Chinese society has seen phenomenal change in the last 30 years. Two of the most profound changes have been the rise of the individual in both public and private spheres and the consequent individualisation of Chinese society itself. Yet, despite China's recent dramatic entrance into global politics and economics, neither of these significant shifts has been fully analysed. China presents an alternative model of social transformation in the age of globalisation; therefore, its path to development may have particular implications for the developing world.The Individualization of Chinese Society reveals how individual agency has been on the rise since the 1970s and how this has affected everyday life and Chinese society more broadly. The book presents a wide range of detailed case studies focusing on the impact of economic policy, patterns of kinship, changes in marriage relations and the socio-economic position of women, the development of youth culture, the politics of consumerism, and shifting power relations in everyday life.Exploring the rise of the individual in both rural and urban settings, The Individualization of Chinese Society provides a detailed overview of this major social phenomenon and its wider implications.
Yunxiang Yan Books



Private Life under Socialism
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
For seven years in the 1970s, the author lived in a village in northeast China as a farmer. In 1989 he returned as an anthropologist to begin the span of 11 years' fieldwork that has resulted in this work - an account of family change and the transformation of private life in rural China. schovat popis
Down with Traitors
- 280 pages
- 10 hours of reading
Throughout the War of Resistance against Japan (1931-1945), the Chinese Nationalist government punished collaborators with harsh measures, labeling the enemies from within hanjian (literally, "traitors to the Han Chinese"). Trials of hanjian gained momentum during the postwar years, escalating the power struggle between Nationalists and Communists. Yun Xia examines the leaders of collaborationist regimes, who were perceived as threats to national security and public order, and other subgroups of hanjian--including economic, cultural, female, and Taiwanese hanjian. Built on previously unexamined code, edicts, and government correspondence, as well as accusation letters, petitions, newspapers, and popular literature, Down with Traitors reveals how the hanjian were punished in both legal and extralegal ways and how the anti-hanjian campaigns captured the national crisis, political struggle, roaring nationalism, and social tension of China's eventful decades from the 1930s through the 1950s.