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4 - Re-perfuming China

from Part Two - Smellscapes in Flux

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2023

Xuelei Huang
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

Alongside the grand scheme of deodorization, the arrival of a variety of mass-manufactured scents instigated an olfactory revolution in everyday life, feeding new sensory data into Chinese bodies and neurons. Drawing on trade statistics, advertisements, and corporate archives, Chapter 4 restores the materiality of the changing smellscape, exploring both imported scents and domestically produced perfumes, with special attention to state-of-the-art synthetic scents that invaded and contaminated the sensorium. Equipped with industrialism, capitalism, consumerism, science, and nationalism, this revolution’s key battlefield was none other than the human body. The regulation and management of its odours were intended to transform the body into a consumer object. The thrust of my inquiry is the question of how the united forces of olfactory modernity tuned neurons to accept new scents, and how the body was re-educated to internalize a new set of codes, values, and aesthetics.

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Chapter
Information
Scents of China
A Modern History of Smell
, pp. 143 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Re-perfuming China
  • Xuelei Huang, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Scents of China
  • Online publication: 20 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207065.007
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  • Re-perfuming China
  • Xuelei Huang, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Scents of China
  • Online publication: 20 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207065.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Re-perfuming China
  • Xuelei Huang, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Scents of China
  • Online publication: 20 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207065.007
Available formats
×