew F. Jones
Spiritual Life
Magic, Science, and Qigong in Contemporary China	311	(12)
Eric Karchmer
The Spirits of Reform: The Power of Belief in Northern China	323	(18)
Diane Dorfman
Afterword Centers and Peripheries, Nation and World	341	(6)
Lionel M. Jensen
Notes	347	(18)
Bibliography	365	(22)
Contributors	387	(2)
Index	389