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MAHJONG AND URBAN LIFE: INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, COLLECTIVE INTERESTS, AND CITY IMAGE IN POST-MAO CHINA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2014

Di Wang
Di Wang*
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University. E-mail [email protected]
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Abstract

Through an examination of issues arising from mahjong playing, this article explores changes in daily life and popular culture at the turn of the twenty-first century and argues that these changes reflect political, economic, social, and cultural transformations, in which conflicts between individual rights and collective interests have become increasingly prominent. This study discusses issues relating to mahjong from stories at four different levels: individual, community, the city, and the nation, which, respectively, look at conflicts among neighbors, examine the role of the Residential Committee in the neighborhood, observe the responses of the municipal government and official media to the city's image, and reveal the dilemma when the socialist state confronts mahjong issues. From the specific issues arising from mahjong, we can see how the new culture of the market economy in today's China coexists with elements from a more traditional lifestyle.

Keywords

mahjongurban lifepost-Mao ChinaChengduindividual rightscollective interestscity images
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 187 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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