Edited by Michael Dutton
Cambridge University Press, 1998
304 pages
Early on in the ambitious reader Streetlife China, University of Melbourne
scholar Michael Dutton presents a memorable photograph from the 1989 Tiananmen
Incident: a single man stands in the street, a military tank bearing down on
him. It is a powerful image, so powerful it seems to sum up the last decade
of modern China studies, perhaps unfairly. "History stopped at this point,"
Dutton notes, "and so too did the analytical diversity of Western historians,
sociologists and cultural critics." Recent China studies have focused on high-level political and economic issues, and in the rush to judgment, scholars have neglected the street level. Dutton concentrates on "subalterns," or societal outsiders: the mobile "floating populations" making their way into major metropolitan areas, the criminals and displaced farmers, the local entrepreneurs making their living off Chairman Mao badges. As China continues to modernize and the uneasy transition to a capitalist economy continues, it is in their stories that one sees the colorful front lines of struggle in which the cultural past duels with the promising future.
This compendium of essays, anecdotes and commentary on urban China (mostly Beijing) is a first step towards unveiling this world. Dutton and numerous Chinese scholars offer a solid fundamental background on the Chinese work unit, social relations, police regulations, and other aspects of ordinary life which are now being altered or even subverted with the times. Along the way, we are introduced to illegal urban residents, go-getting street merchants, baomu (housemaids-for-hire), gangster lingo, underground rock stars, the new high-rise culture, and the booming market in Chairman Mao paraphernalia. Dutton's message is clear: we are witnessing the development of a vibrant subculture which tells us as much about China's past as it tells us about its future.
The best articles in this collection tend to be more specific in nature, such as Chen Biaoliang's explication of the word liumang (hooligan) and its derivation from the term liumin (drifter); Dutton's interviews with baomu and itinerant workers; and Zhang Hongtu's tongue-in-cheek diagram of the human body in which clothing is labeled in pickpocket terms (i.e., the bottom front pocket is known as the xiacang, or lower warehouse). In another amusing section, the connection between materialism and sex is revealed through posters of pin-up models in lavishly furnished apartments, and one even finds a rundown of tattoo types and their meanings.
The book does not shy away from the problematic nature of these new subaltern classes. A lengthy piece chronicles the rise and fall of Beijing's Zhejiang Village, a community containing nearly 20,000 illegal residents which was eventually broken up by the local authorities. Even something as gently absurd as a Mao amusement park which purports to take visitors on their own "Long March" speaks volumes about the commodification and reconfiguration of history. Although Dutton casts a critical eye on developments such as these, the overriding tone of this collection is one of possibility; history, tradition, and the political climate may discourage flexibility, but the subaltern classes still find maneuvering room on the margins, and may bring about changes as profound as any political pronouncement.
Those with even a passing interest in urban China will find a vivid evocation of what it means to live on the streets in these three hundred pages. However, in addressing a topic as sprawling as this, it is perhaps inevitable that the book does not completely satisfy on a scholarly level. Some of the articles are merely content to regurgitate statistics and survey results without much interpretation. Dutton himself attempts to draw together these disparate essays and articles into a holistic commentary on political repression and cultural response, but the wide-ranging subject matter refuses to cohere so easily. This collection is better enjoyed as an introduction to new avenues of study which await further exploration, and as such, it handsomely achieves what it sets out to do.