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This edited book emerges from the observation that the current literatures on migration in China are constrained by a series of shortfalls, including a relative topical homogeneity centred on domestic labour migration; relatively narrowly conceived and institutionalist conceptions of migration and migrants, without adequate attention paid to the identities, agencies and everyday experiences of migrants; and finally a lack of engagement with theoretical models and paradigms in the broad discipline of migration studies. Assembling eight fine-grained research works engaging with a broad variety of migratory trajectories and experiences, this book addresses these shortfalls by: (1) investigating diverse forms of domestic and transnational migration in and to China; (2) problematising, rethinking and innovating well-established analytical tools and categories to move beyond their epistemological fixity and highlight their socially and dynamically constructed nature; and (3) underscoring the centrality of identity, subjectivity and everyday experiences, rather than mechanical causality between institutions and migration outcomes, to theoretical understandings of migration in China. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Sociology, Politics, Human Geography, Social Work and Urban Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Book Synopsis New Theoretical Dialogues on Migration in China by : Hong Zhu
Download or read book New Theoretical Dialogues on Migration in China written by Hong Zhu and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book emerges from the observation that the current literatures on migration in China are constrained by a series of shortfalls, including a relative topical homogeneity centred on domestic labour migration; relatively narrowly conceived and institutionalist conceptions of migration and migrants, without adequate attention paid to the identities, agencies and everyday experiences of migrants; and finally a lack of engagement with theoretical models and paradigms in the broad discipline of migration studies. Assembling eight fine-grained research works engaging with a broad variety of migratory trajectories and experiences, this book addresses these shortfalls by: (1) investigating diverse forms of domestic and transnational migration in and to China; (2) problematising, rethinking and innovating well-established analytical tools and categories to move beyond their epistemological fixity and highlight their socially and dynamically constructed nature; and (3) underscoring the centrality of identity, subjectivity and everyday experiences, rather than mechanical causality between institutions and migration outcomes, to theoretical understandings of migration in China. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Sociology, Politics, Human Geography, Social Work and Urban Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
This book will enlarge our grasp of global migration phenomena, offering insights into the fascinating, at times startling, realities of human migration in Asia. The chapters presented in this volume offer variety in not only theme but in approach to migration in Southeast and East Asia. Particularly welcome for a volume on migration studies, a discipline that has long been dominated by economists, sociologists, and geographers, are the chapters that approach the subject from an anthropological or ethnological perspective. These chapters bring to our attention details of the lives of migrants and their communities that are often lost in studies of migration statistics, the economic aspects of migration, or aspects of urban geography with which we have become more familiar. Some chapters are more theoretical in nature and herein lie some of the most important reasons for studying migration involving Asian countries: migration studies have, until relatively recently, developed their theoretical insights on the basis of European migration to North America. Asian migration offers new theoretical challenges to migration scholars; its dynamism is such that predictions of what is to come are not for the risk averse. The empirical studies here provide fascinating details of the strategies used by asylum seekers, of marriage migration, of the role of homeland languages in education, of the workings of ethnic entrepreneurs, of the media’s role in sustaining Chinese communities, and on the incentive structures that are helping to shape return flows to China. For readers who are from Asian countries, this book will illuminate the changes that are taking place in your region as a result of migration. For readers from developed and other societies, it will provide new insights into migration involving this understudied part of the world, an area that supplies the lion’s share of immigrants to developed economies, and the area whose rapid economic development will soon make it their greatest competition for migrants, especially the highly skilled.
Book Synopsis Migration in China and Asia by : Jijiao Zhang
Download or read book Migration in China and Asia written by Jijiao Zhang and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will enlarge our grasp of global migration phenomena, offering insights into the fascinating, at times startling, realities of human migration in Asia. The chapters presented in this volume offer variety in not only theme but in approach to migration in Southeast and East Asia. Particularly welcome for a volume on migration studies, a discipline that has long been dominated by economists, sociologists, and geographers, are the chapters that approach the subject from an anthropological or ethnological perspective. These chapters bring to our attention details of the lives of migrants and their communities that are often lost in studies of migration statistics, the economic aspects of migration, or aspects of urban geography with which we have become more familiar. Some chapters are more theoretical in nature and herein lie some of the most important reasons for studying migration involving Asian countries: migration studies have, until relatively recently, developed their theoretical insights on the basis of European migration to North America. Asian migration offers new theoretical challenges to migration scholars; its dynamism is such that predictions of what is to come are not for the risk averse. The empirical studies here provide fascinating details of the strategies used by asylum seekers, of marriage migration, of the role of homeland languages in education, of the workings of ethnic entrepreneurs, of the media’s role in sustaining Chinese communities, and on the incentive structures that are helping to shape return flows to China. For readers who are from Asian countries, this book will illuminate the changes that are taking place in your region as a result of migration. For readers from developed and other societies, it will provide new insights into migration involving this understudied part of the world, an area that supplies the lion’s share of immigrants to developed economies, and the area whose rapid economic development will soon make it their greatest competition for migrants, especially the highly skilled.
The recent unprecedented scale of Chinese migration has had far-reaching consequences. Within China, many villages have been drained of their young and most able workers, cities have been swamped by the ‘floating population’, and many rural migrants have been unable to integrate into urban society. Internationally, the Chinese have become increasingly more mobile. This Handbook provides a unique collection of new and original research on internal and international Chinese migration and its effects on the sense of belonging of migrants.
Book Synopsis Handbook of Chinese Migration by : Robyn R. Iredale
Download or read book Handbook of Chinese Migration written by Robyn R. Iredale and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-12-18 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent unprecedented scale of Chinese migration has had far-reaching consequences. Within China, many villages have been drained of their young and most able workers, cities have been swamped by the ‘floating population’, and many rural migrants have been unable to integrate into urban society. Internationally, the Chinese have become increasingly more mobile. This Handbook provides a unique collection of new and original research on internal and international Chinese migration and its effects on the sense of belonging of migrants.
- A sweeping study of Chinese migration past and present - Highlights the growing pride in their roots among ex-pat Chinese - Of vital interest to migration scholars, but also to the Chinese diaspora and to anyone interested in the issues of migration today A bachelor society, men brought in by the shipload to labour in harsh, slave-like conditions, often for decades. Aliens despised and feared by their hosts. The hope: to return home as rich men. This was the exceptional and ambivalent nature of much of Chinese migration in the 19th and early 20th centuries--quite different in nature to the permanent migration of families and individuals from Europe to the New World at that same time. But stay, some Chinese did; rough camps and shantytowns became more settled Chinatowns across the globe. Slavery is not dead. Thousands still leave China for the industrialized world, their freedom and livelihoods in pawn to people smugglers. But China has changed, transformed by decades of economic liberalization and rapid economic growth. Most migrants--both women and men--now leave China for a more promising future and often find ways to bring their families with them. Chinese migration is no longer exceptional, yet distinct. Today, China matters--all around the world. Both its insatiable demand for raw materials and its flood of exported manufactures affect everyone; distant corners of the Third World that once had never heard of China now have a thriving Chinese presence. And, suddenly, third-generation Chinese who once could not wait to escape their Chinatown now proudly proclaim their ethnic Chinese identity. Because it opens a new approach to the study of recent Chinese migration, this volume will be of vital interest in the field of both general and Chinese migration studies. But, bringing to life as it does the momentous changes sweeping the Chinese world in all parts of the globe, it will also attract a far wider readership.
Book Synopsis Beyond Chinatown by : Mette Thunø
Download or read book Beyond Chinatown written by Mette Thunø and published by NIAS Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: - A sweeping study of Chinese migration past and present - Highlights the growing pride in their roots among ex-pat Chinese - Of vital interest to migration scholars, but also to the Chinese diaspora and to anyone interested in the issues of migration today A bachelor society, men brought in by the shipload to labour in harsh, slave-like conditions, often for decades. Aliens despised and feared by their hosts. The hope: to return home as rich men. This was the exceptional and ambivalent nature of much of Chinese migration in the 19th and early 20th centuries--quite different in nature to the permanent migration of families and individuals from Europe to the New World at that same time. But stay, some Chinese did; rough camps and shantytowns became more settled Chinatowns across the globe. Slavery is not dead. Thousands still leave China for the industrialized world, their freedom and livelihoods in pawn to people smugglers. But China has changed, transformed by decades of economic liberalization and rapid economic growth. Most migrants--both women and men--now leave China for a more promising future and often find ways to bring their families with them. Chinese migration is no longer exceptional, yet distinct. Today, China matters--all around the world. Both its insatiable demand for raw materials and its flood of exported manufactures affect everyone; distant corners of the Third World that once had never heard of China now have a thriving Chinese presence. And, suddenly, third-generation Chinese who once could not wait to escape their Chinatown now proudly proclaim their ethnic Chinese identity. Because it opens a new approach to the study of recent Chinese migration, this volume will be of vital interest in the field of both general and Chinese migration studies. But, bringing to life as it does the momentous changes sweeping the Chinese world in all parts of the globe, it will also attract a far wider readership.
Comparing migration in China itself to Chinese migration to Europe, this book critically assesses received ideas, perceptions and theories concerning internal and international migration.Comparing migration in China itself to Chinese migration to Europe, this book critically assesses received ideas, perceptions and theories concerning internal and international migration. The book argues for the emergence of a Chinese world system in which internal and international mobility is a central and heterogenous feature. The book presents an unusually rich case study of migration and transnationalism of migrants from southern Zhejiang province in Chinese and European cities, studies of rural-urban migration in booming southern China, implementation of the birth control policy among migrants in Beijing, discrimination and stereotypisation of rural migrants in Shanghai, contract worker teams in Beijing, and forced urban-rural migration during the Cultural Revolution.
Book Synopsis Internal and International Migration by : Hein Mallee
Download or read book Internal and International Migration written by Hein Mallee and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparing migration in China itself to Chinese migration to Europe, this book critically assesses received ideas, perceptions and theories concerning internal and international migration.Comparing migration in China itself to Chinese migration to Europe, this book critically assesses received ideas, perceptions and theories concerning internal and international migration. The book argues for the emergence of a Chinese world system in which internal and international mobility is a central and heterogenous feature. The book presents an unusually rich case study of migration and transnationalism of migrants from southern Zhejiang province in Chinese and European cities, studies of rural-urban migration in booming southern China, implementation of the birth control policy among migrants in Beijing, discrimination and stereotypisation of rural migrants in Shanghai, contract worker teams in Beijing, and forced urban-rural migration during the Cultural Revolution.
This title was first published in 2003. Globalizing Chinese Migration is the first volume to deal comprehensively with the most recent wave of the migration from the People's Republic of China to Europe and Asia. By analyzing the Chinese state’s role in this migration, the authors dismiss as fiction the theory (sometimes advanced by hostile and racist foreign observers) that Chinese authorities are intent on using mass emigration as an expansionist tool. They go on to explain that migrants who might, in earlier times, have been reviled as traitors and absconders are today more likely to be viewed by sections of the Chinese state bureaucracy as patriots who remain part of China’s polity and economy and contribute to its standing overseas. Some senior officials, however, particularly diplomats, stress the harm done by new migrants, both to China’s economy (which loses assets as a result of the migrants’ entrepreneurial activities) and to its reputation in the world. An essential resource for academics and students alike, the volume presents important new data on aspects of Chinese migration largely neglected in the existing English-language literature. These include new forms of emigration from China (by students and by workers from the country’s north-eastern provinces) and emigration to destinations (including Russia, Southeast Asia, and Japan) normally unremarked by students of population movements.
Book Synopsis Globalizing Chinese Migration by : Pál Nyíri
Download or read book Globalizing Chinese Migration written by Pál Nyíri and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-26 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2003. Globalizing Chinese Migration is the first volume to deal comprehensively with the most recent wave of the migration from the People's Republic of China to Europe and Asia. By analyzing the Chinese state’s role in this migration, the authors dismiss as fiction the theory (sometimes advanced by hostile and racist foreign observers) that Chinese authorities are intent on using mass emigration as an expansionist tool. They go on to explain that migrants who might, in earlier times, have been reviled as traitors and absconders are today more likely to be viewed by sections of the Chinese state bureaucracy as patriots who remain part of China’s polity and economy and contribute to its standing overseas. Some senior officials, however, particularly diplomats, stress the harm done by new migrants, both to China’s economy (which loses assets as a result of the migrants’ entrepreneurial activities) and to its reputation in the world. An essential resource for academics and students alike, the volume presents important new data on aspects of Chinese migration largely neglected in the existing English-language literature. These include new forms of emigration from China (by students and by workers from the country’s north-eastern provinces) and emigration to destinations (including Russia, Southeast Asia, and Japan) normally unremarked by students of population movements.
With the rapid economic development of China and the overall shift in the global political economy, there is now the emergence of new Chinese on the move. These new Chinese migrants and diasporas are pioneers in the establishment of multiple homes in new geographical locations, the development of new (global and hybrid) Chinese identities, and the creation of new (political, economic and social) inspirations through their mobile lives. This book identifies and examines new forms and paths of Chinese migration since the 1980s. It provides updated trends of migration movements of the Chinese, including their emergent geographies. With chapters highlighting the diversities and complexities of these new waves of Chinese migration, this volume offers novel insights to enrich our understanding of Asian mobility in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The book will be of interest to academics examining migration, mobility, diaspora, Chinese identity, overseas Chinese studies and Asian diaspora studies.
Book Synopsis New Chinese Migrations by : Yuk Wah Chan
Download or read book New Chinese Migrations written by Yuk Wah Chan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the rapid economic development of China and the overall shift in the global political economy, there is now the emergence of new Chinese on the move. These new Chinese migrants and diasporas are pioneers in the establishment of multiple homes in new geographical locations, the development of new (global and hybrid) Chinese identities, and the creation of new (political, economic and social) inspirations through their mobile lives. This book identifies and examines new forms and paths of Chinese migration since the 1980s. It provides updated trends of migration movements of the Chinese, including their emergent geographies. With chapters highlighting the diversities and complexities of these new waves of Chinese migration, this volume offers novel insights to enrich our understanding of Asian mobility in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The book will be of interest to academics examining migration, mobility, diaspora, Chinese identity, overseas Chinese studies and Asian diaspora studies.
Fast-paced economic growth in Southeast Asia from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s brought increased attention to the overseas Chinese as an economically successful diaspora and their role in this economic growth. Events that followed, such as the transfer of Hong Kong and Macau to the People''s Republic of China, the election of a non-KMT government in Taiwan, the Asian economic crisis and the plight of overseas Chinese in Indonesia as a result, and the durability of the Singapore economy during this same crisis, have helped to sustain this attention. The study of the overseas Chinese has by now become a global enterprise, raising new theoretical problems and empirical challenges. New case studies of overseas Chinese, such as those on communities in North America, Cuba, India, and South Africa, continually unveil different perspectives. New kinds of transnational connectivities linking Chinese communities are also being identified. It is now possible to make broader generalizations of a Chinese diaspora, on a global basis. Further, the intensifying study of the overseas Chinese has stimulated renewed intellectual vigor in other areas of research. The transnational and transregional activities of overseas Chinese, for example, pose serious challenges to analytical concepts of regional divides such as that between East and Southeast Asia. Despite the increased attention, new data, and the changing theoretical paradigms, basic questions concerning the overseas Chinese remain. The papers in this volume seek to understand the overseas Chinese migrants not just in terms of the overall Chinese diaspora per se, but also local Chinese migrants adapting to local societies, in different national contexts. Contents: Chineseness and OC OverseasOCO Chinese Identifications and Identities of a Migrant Community: Five Southeast Asian Chinese Empire-Builders: Commonalities and Differences (J Mackie); Providers, Protectors, Guardians: Migration and Reconstruction of Masculinities (R Hibbins); Tasting the Night: Food, Ethnic Transaction, and the Pleasure of Chineseness in Malaysia (S-C Yao); Multiple Identities among the Returned Overseas Chinese in Hong Kong (J K Chin); Chinese or Western Education? Cultural Choices and Education: Chinese Education and Changing National and Cultural Identity among Overseas Chinese in Modern Japan: A Study of Chka Dbun Gakk [ Tongwen Chinese School] in Kobe (B W-M Ng); Chinese Education in Prewar Singapore: A Preliminary Analysis of Factors Affecting the Development of Chinese Vernacular Schools (T B Wee); Hokkien Immigrant Society and Modern Chinese Education in British Malaya (C H Yen); The Search for Modernity: The Chinese in Sabah and English Education (D T-K Wong); Fitting In: Social Integration in the Host Society: Language, Education, and Occupational Attainment of Foreign-Trained Chinese and Polish Professional Immigrants in Toronto, Canada (Z Li); Career and Family Factors in Intention for Permanent Settlement in Australia (S-E Khoo & A Mak); No Longer Migrants: Southern New Zealand Chinese in the Twentieth Century (N Pawakapan); Singapore Chinese Society in Transition: Reflections on the Cultural Implications of Modern Education (G K Lee). Readership: Academics and lay people who are interested in social studies of Chinese immigrant societies."
Book Synopsis Chinese Migrants Abroad by : Michael W. Charney
Download or read book Chinese Migrants Abroad written by Michael W. Charney and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2003 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fast-paced economic growth in Southeast Asia from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s brought increased attention to the overseas Chinese as an economically successful diaspora and their role in this economic growth. Events that followed, such as the transfer of Hong Kong and Macau to the People''s Republic of China, the election of a non-KMT government in Taiwan, the Asian economic crisis and the plight of overseas Chinese in Indonesia as a result, and the durability of the Singapore economy during this same crisis, have helped to sustain this attention. The study of the overseas Chinese has by now become a global enterprise, raising new theoretical problems and empirical challenges. New case studies of overseas Chinese, such as those on communities in North America, Cuba, India, and South Africa, continually unveil different perspectives. New kinds of transnational connectivities linking Chinese communities are also being identified. It is now possible to make broader generalizations of a Chinese diaspora, on a global basis. Further, the intensifying study of the overseas Chinese has stimulated renewed intellectual vigor in other areas of research. The transnational and transregional activities of overseas Chinese, for example, pose serious challenges to analytical concepts of regional divides such as that between East and Southeast Asia. Despite the increased attention, new data, and the changing theoretical paradigms, basic questions concerning the overseas Chinese remain. The papers in this volume seek to understand the overseas Chinese migrants not just in terms of the overall Chinese diaspora per se, but also local Chinese migrants adapting to local societies, in different national contexts. Contents: Chineseness and OC OverseasOCO Chinese Identifications and Identities of a Migrant Community: Five Southeast Asian Chinese Empire-Builders: Commonalities and Differences (J Mackie); Providers, Protectors, Guardians: Migration and Reconstruction of Masculinities (R Hibbins); Tasting the Night: Food, Ethnic Transaction, and the Pleasure of Chineseness in Malaysia (S-C Yao); Multiple Identities among the Returned Overseas Chinese in Hong Kong (J K Chin); Chinese or Western Education? Cultural Choices and Education: Chinese Education and Changing National and Cultural Identity among Overseas Chinese in Modern Japan: A Study of Chka Dbun Gakk [ Tongwen Chinese School] in Kobe (B W-M Ng); Chinese Education in Prewar Singapore: A Preliminary Analysis of Factors Affecting the Development of Chinese Vernacular Schools (T B Wee); Hokkien Immigrant Society and Modern Chinese Education in British Malaya (C H Yen); The Search for Modernity: The Chinese in Sabah and English Education (D T-K Wong); Fitting In: Social Integration in the Host Society: Language, Education, and Occupational Attainment of Foreign-Trained Chinese and Polish Professional Immigrants in Toronto, Canada (Z Li); Career and Family Factors in Intention for Permanent Settlement in Australia (S-E Khoo & A Mak); No Longer Migrants: Southern New Zealand Chinese in the Twentieth Century (N Pawakapan); Singapore Chinese Society in Transition: Reflections on the Cultural Implications of Modern Education (G K Lee). Readership: Academics and lay people who are interested in social studies of Chinese immigrant societies."
This title provides a much needed theoretical account of socio-cultural and identity issues surrounding middle-class Chinese migration in the changing context of migration policies and issues in Australia and other places. It also offers insights to students studying the current changing face of Chinese migration and provides relevant data to policy-makers, managers and practitioners in the field of immigration and multicultural affairs. This is a cutting edge volume that advances theories, methodologies and policy issues relating to contemporary middle-class Chinese migrants. It reports and discusses multidisciplinary research undertaken in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The book will not only serve as an introductory textbook for students of migration studies, social sciences and China studies, but also as a reference source for those who are interested in learning about recent Chinese migration in Asia and the Pacific.
Book Synopsis Experiences of Transnational Chinese Migrants in the Asia-Pacific by : David Fu-Keung Ip
Download or read book Experiences of Transnational Chinese Migrants in the Asia-Pacific written by David Fu-Keung Ip and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title provides a much needed theoretical account of socio-cultural and identity issues surrounding middle-class Chinese migration in the changing context of migration policies and issues in Australia and other places. It also offers insights to students studying the current changing face of Chinese migration and provides relevant data to policy-makers, managers and practitioners in the field of immigration and multicultural affairs. This is a cutting edge volume that advances theories, methodologies and policy issues relating to contemporary middle-class Chinese migrants. It reports and discusses multidisciplinary research undertaken in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The book will not only serve as an introductory textbook for students of migration studies, social sciences and China studies, but also as a reference source for those who are interested in learning about recent Chinese migration in Asia and the Pacific.
Having made documentary films screened at the most prestigious film festivals in the West, Chinese documentary filmmaker Wang Bing presents a unique case of independent filmmaking. In The Cinema of Wang Bing, Bruno Lessard examines the documentarian’s most important films, focusing on the two obsessions at the heart of his oeuvre—the legacy of Maoist China in the present and the transformation of labor since China’s entry into the market economy—and how the crucial figures of survivor and worker are represented on screen. Bruno Lessard argues that Wang Bing is a minjian (grassroots) intellectual whose films document the impact of Mao’s Great Leap Forward on Chinese collective memory and register the repercussions of China’s turn to neoliberalism on workers in the post-Reform era. Bringing together Chinese documentary studies and China studies, the author shows how Wang Bing’s practice reflects the minjian ethos when documenting the survivors of the Great Famine and those who have not benefitted from China’s neoliberal policies—from laid-off workers to migrant workers. The films discussed include some of Wang Bing’s most celebrated works such as West of the Tracks and Dead Souls, as well as neglected documentaries such as Coal Money and Bitter Money. “Bruno Lessard analyzes Wang Bing’s documentary masterpieces through the twin lens of history and labor. Incisively framing them as a sustained critical intervention in how China understands itself through the legacy of Maoism and Deng Xiaoping’s neoliberal reform project, The Cinema of Wang Bing makes me want to watch the films again.” —Chris Berry, King’s College London “Professor Lessard offers an original and comprehensive study of Wang Bing’s contribution to Chinese documentary as a mode of observation and reflection on some of the most crucial periods of China’s recent and present history . . . I certainly felt that reading the films through a sociohistorical approach produced a more vibrant understanding of Wang Bing’s oeuvre.” —Cecília Mello, University of São Paulo
Book Synopsis The Cinema of Wang Bing by : Bruno Lessard
Download or read book The Cinema of Wang Bing written by Bruno Lessard and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-02 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having made documentary films screened at the most prestigious film festivals in the West, Chinese documentary filmmaker Wang Bing presents a unique case of independent filmmaking. In The Cinema of Wang Bing, Bruno Lessard examines the documentarian’s most important films, focusing on the two obsessions at the heart of his oeuvre—the legacy of Maoist China in the present and the transformation of labor since China’s entry into the market economy—and how the crucial figures of survivor and worker are represented on screen. Bruno Lessard argues that Wang Bing is a minjian (grassroots) intellectual whose films document the impact of Mao’s Great Leap Forward on Chinese collective memory and register the repercussions of China’s turn to neoliberalism on workers in the post-Reform era. Bringing together Chinese documentary studies and China studies, the author shows how Wang Bing’s practice reflects the minjian ethos when documenting the survivors of the Great Famine and those who have not benefitted from China’s neoliberal policies—from laid-off workers to migrant workers. The films discussed include some of Wang Bing’s most celebrated works such as West of the Tracks and Dead Souls, as well as neglected documentaries such as Coal Money and Bitter Money. “Bruno Lessard analyzes Wang Bing’s documentary masterpieces through the twin lens of history and labor. Incisively framing them as a sustained critical intervention in how China understands itself through the legacy of Maoism and Deng Xiaoping’s neoliberal reform project, The Cinema of Wang Bing makes me want to watch the films again.” —Chris Berry, King’s College London “Professor Lessard offers an original and comprehensive study of Wang Bing’s contribution to Chinese documentary as a mode of observation and reflection on some of the most crucial periods of China’s recent and present history . . . I certainly felt that reading the films through a sociohistorical approach produced a more vibrant understanding of Wang Bing’s oeuvre.” —Cecília Mello, University of São Paulo
