Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks
Over the past thirty years, China's public parks have been turned into stages for amateur performances of socialist anthems by self-organized retirees who lived through the Mao era (1949-1976). Challenging previous interpretations in terms of political expression or nostalgia, Casual Assemblies expl...
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| Natura: | Online |
| Lingua: | inglese |
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Taylor & Francis
2026
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| Accesso online: | ONIX_20260621T103021_9781040841822_6 |
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| _version_ | 1869520702281875456 |
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| author | Richaud, Lisa |
| author_browse | Richaud, Lisa |
| author_facet | Richaud, Lisa |
| author_sort | Richaud, Lisa |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Over the past thirty years, China's public parks have been turned into stages for amateur performances of socialist anthems by self-organized retirees who lived through the Mao era (1949-1976). Challenging previous interpretations in terms of political expression or nostalgia, Casual Assemblies explores the seeming paradox of displaying political messages in the heart of the capital city while framing these gatherings as fun or self-entertainment – merely wan’r , in the language of parkgoers. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Beijing, this book takes these claims to non-seriousness seriously. For at stake in these gatherings is the possibility of being non-literal and reclaiming the sensuous pleasures of performing old tunes from “politics” ( zhengzhi ). This book theorizes casualness as a mode of engagement predicated upon the irrelevance of the correspondence between action and referential meaning. Through the making-casual of a cultural form once supposed to produce revolutionary commitment, parkgoers enact new experiences of being-in-public, togetherness, and shifting relationships to the Maoist past. This book will be of value to readers with a keen interest in China, scholars and students in anthropology and Asian Studies, as well as travelers who have witnessed these phenomena firsthand. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-177860 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| publisherStr | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1778602026-06-22T05:24:20Z Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks Richaud, Lisa Ethnographic methods Chinese social anthropology Public space rituals Cultural memory studies Performative leisure Post-socialist China Amateur Maoist song gatherings thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFF Left-of-centre democratic ideologies thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFC Far-left political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government Over the past thirty years, China's public parks have been turned into stages for amateur performances of socialist anthems by self-organized retirees who lived through the Mao era (1949-1976). Challenging previous interpretations in terms of political expression or nostalgia, Casual Assemblies explores the seeming paradox of displaying political messages in the heart of the capital city while framing these gatherings as fun or self-entertainment – merely wan’r , in the language of parkgoers. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Beijing, this book takes these claims to non-seriousness seriously. For at stake in these gatherings is the possibility of being non-literal and reclaiming the sensuous pleasures of performing old tunes from “politics” ( zhengzhi ). This book theorizes casualness as a mode of engagement predicated upon the irrelevance of the correspondence between action and referential meaning. Through the making-casual of a cultural form once supposed to produce revolutionary commitment, parkgoers enact new experiences of being-in-public, togetherness, and shifting relationships to the Maoist past. This book will be of value to readers with a keen interest in China, scholars and students in anthropology and Asian Studies, as well as travelers who have witnessed these phenomena firsthand. 2026-06-22T05:24:17Z 2026-06-22T05:24:17Z 2026-06-21T15:54:41Z 2026 book book ONIX_20260621T103021_9781040841822_6 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114317 9781040841822 9781003690566 9781040844373 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/177860 eng China: From Revolution to Reform open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/114317/1/9781040841822.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/9781003690566 10.4324/9781003690566 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 Multiple Funders 88aff734-32d0-4936-8003-872f39ab6963 9781040841822 9781003690566 9781040844373 Routledge 336 Oxford [...] open access |
| spellingShingle | Ethnographic methods Chinese social anthropology Public space rituals Cultural memory studies Performative leisure Post-socialist China Amateur Maoist song gatherings thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFF Left-of-centre democratic ideologies thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFC Far-left political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government Richaud, Lisa Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title | Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title_full | Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title_fullStr | Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title_short | Casual Assemblies: Afterlives of Maoist Performance Culture in Beijing’s Public Parks |
| title_sort | casual assemblies afterlives of maoist performance culture in beijing s public parks |
| topic | Ethnographic methods Chinese social anthropology Public space rituals Cultural memory studies Performative leisure Post-socialist China Amateur Maoist song gatherings thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFF Left-of-centre democratic ideologies thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFC Far-left political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government |
| topic_facet | Ethnographic methods Chinese social anthropology Public space rituals Cultural memory studies Performative leisure Post-socialist China Amateur Maoist song gatherings thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFF Left-of-centre democratic ideologies thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFC Far-left political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government |
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