A unique and far-reaching study of China's contemporary social changes from the perspectives of consumption and consumerism.China has undergone profound social changes, with far-reaching consequences on all walks of life since reform began thirty years ago. To fully understand China's transformation, the landscape must be surveyed from the perspective of consumption, where you can find many intrinsic links between seemingly unrelated aspects of social reform.The Rise of the Consumer in Modern China is the result of a seven-year research campaign conducted by leading Chinese academic Wang Ning. Detailed and comprehensive, it cites numerous policy documents and source material generated from interviews, alongside data, expert commentary and conclusions. The transformation from asceticism to consumerism is a vital factor when considering China's economic and social reforms. Authoritative and richly detailed, this important new book offers a revealing and unique insight into a key aspect of China's opening up.During the most recent thirty years not only have there been revolutionary changes in consumer behavior, furthermore the role of consumption in driving the evolution of society has become un-ignorable. It is vital to study and analyze the changes in Chinese consumption before and after China's opening-up from a sociological perspective. This key book explores the Chinese urban consumption system and the evolution of the ideological concept of consumption by examining a huge number of governmental documents and records.

"“Chinese people should consume Chinese products!” This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link consumption and nationalism by instilling a concept of China as a modern “nation” with its own “national products.” From fashions in clothing to food additives, from museums to department stores, from product fairs to advertising, this movement influenced all aspects of China’s burgeoning consumer culture. Anti-imperialist boycotts, commemorations of national humiliations, exhibitions of Chinese products, the vilification of treasonous consumers, and the promotion of Chinese captains of industry helped enforce nationalistic consumption and spread the message—patriotic Chinese bought goods made of Chinese materials by Chinese workers in factories owned and run by Chinese. In China Made, Karl Gerth argues that two key forces shaping the modern world—nationalism and consumerism—developed in tandem in China. Early in the twentieth century, nationalism branded every commodity as either “Chinese” or “foreign,” and consumer culture became the place where the notion of nationality was articulated, institutionalized, and practiced. Based on Chinese, Japanese, and English-language archives, magazines, newspapers, and books, this first exploration of the historical ties between nationalism and consumerism reinterprets fundamental aspects of modern Chinese history and suggests ways of discerning such ties in all modern nations."

What Chinese Want provides a sweeping look at contemporary Chinese consumer behavior, how its cultural influences separate it from the West, and how marketers and businesses can harness the natural strengths of this age-old civilization to succeed there. Today, most Americans take for granted that China will be the next global superpower. But despite the nation's growing influence, the average Chinese person is still a mystery - or, at best, a baffling set of seeming contradictions - to Westerners who expect the rising Chinese consumer to resemble themselves. Here, Tom Doctoroff, the guiding force of advertising giant J. Walter Thompson's (JWT) China operations, marshals his 20 years of experience navigating this fascinating intersection of commerce and culture to explain the mysteries of China. He explores the many cultural, political, and economic forces shaping the twenty-first-century Chinese and their implications for businesspeople, marketers, and entrepreneurs - or anyone else who wants to know what makes the Chinese tick. Dismantling common misconceptions, Doctoroff provides the context Westerners need to understand the distinctive worldview that drives Chinese businesses and consumers, including: - Why family and social stability take precedence over individual self-expression and the consequences for education, innovation, and growth; - Their fundamentally different understanding of morality, and why Chinese tolerate human rights abuses, rampant piracy, and endemic government corruption; and - The long and storied past that still drives decision making at corporate, local, and national levels. Change is coming fast and furious in China, challenging not only how the Western world sees the Chinese but how they see themselves. From the new generation's embrace of Christmas to the middle-class fixation with luxury brands; from the exploding senior demographic to what the Internet means for the government's hold on power, Doctoroff pulls back the curtain to reveal a complex and nuanced picture of a fascinating people whose lives are becoming ever more entwined with our own.

Clear and engaging, this is the definitive history of China, one of the most important political, economic, and cultural players in the modern world. 8-page color photo insert.

Consumerism in China has developed rapidly. The Changing Landscape of China's Consumerism looks at the growth of consumerism in China from both a socio-economic and a political/cultural angle. It examines changing trends in consumption in China as well as the impact of these trends on society, and the politics and culture surrounding them. It examines the ways in which, despite needing to "unlock" the spending power of the rural provinces, the Chinese authorities are also keen to maintain certain attitudes towards the Communist Party and socialism "with Chinese Characteristics." Overall, it aims to show that consumerism in China today is both an economic and political phenomenon and one which requires both surrounding political culture and economic trends for its continued establishment. The ways in which this dual relationship both supports and battles with itself are explored through apposite case studies including the use of New Confucianism in the market context, the commodification of Lei Feng, the new Chinese tourist as a diplomatic tool in consumption, the popularity of Shanzhai (fake product) culture, and the conspicuous consumption of China's new middle class. Provides innovative interdisciplinary research, useful to cultural studies, sociology, Chinese studies, and politics Examines changes in consumerism from multiple perspectives Allows both micro and macro insights into consumerism in China by providing specific case studies, while placing these within the context of geo-politics and grand theory

In this revelatory examination of the most overlooked force that is changing the face of China, the Oxford historian and scholar of modern Asia Karl Gerth shows that as the Chinese consumer goes, so goes the world. While Americans and Europeans have become increasingly worried about China's competition for manufacturing jobs and energy resources, they have overlooked an even bigger story: China's rapid development of an American-style consumer culture, which is revolutionizing the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese and has the potential to reshape the world. This change is already well under way. China has become the world's largest consumer of everything from automobiles to beer and has begun to adopt such consumer habits as living in large single-occupancy homes, shopping in gigantic malls, and eating meat-based diets served in fast-food outlets. Even rural Chinese, long the laggards of consumerism, have been buying refrigerators, televisions, mobile phones, and larger houses in unprecedented numbers. As China Goes, So Goes the World reveals why we should all care about the everyday choices made by ordinary Chinese. Taken together, these seemingly small changes are deeper and more profound than the headline-grabbing stories on military budgets, carbon emissions, or trade disputes.

Post-Mao China has been characterized in literature and the media as a burgeoning consumer society. Consuming Chinainvestigates this characterization by examining the cultural significance of consumption and consumerism in the People’s Republic of China today. In questioning the notion of consumption, this impressive work suggests that it is not simply a symptom of economic reform within China neither a product of the emergence and transformation of contemporary Chinese capitalism. Rather, the essays offer a new perspective on Chinese consumption by focusing on more than just consumerism, looking at the practices of consumption in relation to different manifestations of social and cultural change. Drawing on case studies from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China, Consuming Chinaaffords a greater understanding of the practice of Chinese consumption and will appeal to China scholars and anthropologists, and to those with an interest in cultural and gender studies.