Description
Book SynopsisLaurence Coderre explores the material culture of the Chinese Cultural Revolution to show how it paved the way for rampant commodification and consumption in contemporary China.
Trade Review“Laurence Coderre takes ordinary objects from everyday life to create extraordinary insights into the Mao era and China today. Her book is a true tour de force in contemporary Chinese studies.” -- Paul Clark, author of * Youth Culture in China: From Red Guards to Netizens *
“Laurence Coderre's serious engagement with theories of materiality rooted in deeply historicized practices, relations, and things provides a politically powerful rethinking of Marxism, culture, and materiality. This superb book will be of immense interest not only to scholars in Chinese studies and Asian studies, but also to those in cultural studies, visual and material culture, sound studies, comparative socialism, Cold War studies, and Marxism.” -- Tina Mai Chen, coeditor of * The Material of World History *
“
Newborn Socialist Things is a tour de force: fascinating, inspiring, and challenging. It is a must-read for anyone interested in socialist (and postsocialist) China, its material culture, and its materiality.” -- Jennifer Altehenger * Journal of Asian Studies *
“Brilliant and pathbreaking.” -- Michael Dutton * The China Quarterly *
"Well written and engaging. . . .
Newborn Socialist Things is an accomplished, meticulously researched, and fascinating book that will be of interest to scholars of all forms of cultural production in Mao-era China." -- Amy Jane Barnes * Pacific Affairs *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Sonic Imaginary 27
2. Selling Revolution 54
3. Productivist Display 82
4. Illuminating the Commodity Fetish 112
5. Remediating the Hero 139
6. The Model in the Mirror 170
Coda 190
Notes 197
Bibliography 221
Index 241
