352 pp. May 1998
cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-2005-3, $26.00
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Keywords: |
China
Asia
anthropology
sociology
textbook |
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Hong Kong: The Anthropology of a Chinese Metropolis
ed. by Grant Evans; Maria Tam
Anthropology of Asia
“A lively and interesting collection that has much to offer both area scholars and cultural anthropologists in general.” —American Anthropologist
Hong Kong has become a by-word for all that is modern and sparkling in Asia today.
Yet tourist brochures still play with the old cliche of Hong Kong as a place where ‘East meets West’. Images of so-called ‘traditional’ China, junks sailing Victoria Harbour or old women praying to gods in smoky temples, mingle with those portraying Hong Kong as a consumer and business paradise.
This collection of essays attempts to transcend the old polarities. It looks at modern Hong Kong in all its splendour and diversity in the run-up to its re-absorption into Greater China through the mediums of film, food, architecture, rumors and slang.
It explores the question of a distinct, modern Chinese identity in Hong Kong, and even when it explores the traditional stamping ground of the older anthropology in the New Territories it finds a dramatically changed context, in particular for women.
This collection presents an intriguing insight into the process of transition from ‘tradition’ to ‘modernity’ in this Modern Chinese Metropolis. For sale only in the U.S., its dependencies, Canada, and Mexico.
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