Synopses & Reviews
"We all know that China has 56 official ethnic groups, but until now none of us knew precisely why. Thomas Mullaney has now given us a big part of the answer, with his pioneering investigation into the process of Ethnic Identification in Yunnan. Like all good history, Mullaney's story also illustrates a larger point, in this case the way modern states classify things and why it makes a difference."and#151;Stevan Harrell, author of
Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China"Ethnic identity is a key sociopolitical concept for the 21st century. Mullaney's marvelous history not only provides a deep account of Chinese ethnicity, it also deploys strikingly original tools to think with. It is both a delight to read and a body of work for many disciplines to ponder."and#151;Geoffrey C. Bowker, co-author of Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences
"The details of the far-reaching Ethnic Classification Project of 1954 have so far remained shrouded in mystery, but thanks to declassified archives, hitherto undiscovered documents and interviews with surviving members of the Yunnan expedition, Mullaney's splendid account throws light not only on one of the most sweeping registration documents in the history of the modern state, but also on how the Qing empire became the nation we know today as 'China.'"and#151;Frank Dikotter, University of Hong Kong
"This is the most brilliant study yet of how nationality, or 'ethnicity,' is created in a specific, and highly contingent, series of historical events. The details provide an intrinsically fascinating account of Chinese bureaucratic planning for the nation, with its unexpected recourse to British imperial planning. They also remind us that every case of this sort of thing is likely to be different from every other one."and#151;Ian Hacking, author of Making Up People
"A fascinating tale about the politics of the census and the making of modern China. This book is critical reading for anyone interested in ethnicity, identity, and the role of social scientists in policy formation."and#151;Francine Hirsch, author or Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union
Review
and#8220;This rich, nuanced and erudite book is a great accomplishment.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A very important contribution to our understanding of the birth of the modern Chinese nation.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;An exemplary piece of scholarship. . . . Tackles broad historiographical questions with a manageable and concrete set of new data.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Brief but elegantly argued. . . . Mullaney makes brilliant sense of mountains of data.and#8221;
Review
"Mullaney's excellent book teaches us a great deal about the genesis of multiethnic China..."
Synopsis
China is a vast nation comprised of hundreds of distinct ethnic communities, each with its own language, history, and culture. Today the government of China recognizes just 56 ethnic nationalities, or minzu, as groups entitled to representation. This controversial new book recounts the history of the most sweeping attempt to sort and categorize the nation's enormous population: the 1954 Ethnic Classification project (minzu shibie). Thomas S. Mullaney draws on recently declassified material and extensive oral histories to describe how the communist government, in power less than a decade, launched this process in ethnically diverse Yunnan. Mullaney shows how the government drew on Republican-era scholarship for conceptual and methodological inspiration as it developed a strategy for identifying minzu and how non-Party-member Chinese ethnologists produced a and#147;scientificand#8221; survey that would become the basis for a policy on nationalities.
Synopsis
The Age of Irreverence tells the story of why Chinaand#8217;s entry into the modern age was not just traumatic, but uproarious. As the Qing dynasty slumped toward extinction, prominent writers compiled jokes into collections they called and#147;histories of laughter.and#8221; In the first years of the Republic, novelists, essayists and illustrators alike used humorous allegories to make veiled critiques of the new government. But, again and again, political and cultural discussion erupted into invective, as critics gleefully jeered and derided rivals in public. Farceurs drew followings in the popular press, promoting a culture of practical joking and buffoonery. Eventually, these various expressions of hilarity proved so offensive to high-brow writers that they launched a concerted campaign to transform the tone of public discourse, hoping to displace the old forms of mirth with a new one they called
youmo (humor).
Christopher Rea argues that this periodand#151;from the 1890s to the 1930sand#151;transformed how Chinese people thought and talked about what is funny. Focusing on five cultural expressions of laughterand#151;jokes, play, mockery, farce, and humorand#151;he reveals the textures of comedy that were a part of everyday life during modern Chinaand#8217;s first and#147;age of irreverence.and#8221; This new history of laughter not only offers an unprecedented and up-close look at a neglected facet of Chinese cultural modernity, but also reveals its lasting legacy in the Chinese language of the comic today and its implications for our understanding of humor as a part of human culture.
Synopsis
Rich with details of everyday life, this multifaceted social and cultural history of China's leading metropolis in the twentieth century offers a kaleidoscopic view of Shanghai as the major site of Chinese modernization. Engaging the entire span of Shanghai's modern history from the Opium War to the eve of the Communist takeover in 1949, Wen-hsin Yeh traces the evolution of a dazzling urban culture that became alternately isolated from and intertwined with China's tumultuous history. Looking in particular at Shanghai's leading banks, publishing enterprises, and department stores, she sketches the rise of a new maritime and capitalist economic culture among the city's middle class. Making extensive use of urban tales and visual representations, the book captures urbanite voices as it uncovers the sociocultural dynamics that shaped the people and their politics.
Synopsis
"What a fine and illuminating book!
Shanghai Splendor is an important and captivating work of scholarship."David Strand, author of
Rickshaw Beijing: City People and Politics in the 1920s"This in an outstanding work. Although Shanghai has been among the most popular subjects for scholars in modern Chinese studies, one has yet to see a project as impressive as this. Yeh tells a most fascinating story."David Der-wei Wang, author of The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in 20th Century China
Synopsis
andquot;I am confident that it is the finest in its field to include a lyric by me.andquot;andmdash;Eric Idle
andquot;Chinaandrsquo;s tumultuous and painful history during the last two hundred years has led many of its writers to focus on heavy questions like and#39;What went wrong?,and#39; and#39;Whose fault was it?,and#39; and and#39;What can we do now?and#39; Scholarship, both Chinese and Western, has generally followed this emphasis. Now Theand#160;Age of Irreverenceand#160;shows, in marvelous variety and detail, how laughter and railleryandmdash;not separate from the pain but complexly involved with itandmdash;infused the cultural scene as well.andquot;andmdash;Perry Link, author of Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics
About the Author
Wen-hsin Yeh is Richard H. and Laurie C. Morrison Professor in History at the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. She is author of
The Alienated Academy: Culture and Politics in Republican China and
Provinical Passages: Culture, Space, and the Origins of Chinese Communism (UC Press) and editor of
Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond, 19001950 (UC Press).
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Identity Crisis in Postimperial China
2. Ethnicity as Language
3. Plausible Communities
4. The Consent of the Categorized
5. Counting to Fifty-Six
Conclusion: A History of the Future
Appendix A: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1951, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission
Appendix B: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1953, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission
Appendix C: Minzu Entries, 1953and#150;1954 Census, by Population
Appendix D: Classification Squads, Phases One and Two
Appendix E: Population Sizes of Groups Researched during Phase One and Phase Two
Notes
Character Glossary
Bibliography
Index