Irony, Cynicism and the Chinese State UnprecedentedsocialchangeinChinahasintensifiedthecontradictionsfaced by ordinary people in everyday life. They may find themselves drawing on a number of different moral frameworks, being caught between official and popular discourses, and encountering radically different representations of China’s past and its future. This volume deals with irony and cynicism in social life and local commu- nities in China, and specifically in relation to the state of the People’s Republic of China. It collects ethnographies of irony and cynicism in social action, written by a group of anthropologists who specialise in China. They use the lenses of irony and cynicism – broadly defined to include resignation, resistance, humour, ambiguity and dialogue – to look anew at the contra- dictions faced by the Chinese people and at popular responses to them. The various contributions are concernedwith both the interpretation ofintentions in everyday social action and discourse, and the broader theoretical con- sequences of such interpretations for an understanding of the Chinese state. Asastudyofironyand cynicism inmodernChinaandtheirimplicationon the social and political aspects of everyday life, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, Chinese culture and society and Chinese politics. Hans Steinmüller is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics, UK. He is the author of Communities of Complicity: Everyday Ethics in Rural China (2013). Susanne Brandtstädter is a China anthropologist and Chair of the Anthro- pology of Globalization at the University of Cologne, Germany. She is the authorof Falsificaciones,Derechos yProtestas (2015) andco-editorof Rights, Cultures, Subjects and Citizens (2013). Routledge Contemporary China Series 1 Nationalism, Democracy and 7 Globalization and the National Integration in China Chinese City Leong Liew and Wang Fulong Wu Shaoguang 8 The Politics of China’s 2 Hong Kong’s Tortuous Accession to the World Trade Democratization Organization A comparative analysis The dragon goes global Ming Sing Hui Feng 3 China’s Business Reforms 9 Narrating China Jia Pingwa and his Institutional challenges in a fictional world globalised economy Yiyan Wang Edited by Russell Smyth, On Kit Tam, Malcolm Warner and 10 Sex, Science and Morality Cherrie Zhu in China Joanne McMillan 4 Challenges for China’s Development 11 Politics in China An enterprise perspective Since 1949 Edited by David H. Brown and Legitimizing authoritarian rule Alasdair MacBean Robert Weatherley 5 New Crime in China 12 International Human Resource Public order and human rights Management in Chinese Ron Keith and Zhiqiu Lin Multinationals Jie Shen and Vincent Edwards 6 Non-Governmental Organizations in 13 Unemployment in China Contemporary China Economy, human resources Paving the way to and labour markets civil society? Edited by Grace Lee and Qiusha Ma Malcolm Warner 14 China and Africa 21 Paying for Progress Engagement and compromise Public finance, human welfare Ian Taylor and inequality in china Edited by Vivienne Shue and 15 Gender and Education Christine Wong in China Gender discourses and 22 China’s Foreign Trade Policy women’s schooling in the early The new constituencies twentieth century Edited by Ka Zeng Paul J. Bailey 23 Hong Kong, China Learning to belong to a nation 16 SARS Gordon Mathews, Tai-lok Lui, Reception and interpretation in and Eric Kit-wai Ma three Chinese cities Edited by Deborah Davis and 24 China Turns to Multilateralism Helen Siu Foreign policy and regional security 17 Human Security and the Edited by Guoguang Wu and Chinese State Helen Lansdowne Historical transformations and the modern quest for 25 Tourism and Tibetan Culture in sovereignty Transition Robert E. Bedeski A place called Shangrila Åshild Kolås 18 Gender and Work in Urban China 26 China’s Emerging Cities Women workers of the The making of new urbanism unluckygeneration Edited by Fulong Wu Liu Jieyu 27 China-US Relations 19 China’s State Transformed Enterprise Reform Perceptions and strategic From Marx to the market interactions John Hassard, Jackie Sheehan, Edited by Suisheng Zhao Meixiang Zhou, Jane Terpstra-Tong and 28 The Chinese Party-State in the Jonathan Morris 21st Century Adaptation and the reinvention 20 Cultural Heritage Management of legitimacy in China Edited by André Laliberté and Preserving the cities of the Marc Lanteigne Pearl River Delta Edited by Hilary du Cros and 29 Political Change in Macao Yok-shiu F. Lee Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo 30 China’s Energy Geopolitics 38 China, Xinjiang and The Shanghai Central Asia Cooperation Organization History, transition and and Central Asia crossborder interaction Thrassy N. Marketos into the 21st century Edited by Colin Mackerras 31 Regime Legitimacy in and Michael Clarke Contemporary China Institutional change and 39 Intellectual Property Rights stability in China Edited by Thomas Heberer Politics of piracy, trade and and Gunter Schubert protection Gordon Cheung 32 U.S.-China Relations China policyon Capitol Hill 40 Developing China Tao Xie Land, politics and social conditions 33 Chinese Kinship George C.S. Lin Contemporary anthropological perspectives 41 State and Society Responses Edited by Susanne to Social Welfare Needs Brandtstädter and Gonçalo in China D. Santos Serving the people Edited by Jonathan Schwartz 34 Politics and Government in and Shawn Shieh Hong Kong Crisis under Chinese 42 Gay and Lesbian Subculture in sovereignty Urban China Edited by Ming Sing Loretta Wing Wah Ho 35 Rethinking Chinese Popular 43 The Politics of Heritage Culture Tourism in China Cannibalizations of the canon Aview from Lijiang Edited by Carlos Rojas and Xiaobo Su and Peggy Teo Eileen Cheng-yin Chow 44 Suicide and Justice 36 Institutional Balancing in the AChinese perspective Asia Pacific Wu Fei Economic interdependence and China’s rise 45 Management Training and Kai He Development in China Educating managers in a 37 Rent Seeking in China globalized economy Edited by Tak-Wing Ngo and Edited by Malcolm Warner and Yongping Wu Keith Goodall 46 Patron–Client Politics and 55 China-Africa Development Elections in Hong Kong Relations Bruce Kam-kwan Kwong Edited by Christopher M. Dent 47 Chinese Family Business and 56 Neoliberalism and Culture in the Equal Inheritance System China and Hong Kong Unravelling the myth The countdown of time Victor Zheng Hai Ren 48 Reconciling State, Market and 57 China’s Higher Education Civil Society in China Reform and Internationalisation The long march towards Edited by Janette Ryan prosperity Paolo Urio 58 Law, Wealth and Power in China 49 Innovation in China Commercial law reforms in The Chinese software context industry Edited by John Garrick Shang-Ling Jui 59 ReligioninContemporaryChina 50 Mobility, Migration and the Revitalization and innovation Chinese Scientific Research Edited by Adam Yuet Chau System Koen Jonkers 60 Consumer-Citizens of China The role of foreign brands in 51 Chinese Film Stars the imagined future china Edited by Mary Farquhar and Kelly Tian and Lily Dong Yingjin Zhang 61 The Chinese Communist Party 52 Chinese Male Homosexualities and China’s Capitalist Memba, Tongzhi and Revolution Golden Boy The political impact of Travis S.K. Kong the market Lance L. P. Gore 53 Industrialisation and Rural Livelihoods in China 62 China’s Homeless Generation Agricultural processing Voices from the veterans of the in Sichuan Chinese civil war, 1940s–1990s Susanne Lingohr-Wolf Joshua Fan 54 Law, Policy and Practice on 63 In Search of China’s China’s Periphery Development Model Selective adaptation and Beyond the Beijing consensus institutional capacity EditedbyS.PhilipHsu,Suisheng Pitman B. Potter ZhaoandYu-ShanWu 64 Xinjiang and China’s Rise in 74 Poverty and Development Central Asia, 1949-2009 in China A history Alternative approaches to Michael E. Clarke poverty assessment Lu Caizhen 65 Trade Unions in China The challenge of labour unrest 75 International Governance and Tim Pringle Regimes AChinese perspective 66 China’s Changing Workplace Peter Kien-Hong Yu Dynamism, diversity and 76 HIV/AIDS in China - The disparity Economic and Social Edited by Peter Sheldon, Sun- Determinants ghoon Kim, Yiqiong Li and Dylan Sutherland and Malcolm Warner Jennifer Y. J. Hsu 67 Leisure and Power in Urban 77 Looking for Work in China Post-Socialist China Everyday life in a medium- Governance, active job sized Chinese city seekers and the new Chinese Unn Målfrid H. Rolandsen labor market Feng Xu 68 China, Oil and Global Politics Philip Andrews-Speed and 78 Sino-Latin American Relations Roland Dannreuther Edited by K.C. Fung and Alicia Garcia-Herrero 69 Education Reform in China Edited by Janette Ryan 79 Mao’s China and the Sino-Soviet Split 70 Social Policy and Migration Ideological dilemma in China Mingjiang Li Lida Fan 80 Law and Policy for China’s 71 China’s One Child Policy and Market Socialism Multiple Caregiving Edited by John Garrick Raising little Suns in Xiamen Esther C. L. Goh 81 China-Taiwan Relations in a Global Context 72 Politics and Markets in Taiwan’s foreign policy Rural China and relations Edited by Björn Alpermann Edited by C. X. George Wei 73 China’s New Underclass 82 The Chinese Transformation of Paid domestic labour Corporate Culture Xinying Hu Colin S.C. Hawes 83 Mapping Media in China 91 The Middle Class in Region, province, locality Neoliberal China Edited by Wanning Sun and Governing risk, life-building, Jenny Chio and themed spaces Hai Ren 84 China, the West and the Myth of New Public Management 92 The Chinese Corporatist State Neoliberalismanditsdiscontents Adaption,survivalandresistance Paolo Urio Edited by Jennifer Y.J. Hsu and Reza Hasmath 85 The Lahu Minority in 93 Law and Fair Work in China Southwest China Sean Cooney, Sarah Biddulph A response to ethnic and Ying Zhu marginalization on the frontier Jianxiong Ma 94 Guangdong and Chinese Diaspora 86 Social Capital and Institutional The changing landscape of Constraints Qiaoxiang A comparative analysis of Yow Cheun Hoe China, Taiwan and the US Joonmo Son 95 The Shanghai Alleyway House Avanishing urbanvernacular 87 Southern China Gregory Bracken Industry, development and industrial policy 96 Chinese Globalization MarcoR.DiTommaso,Lauretta A profile of people-based RubiniandElisaBarbieri global connections in China Jiaming Sun and 88 State-Market Interactions in Scott Lancaster China’s Reform Era Local state competition and 97 Disruptive Innovation in global market building in the Chinese and Indian Businesses tobacco industry The strategic implications Junmin Wang for local entrepreneurs and global incumbents 89 The Reception and Rendition of Peter Ping Li Freud in China China’s Freudian slip 98 Corporate Governance and Edited by Tao Jiang and Banking in China Philip J. Ivanhoe Michael Tan 90 Sinologism 99 Gender, Modernity and Male An alternative to Orientalism Migrant Workers in China and Postcolonialism Becoming a ‘modern’ man Ming Dong Gu Xiaodong Lin 100 Emissions, Pollutants and 109 Christian Values in Environmental Policy in China Communist China Designing a national emissions Gerda Wielander trading system Bo Miao 110 China and Global Trade Governance 101 Sustainable Development China’s first decade in the in China World Trade Organization EditedbyCurtisAndressen, Edited by Ka Zeng and MubarakA.R.andXiaoyiWang Wei Liang 102 Islam and China’s Hong Kong 111 The China Model and Global Ethnic identity, Muslim net- Political Economy works and the new Silk Road Comparison, impact, and Wai-Yip Ho interaction Ming Wan 103 International Regimes in China Domestic implementation of 112 Chinese Middle Classes the international fisheries China, Taiwan, Macao and agreements Hong Kong Gianluca Ferraro Edited by Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao 104 Rural Migrants in Urban China Enclaves and transient 113 Economy Hotels in China urbanism A glocalized innovative Fulong Wu, Fangzhu Zhang hospitality sector and Chris Webster Songshan Sam Huang and Xuhua Michael Sun 105 State-LedPrivatizationinChina The politics of economic reform 114 The Uyghur Lobby Jin Zeng Global networks, coalitions and strategies of the World 106 China’s Supreme Court Uyghur Congress Ronald C. Keith, Zhiqiu Lin Yu-Wen Chen and Shumei Hou 115 Housing Inequality in 107 Queer Sinophone Cultures Chinese Cities Howard Chiang and Edited by Youqin Huang and Ari Larissa Heinrich Si-ming Li 108 New Confucianism in 116 Transforming Chinese Twenty-First Century China Cities The construction of a discourse Edited by Mark Y. Wang, Jesús Solé-Farràs Pookong Kee and Jia Gao 117 Popular Media, Social 126 Chinese Environmental Emotion and Public Discourse Aesthetics in Contemporary China Wangheng Chen, translated Shuyu Kong by Feng Su, edited by Gerald Cipriani 118 Globalization and Public Sector Reform in China 127 China’s Military Procurement Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard in the Reform Era The setting of new directions 119 Religion and Ecological Yoram Evron Sustainability in China Edited by James Miller, 128 Forecasting China’s Future Dan Smyer Yu and Peter van Dominance or collapse? der Veer Roger Irvine 120 Comparatizing Taiwan 129 ChineseMigrationandEconomic Edited by Shu-mei Shih and RelationswithEurope Ping-hui Liao Edited by Marco Sanfilippo and Agnieszka Weinar 121 Entertaining the Nation Chinese television in the 130 Party Hegemony and twenty-first century Entrepreneurial Power in China Edited by Ruoyun Bai and Institutional change in the film Geng Song and music industries Elena Meyer-Clement 122 Local Governance Innovation in China 131 Explaining Railway Reform Experimentation, diffusion, in China and defiance A train of property rights Edited by Jessica C. Teets and re-arrangements William Hurst Linda Tjia Yin-nor 123 Footbinding and Women’s 132 Irony, Cynicism and the Labor in Sichuan Chinese State Hill Gates Edited by Hans Steinmüller and Susanne Brandtstädter 124 IncentivesforInnovationinChina Buildinganinnovativeeconomy 133 Animation in China Xuedong Ding and Jun Li History, aesthetics, media Sean Macdonald 125 Conflict and Cooperation in Sino-US Relations 134 Parenting, Education and Change and continuity, causes Social Mobility in Rural China and cures Cultivating dragons and Edited by Jean-Marc phoenixes F. Blanchard and Simon Shen Peggy A. Kong