Understanding Canton: Rethinking Popular Culture in the Republican Period

This book broadens our understanding of the culture and society of Canton, the largest metroplois in South China, in the period between the two World Wars. It redresses serious misconceptions of the extent of damage inflicted by gambling, prostitution and opium consumption on the Cantonese society and its people. There is abundant evidence that common Cantonese were more receptive to a pro-Western mentality, despite their reputation for being jingoistic and anti-foreign. Tracing the rise of Cantonese opera as a major form of mass entertainment, and the emergence among the citizens a strong sense of pride in being a part of the modern city, help us learn more about the transformation of social and cultural life in this city in the modern era.


Author: Virgil Ho
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/16/2006
Pages: 520
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.03lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.19d
ISBN: 9780199282715

About the Author

Dr. Vergil Ho was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, before joining the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology where he now teaches modern Chinese history.

This title is not returnable