Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture

In the last quarter-century, the resources of China's pre-socialist past have been rediscovered and combined with current influences to reinvent Chinese culture. This is the first source to digest China's vast cultural output and make it accessible to the English-speaking world. More than 1,000 entries, written by an international team of specialists, explore a diverse range of subjects- from prisons to rock groups and underground Christian churches to TV talk shows- while also offering biographical essays and information on more traditional cultural topics. The book's focus is on mainland China since 1980, but it also includes coverage of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Entries are indexed under eighteen categories for easy thematic browsing and include up-to-date references for further reading.

Thisis the first reference book to digest this vast cultural output and make it accessible to the English-speaking world.It contains nearly 1,200 entries written by an international team of specialists, to enable readers to explore a range of diverse and fascinating cultural subjects from prisons to rock groups, underground Christian churches to TV talk shows and radio hotlines. Experimental artists with names such as 'Big-Tailed Elephants' and 'The North-Pole Group' nestle between the covers alongside entries on lotteries, gay cinema, political jokes, sex shops, theme parks, 'New Authoritarians' and 'Little Emperors'. While the focus of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture is on mainland China since 1980, it also includes longer, specially commissioned entries on various aspects of contemporary culture in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Including full and up-to-date references for further reading,this is an indispensable reference tool for all teachers and students of contemporary Chinese culture. It will also be warmly embraced as an invaluable source of cultural context by tourists, journalists, business people and others who visit China.

contemporary culture in Macao; contemporary culture in Singapore; Hong Kong, contemporary culture in; Taiwan, contemporary culture in; agriculture; ancestral/lineage shrines; architects; architectural journals; bridges (new); Buddhist monasteries and temples (Chinese); Buddhist monasteries and temples (Tibetan); cemeteries; churches; cities; community temples (urban and rural); cultural landscapes; cultural zones (urban); danwei (work units); Daoist temples (guan); department stores; development zones (urban); domestic space; foreign enclaves (urban); geography of disease; geography of health care; government architecture; highways (gaosu gonglu); hospitals; hotels; hukou residential permits; Internet cafes; libraries; migration and settlement patterns; monuments; mosques; museums; parks; Pei, I.M.; playgrounds; population (growth and distribution); prisons; Public Security Bureau; Renmin guangchang, Shanghai; residential districts (urban); restaurants; restoration districts (urban); retail and business districts (urban); ring roads; shopping malls; skyscrapers; squares; streets; theme parks; Three Gorges Project, cultural impact of; Tian'an men, Beijing; tombs; towns and townships; train stations; underground dwellings; urban districts; urban planning/renewal; urban settlement patterns; urban transportation patterns; vernacular architecture; village gates; villages; World Heritage Sites; 211 project; academies (Shuyuan: Zhongguo wenhua shuyuan; Yuehu shuyuan; Baihudong shuyuan; Taiwan E-e-hu shuyuan; etc.); Adult Education Institute (Chengren jiaoyu xueyuan); Beijing University; Central Academy of Fine Arts (Zhongyang meishu xueyuan); Central Nationalities Institute (Zhongyang minzu xueyuan); China People's University (Zhongguo renmin daxue); Chinese Academy of Sciences (Zhongguo kexue yuan); Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan); Chinese University of Hong Kong; Chinese University of Science and Technology (Zhongguo keji daxue); college campus culture; college entrance examinations; Educational system: HK; educational system: PRC; educational system: Singapore; educational system: Taiwan; foreign students; Fudan University; higher education; Hong Kong University; hope project; HSK; intellectuals (and academics); literacy (and illiteracy); Lu Xun Literary Academy; memorization; metropolitan private schools; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Education; Nanjing University; Nankai University; National Defense University (Guofang daxue); national educational standards; Open University (dianshi daxue) and self-paced study and testing; Overseas Chinese University; physical education; Qinghua University; shetuan; student movements; student suicide; studying abroad; Taiwan National University; teaching (training and style); textbooks publishers; The Children's Palace (shaonian-gong); TOEFL (tofu) and GRE; Tsing-hua University, Taiwan; university BBS; village schools; Zhongshan University (Guangzhou); army style (including PLA and Red Guard clothing); beauty magazines; Beijing's silk-ally (xiushui jie); braids; campaign-poster designers; Chan, Amy (designer); Chang, Carole [Yu-ping] (b. 1969, Taiwan); Chen Xiang (designer) (b. 1969, mainland); cheongsam (qipao); chignon; Chinese fashion for foreigners; chukou zuan nei xiao (export reject items); clothing companies; cosmetic surgery; designer brands/labels (Japanese and Western); Dou, Stephane [Teng-huang] (b. 1969, Taiwan); ethnic costumes; fashion shows; graphic design; Guo Pei (designer) (b. 1967, mainland); hair (salons and changing styles); Han Feng designer (b. 1962, Nanjing/New York); He Yong; Hu Ya-chuan (b. 1965, Taiwan); Hung, Sophie (Taiwan); industrial design; interior design; Kitterick Company, Ltd; Lau, Peter; Leung, Charmaine (designer); Li, Ruby (designer); Mao and Sun Yatsen suits; models and modelling; Shanghai tang (and mainland rip-offs); silk industry; Sui, Anna (designer); Sun Jian (designer) (b. 1967, mainland); Tam, Vivienne (designer) (HK/NY); Tang, William (designer) (b. 1959, HK); Tangzhuang (Tang-style clothing); Teng, Yeohlee (designer); textile factories and sweatshops; Wan, Pacino (designer) (b. 1964, HK); Western fashion for Chinese; Yang Bingbing, designer (Beijing); actors; animation; Beijing Bastards ("Beijing Za Zhong", Zhang Yuan, dir., 1993); Beijing Film Academy (Beijing dianying xueyuan); Beijing Film Studio; censorship; Chan, Jackie (Chen Long: HK actor/director); Chen Kaige (director) (b. 1952, Beijing); Chen, Joan (Chen Chong, b. 1961, Shanghai; actress/director); Cheng Jihua (b. 1921) (critic, historian, director, actor); Cheung, Leslie (Zhang Guorong, b. 1956, actor, pop singer); Cheung, Maggie (Zhang Manyu, b. 1964, HK actor); children's feature films; China Children's Film Studio (est. 1981); China Film Art Research Center/China Film Archive; Chinese Film Association (NGO); Chow, Stephen; Dai Jinhua (critic); distribution; documentary filmmaking; Duan Jinchuan (independent video documentarist); End of Year Celebration Movies (Hesuipian); Feng Xiaogang (director); Fifth Generation of directors; film criticism (and journals); foreign co-productions; funding; Ge You (film and TV actor); Gong Li (actor) (b. 1966, Shenyang); He Jianjun (director); He Ping (director, b. 1957, Beijing); He Qun (5th Gen. dir., b. 1956, Beijing); Hou Hsiao-hsien (director) (b. 1947, Guangdong/ Taiwan); Hu Mei (b.1956, Beijing; 5th Gen. female dir.); Huang Jianxin (director, b. 1954, Xian); Huang Shuqin (female director; b. 1940, Guangdong); Huang tudi (Yellow earth); Huey, Victor (New York-based director, video-documentarist); I Graduated (dir. Shi Jian and Chen Jue, 1992); In the Heat of the Sun; independent (duli) films (closet 'chouti' or underground 'dixia' films); Jia Zhangke ('The Platform', 2000); Jian Wei; Jiang Wen (actor, director, screenwriter; b. 1963, Beijing); Jiang Yue (documentarist); Kwan, Stanley (Guan Jinpeng) (HK director); Law, Clara (Luo Zhuoyao, b. 1957, Macao) (HK female director); Lee, Ang (Li An, b. 1954, Taibei); Li Hong (female video documentarist); Li Shaobai; Li Shaohong (5th Gen. female director); Li Yimingi (critic, pro-6th Gen.); Liu Miaomiao (b. 1962, Ningxia; Hui) (5th Gen. female director); Liu Xiaoqing (b. 1951, Sichuan) (actress); Lou Ye (director); Lu Xuechang ('The Making of Steel', 1995, 'A Lingering Face', 2000); Ma Xiaoqing (actress); martial arts films; music videos; New Documentary Movement; Ning Ying (female director); Pan Hong (b. 1954, Shanghai) (actress); Parties A+B; Peng Xiaolian (5th Gen. female dir.); Samsara (dir. Huang Jianxin); Shanghai Film Studio; Shen Songshen (film educator); Sixth Generation of directors; Sun Zhou; The Operators (dir. Mi Jiashan, 1988); Tian Zhuangzhuang (b. 1952, Beijing) (director); Tiananmen Square (dirs. Shi Jian and Chen Yue, 1991); Tsai Ming-liang (director; b. 1958, Malaysia/ Taiwan); Wang Quan'an (director of Lunar Eclipse); Wang Tong (director, Taiwan); Wang Xiaoshuai (director); Wang Xiaoyan (b. 1959, Beijing/US); Wong Kar-Wai (Wang Jiawei, b. 1958); Wu Ming (dir.); Wu Nien-chen (screenwriter/dir., b. 1952, Taiwan); Wu Tianming (head of Xi'an Film Studio); Wu Wenguang (b. 1956, Yunnan); Xia Gang (b. 1953, Beijing); Xi'an Film Studio; Xie Fei (b. 1942, Yanan); Xie Jin; Yang, Edward (Yang Dechang); Yeoh, Michelle (b. 1962, Malaysia); Yim Ho; Youth Experimental Film Group (Qingnian shiyan dianying xiaozu); Zhang Jianya (b. 1951, Shanghai); Zhang Nuanxin; Zhang Yang (director); Zhang Yimou (b. 1950, Xian); Zhang Yimou (early movies); Zhang Yuan (b. 1963, Nanjing); Zhang Ziyi; Zhao Wei; Zhou Xiaowen (b. 1954, Beijing) (director); canteen culture; chefs; Chinese crepes (pancakes); chopsticks; cookery and cutlery; cultural etiquette; dim sum; dried-food specialities; dumplings; ethnic food (e.g. Muslim, Korean); fastfood (Chinese: traditional and Western clones); fastfood (Western: McDonalds, Kentucky, Pizza Hut, etc.); fresh-food markets; hard liquor; home cooking (jia chang cai)

Edward L. Davis is Associate Professor of Chinese History at the University of Hawai'i. He received his B.A. (1976) in modern European history from Harvard College and both his M.A. (1981) and Ph.D. (1993) in Chinese history from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of Society and the Supernatural in Song China (2001) and various articles on the history of the Song and Ming dynasties. He would rather be playing his cello.