The Invention of Tradition in China

In China, heritage projects are sprouting across the countryside carrying the promise of Xi Jinping's Chinese dream as a call for the great revival and rejuvenation of the nation. This book unravels the workings behind these promises through the story of remaking Meili, a Dong ethnic minority village nestled along the margins of China, into a Traditional Village heritage site. In a past riven by deep political and societal disruptions, Meili becomes a medium for contesting, mediating and continuously inventing representations of tradition that aligns with the Chinese Communist Party's mission towards continuity and stability. The outcome is an original depiction of the compromises that shape heritage-making in a rural ethnic corner of China. Filled with rich, fine-grained narrative and analysis, Suvi Rautio offers a unique lens to the politics of inventing tradition and its far-reaching consequences in steering China's national identity under Xi Jinping rule.

explores the invention of Chinese tradition illuminates the ways that the Chinese state uses tradition provides a vivid rural case study

Autorentext

Suvi Rautio is a social and cultural anthropologist working on heritage-making and the politics of memory in contemporary China. From spring 2025, she will be a Marie Sk odowska-Curie Global Fellow at City University New York and the University of Helsinki.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: The Invention of Tradition in China.- Chapter 2: Meili Village, Between the Claws of a Dragon.- Chapter 3: Cultural Heritage and Renderings of A Village Whole.- Chapter 4: Where Planning and Materiality Intersect.- Chapter 5: Self-Reliant Masculinities.- Chapter 6: Women's Work as the Weavers of Tradition.- Chapter 7: Fostering a Tiger that Grows up to Attack You.- Chapter 8: Remaking Home, Where the Spider Rests.