Description
More than ever before, China is on the move. When the flow of people and images is fused, meanings of self, place, space, community, and nation become unstable and contestable. This fascinating book explores the ways in which movement within and across the national borders of the PRC has influenced the imagination of the Chinese people, both those who remain and those who have left. Travelers or no, all participate in the production and consumption of images and narratives of travel, thus contributing to the formation of transnational subjectivities. Wanning Sun offers a fine-grained analysis of the significant narrative forms and discursive strategies used in representing transnational space in contemporary China. This includes looking at how stay-at-homes fantasize about faraway or unknown places, and how those in the diaspora remember experiences of familiar places. She considers the ways in which mobility-of people, capital, and images-affects localities through individuals' constructions of a sense of place. Relatedly, the author illustrates how economic, social, and political forces either facilitate or inhibit the formation of a particular kind of transnational subjectivity.
About the Author
Wanning Sun is lecturer in media studies at Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
Reviews
A bold and intelligent book that explores the territory of belongingness and not-belongingness. It is a welcome addition to the meager literature on Chinese media and contemporary society and will be of use to students and researchers in the fields of cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, and Chinese studies. * Continuum: Journal Of Media and Cultural Studies *
I very much enjoyed this book for its fresh, personal style, its ability to speak eloquently to the expatriate descendants of the Cultural Revolution, and its critical look at a generation whose identity is inseparable from the consumption of both Chinese and overseas media. * Media International Australia *
An exciting book whose multiple strands of inquiry are woven around the themes of media and diaspora. . . . Sun's synthesis of a range of media genres into a coherent analysis is ambitious and admirably executed. . . . With its wide array of strengths, the book will be of interest to scholars and students of China and East Asia, of media and cultural studies, of geography and anthropology, and across disciplines to those concerned with nationalism, transnationalism, globalization, and the issues of diaspora. * The China Journal *
An innovative collection of essays that applies cultural studies theories to two parallel sets of movements, that of people and ideas between rural and urban China, and that of people and ideas between China and abroad. For those who follow developments in China, many of the people Sun introduces will seem familiar. The images that Sun discusses will probably be less familiar to readers. It is the juxtaposition of these people and images that makes Leaving China so insightful. * Asian and Pacific Migration Journal *
A timely, thoughtful endeavor, bridging the knowledge gap by providing representative cases and in-depth analysis of media's roles in and outside China. . . . [The author's] thesis is bold [and] vitally original. * Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly *
Leaving China contributes significantly to our understanding of how global cultural and media flows are leading to the emergence of a new Chinese transnational imagination. Wanning Sun provides an authoritative and insightful perspective-both personal and analytical-on China's journey to global modernity. -- Kevin Robins, University of London
Situated within the cultural studies framework, [this] book is theoretically well informed and methodologically versatile, combining textual analysis, ethnography, and case study methods. [It] is elegantly written and highly engaging, with many insights and fascinating details. It not only makes a welcome contribution to the literature on Chinese media and popular culture studies, but also serves as a useful supplement to political, economic, and sociological analysis of China's global integration. * Pacific Affairs *
Sun's book constitutes a timely and imaginative contribution to the questions of alterity and identity posed by contemporary Chineseness, a reflection on a new chapter of a story that started a century and a half ago. * China Quarterly *
Book Information
ISBN 9780742517974
Author Wanning Sun
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 336g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 148mm * 14mm
About the Author
Wanning Sun is lecturer in media studies at Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
Reviews
A bold and intelligent book that explores the territory of belongingness and not-belongingness. It is a welcome addition to the meager literature on Chinese media and contemporary society and will be of use to students and researchers in the fields of cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, and Chinese studies. * Continuum: Journal Of Media and Cultural Studies *
I very much enjoyed this book for its fresh, personal style, its ability to speak eloquently to the expatriate descendants of the Cultural Revolution, and its critical look at a generation whose identity is inseparable from the consumption of both Chinese and overseas media. * Media International Australia *
An exciting book whose multiple strands of inquiry are woven around the themes of media and diaspora. . . . Sun's synthesis of a range of media genres into a coherent analysis is ambitious and admirably executed. . . . With its wide array of strengths, the book will be of interest to scholars and students of China and East Asia, of media and cultural studies, of geography and anthropology, and across disciplines to those concerned with nationalism, transnationalism, globalization, and the issues of diaspora. * The China Journal *
An innovative collection of essays that applies cultural studies theories to two parallel sets of movements, that of people and ideas between rural and urban China, and that of people and ideas between China and abroad. For those who follow developments in China, many of the people Sun introduces will seem familiar. The images that Sun discusses will probably be less familiar to readers. It is the juxtaposition of these people and images that makes Leaving China so insightful. * Asian and Pacific Migration Journal *
A timely, thoughtful endeavor, bridging the knowledge gap by providing representative cases and in-depth analysis of media's roles in and outside China. . . . [The author's] thesis is bold [and] vitally original. * Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly *
Leaving China contributes significantly to our understanding of how global cultural and media flows are leading to the emergence of a new Chinese transnational imagination. Wanning Sun provides an authoritative and insightful perspective-both personal and analytical-on China's journey to global modernity. -- Kevin Robins, University of London
Situated within the cultural studies framework, [this] book is theoretically well informed and methodologically versatile, combining textual analysis, ethnography, and case study methods. [It] is elegantly written and highly engaging, with many insights and fascinating details. It not only makes a welcome contribution to the literature on Chinese media and popular culture studies, but also serves as a useful supplement to political, economic, and sociological analysis of China's global integration. * Pacific Affairs *
Sun's book constitutes a timely and imaginative contribution to the questions of alterity and identity posed by contemporary Chineseness, a reflection on a new chapter of a story that started a century and a half ago. * China Quarterly *
Book Information
ISBN 9780742517974
Author Wanning Sun
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 336g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 148mm * 14mm
