China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780824825775)

China Off Center takes as its fundamental assumption that contemporary China can only be understood as a complex, decentralized place, where the view from above (Beijing) and from tourist buses is a skewed one. Instead of generalizing about China, it demonstrates that this diverse national terrain is better conceived as it is experienced by Chinese, as a set of many Chinas. To that end, this anthology of interpretive essays and ethnographic reports focuses on the everyday, the particular, the local, and the puzzling. Together with contextualizing introductions, the readings provide students with a compelling look at some little-known but significant aspects of China from the past decade; for those already familiar with China, they furnish an assortment of uncommon viewpoints in a single, convenient volume.

Author: Susan D. Blum
ISBN-10: 0824825772
ISBN-13: 9780824825775
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Language: English
Published: 09/30/2002
Pages: 424
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.96w x 1.10d