This course offers an overview of China's consumer culture. Since embarking on its reform andopening-up policy in 1978, China has transformed from a command economy to a market-orientedsystem and achieved over three decades of rapid growth. Chinese society has also undergone an allencompassing socio-cultural change, from a proletarian culture in the Mao era to a burgeoningconsumer culture today. This course will address both the historical processes of cultural changes andmajor consumer issues in contemporary China. It aims to provide a roadmap for students to develop acritical perspective on China's consumer culture. In essence, the class explores what it means tobelong to a consumer society with "Chinese characteristics". We will start by introducing core concerns,arguments, and approaches related to consumer culture in China. After the introductory sessions, wewill focus, week by week, on common (and oftentimes controversial) consumer issues we encounterin our daily lives. We will read works covering various consumption experiences while paying specialattention to how consumer culture, embedded in the specific economic, political and socio-culturalmilieu of contemporary China constructs our ways of "being-in-the-world". We will also look into thedetrimental aspects of consumer culture, including its psychological and ethical impacts, class andgender exploitation, and environmental degradation. Students are encouraged to examine their ownconsumer values and behaviors, join in conversation with the existing critics of China's consumerculture, and offer their own reflections. CUHK course code: CHES2104Enrollment limited.
4 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
This course offers an overview of China's consumer culture. Since embarking on its reform andopening-up policy in 1978, China has transformed from a command economy to a market-orientedsystem and achieved over three decades of rapid growth. Chinese society has also undergone an allencompassing socio-cultural change, from a proletarian culture in the Mao era to a burgeoningconsumer culture today. This course will address both the historical processes of cultural changes andmajor consumer issues in contemporary China. It aims to provide a roadmap for students to develop acritical perspective on China's consumer culture. In essence, the class explores what it means tobelong to a consumer society with "Chinese characteristics". We will start by introducing core concerns,arguments, and approaches related to consumer culture in China. After the introductory sessions, wewill focus, week by week, on common (and oftentimes controversial) consumer issues we encounterin our daily lives. We will read works covering various consumption experiences while paying specialattention to how consumer culture, embedded in the specific economic, political and socio-culturalmilieu of contemporary China constructs our ways of "being-in-the-world". We will also look into thedetrimental aspects of consumer culture, including its psychological and ethical impacts, class andgender exploitation, and environmental degradation. Students are encouraged to examine their ownconsumer values and behaviors, join in conversation with the existing critics of China's consumerculture, and offer their own reflections. CUHK course code: CHES2104Enrollment limited.