Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China

If we want to understand contemporary China, the key is through understanding the older generation. This is the generation in China whose life courses almost perfectly synchronised with the emergence and growth of the ‘New China’ under the rule of the Communist Party (1949). People in their 70s and...

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Príomhchruthaitheoir: Wang, Xinyuan
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Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: UCL Press 2023
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author Wang, Xinyuan
author_browse Wang, Xinyuan
author_facet Wang, Xinyuan
author_sort Wang, Xinyuan
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description If we want to understand contemporary China, the key is through understanding the older generation. This is the generation in China whose life courses almost perfectly synchronised with the emergence and growth of the ‘New China’ under the rule of the Communist Party (1949). People in their 70s and 80s have double the life expectancy of their parents’ generation. The current oldest generation in Shanghai was born in a time when the average household could not afford electric lights, but today they can turn their lights off via their smartphone apps. Based on 16-month ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China tackles the intersection between the ‘two revolutions’ experienced by the older generation in Shanghai: the contemporary smartphone-based digital revolution and the earlier communist revolutions. We find that we can only explain the smartphone revolution if we first appreciate the long-term consequences of these people’s experiences during the communist revolutions. The context of this book is a wide range of dramatic social transformations in China, from the Cultural Revolution to the individualism and Confucianism in Digital China. Supported by detailed ethnographic material, the observations and analyses provide a panoramic view of the social landscape of contemporary China, including topics such as the digital and everyday life, ageing and healthcare, intergenerational relations and family development, community building and grassroots organizations, collective memories and political attitudes among ordinary Chinese people.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1214002025-03-20T11:54:59Z Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China Wang, Xinyuan Ageing;smartphones;technology;China;Shanghai;internet;digital technology;Asia;anthropology;sociology;media studies;communication If we want to understand contemporary China, the key is through understanding the older generation. This is the generation in China whose life courses almost perfectly synchronised with the emergence and growth of the ‘New China’ under the rule of the Communist Party (1949). People in their 70s and 80s have double the life expectancy of their parents’ generation. The current oldest generation in Shanghai was born in a time when the average household could not afford electric lights, but today they can turn their lights off via their smartphone apps. Based on 16-month ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China tackles the intersection between the ‘two revolutions’ experienced by the older generation in Shanghai: the contemporary smartphone-based digital revolution and the earlier communist revolutions. We find that we can only explain the smartphone revolution if we first appreciate the long-term consequences of these people’s experiences during the communist revolutions. The context of this book is a wide range of dramatic social transformations in China, from the Cultural Revolution to the individualism and Confucianism in Digital China. Supported by detailed ethnographic material, the observations and analyses provide a panoramic view of the social landscape of contemporary China, including topics such as the digital and everyday life, ageing and healthcare, intergenerational relations and family development, community building and grassroots organizations, collective memories and political attitudes among ordinary Chinese people. 2023-11-16T10:46:21Z 2023-11-16T10:46:21Z 2023-08-31T08:52:49Z 2023 book OCN: 1394889596 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/76022 9781800084124 9781800084117 9781800084131 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/121400 eng Ageing with Smartphones open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/76022/1/9781800084100.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/76022/1/9781800084100.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/76022/1/9781800084100.pdf UCL Press 10.14324/ 111.978180 0084 100 10.14324/ 111.978180 0084 100 29b9f0a3-1b0d-4bdd-99d7-b4d3432d7fcc 9781800084124 9781800084117 9781800084131 313 London open access
spellingShingle Ageing;smartphones;technology;China;Shanghai;internet;digital technology;Asia;anthropology;sociology;media studies;communication
Wang, Xinyuan
Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title_full Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title_fullStr Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title_full_unstemmed Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title_short Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China
title_sort ageing with smartphones in urban china
topic Ageing;smartphones;technology;China;Shanghai;internet;digital technology;Asia;anthropology;sociology;media studies;communication
topic_facet Ageing;smartphones;technology;China;Shanghai;internet;digital technology;Asia;anthropology;sociology;media studies;communication
url OCN: 1394889596
work_keys_str_mv AT wangxinyuan ageingwithsmartphonesinurbanchina