Shanghai pop: local transformations in Chinese popular culture

Abstract

Not only have the forms and contents of Chinese popular culture experienced enormous transformations in the twentieth century, but many of these transformations have distinctive local histories. This panel looks at these local transformations pri- marily in Shanghai, focusing on transformations in Shanghai nightlife and film, with a comparative and historical focus that situates developments in Shanghai popular culture within a larger temporal and spatial context. Cultural politics, local tradi- tions and economic strategies are accounted for in this multidisciplinary narrative of Chinese cultural developments. Andrew Field's paper describes the development of the Chinese dance hall culture during the Republican era, emphasizing that the Shanghai dance craze can only be understand as a series of local adaptations of initial western forms. Yomi Braester's paper shows how Chinese cultural politics in the early PRC era led to the reinterpretations of the connotations of Shanghai in Chinese popular culture, showing that what the "local" is subject political rewriting. James Farrer's paper picks up the historical narra- tive in the reform era by examining the figure of the foreigner in the development of a new Shanghai nightlife. Matthew Chew's paper describes the contemporary nightlife scene in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, focusing on the local nature of the Chinese nightlife, arguing for distinctive features not captured in a facile narrative of globalization. These papers thus con- stitute a historical narrative of Shanghai popular culture during the twentieth century, engaging debates on the globalization and localization of cultural forms, the influence of state-directed politics in shaping local cultures and often over-looked varia- tions in Chinese popular cultures.