Who exactly are China's new rich? This pioneering investigation introduces readers to the private lives—and the nightlives—of the powerful entrepreneurs and managers redefining success and status in the city of Chengdu. Over the course of more than three years, anthropologist John Osburg accompanied, and in some instances assisted, wealthy Chinese businessmen as they courted clients, partners, and government officials. Drawing on his immersive experiences, Osburg invites readers to join him as he journeys through the new, highly gendered entertainment sites for Chinese businessmen, including karaoke clubs, saunas, and massage parlors—places specifically designed to cater to the desires and enjoyment of elite men. Within these spaces, a masculinization of business is taking place. Osburg details the complex code of behavior that governs businessmen as they go about banqueting, drinking, gambling, bribing, exchanging gifts, and obtaining sexual services. These intricate social networks play a key role in generating business, performing social status, and reconfiguring gender roles. But many entrepreneurs feel trapped by their obligations and moral compromises in this evolving environment. Ultimately, Osburg examines their deep ambivalence about China's future and their own complicity in the major issues of post-Mao Chinese society—corruption, inequality, materialism, and loss of trust.
Les mer
Anxious Wealth analyzes practices of network building and deal-making among wealthy businessmen and government officials in urban China, documenting the changing values, lifestyles, gender relations, and consumption habits of China's new rich and new middle classes.
Les mer
"In Anxious Wealth John Osburg provides important insights into the rise of the new rich in post-Mao China through an ethnographic case study on young and middle-aged, male private entrepreneurs . . . Osburg has done an excellent job deciphering hidden cultural rules and moral codes in this gendered and sexualised space of elite masculinity . . . [T]his carefully written ethnography provides an important and accessible guide for understanding relationship cultivation, gender relations, inequality, class, and consumption in China's ongoing market transition. The book will appeal not only to anthropologists of contemporary China, but to anyone interested in the dynamic relationship between culture and economy."—Nanlai Cao, Renmin University of China, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780804783545
Publisert
2013-04-03
Utgiver
Vendor
Stanford University Press
Vekt
340 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Forfatter

Biographical note

John Osburg is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rochester.