Irony, cynicism and the Chinese state

Unprecedented social change in China has intensified the contradictions faced by ordinary people in everyday life. They may find themselves drawing on a number of different moral frameworks, being caught between official and popular discourses, and encountering radically different representations of China's past and its future. This volume deals with irony and cynicism in social life and local communities in China, and specifically in relation to the state of the People’s Republic of China. It collects ethnographies of irony and cynicism in social action, written by a group of anthropologists who specialise in China. They use the lenses of irony and cynicism - broadly defined to include resignation, resistance, humour, ambiguity and dialogue - to look anew at the contradictions faced by the Chinese people and at popular responses to them. The various contributions are concerned with both the interpretation of intentions in everyday social action and discourse, and the broader theoretical consequences of such interpretations for an understanding of the Chinese state. As a study of irony and cynicism in modern China and their implication on the social and political aspects of everyday life, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, Chinese culture and society and Chinese politics.