Urban consumer culture

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 183, 2005, Pages 692-709

  Davis, Deborah ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CAPITALISM; CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR; CULTURE; ECONOMICS; URBAN AREA;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 30944447638     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0305741005000421     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. In 1986, 65% of urban households owned a washing machine, 29% colour televisions and 18% refrigerators; by 1998 the percentages were 90.5%, 105% and 76%. State Statistical Bureau, A Survey of Income and Expenditures of Urban Households in China, 1986 (Honolulu: East West Center, 1987), pp. 242-44,
2. Zhongguo tongji nianjian 1999 (China Statistical Yearbook 1999) (Beijing: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe, 1999), p. 324.
3. "Zhengfu gongzuo baogao" ("Government work report"), Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 20 March 2003, p. 1;
4. Li Gangqing, "Jianquan he yuanshan shehuizhuyi shichang," ("Develop and improve the socialist market"), Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 22 February 2003;
5. Du Haishou, "Genben mudi shi gaishan shenghuo" ("The basic goal is to improve living standards"), Renmin ribao, 15 October 2003, p. 6.
6. For English translations see http://www.qis.net/chinalaw/prclaw26.htm, accessed in May 2004.
7. Copies of these laws can be found on the website of the China Consumers' Association, www.cca.org.cn, and www.lawbase.com.cn, accessed in May 2004.
8. Most relevant were the articles in the Consumer Protection Law that guaranteed consumers the right to correct information (articles 8 and 13), the right to choose and exercise supervision over commodities and services (articles 9 and 15), the right to fair trade including fair measurement (article 10), the right to receive compensation for damages (articles 11, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 49), and the right to form social groups to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests (articles 12, 31 and 32). In addition, the law required the state to listen to consumer opinions when formulating laws (article 26) and the courts to simplify the procedures for consumers to file a lawsuit (article 30).
9. Benjamin Liebman, "Class action litigation in China," Harvard Law Review, Vol. 111 (1998), pp. 1523-41.
10. See http://www.wanghai.com/business, accessed in May 2004.
11. Chengning Ren, "Daxia yingxiong gaibugai nashui? ("For destroying fakes must a hero pay taxes"), Zhongguo minzheng (Chinese Civil Affairs), September 1996, p. 6.
12. The other nine were: The new Economic Contract Law (1981), the Constitution of 1982, the new Code of Civil Procedure (1986), a draft Law for Village Elections (1987), Administrative Litigation Law (1989), the first Company Law (1993), the first Compensation Law (1994), the new Criminal Code (1997) and the 2000 Legislative Procedure Law. "Gaizao Zhongguo de shinian dajing dianli" ("Major laws during the ten years of Chinese reforms") Minzu yu fazhi shibao (Democracy and Law Times), 12 March 2002, pp. 12-15.
13. "Major laws during the ten years of Chinese reforms," p. 14.
14. The literature on increased inequality is enormous. I therefore cite only a few sources from among those published since 1998: Eugene Chang, "Growing income inequality," China Economic Review, Vol. 11 (2002), pp. 335-340;
15. Azizur Khan and Carl Riskin, Inequality and Poverty in China in the Age of Globalization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001);
16. Xueguang Zhou, "Economic transformation and income inequality in urban China," The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 105 (2000), pp. 1135-74.
17. Pun Ngai, "Subsumption or consumption?" in Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 18, No. 4 (2003), pp. 469-492.
18. Kevin Latham, "Rethinking Chinese consumption," in C.M. Hann (ed.), Postsocialism (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 227-28.
19. Mary Douglas, Thought Styles (London: Sage, 1996);
20. Daniel Miller, Acknowledging Consumption (London: Routledge, 1995)
21. Don Slater, Consumer Culture and Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997).
22. Deborah Davis, "From welfare benefit to capitalized asset," in Ray Forrest and James Lee (eds.), Chinese Urban Housing Reform (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 183-196;
23. "Inequality and insecurity among elderly in contemporary China," in Susanne Formanek and Sepp Linhart (eds.), Asian Concepts and Experiences (Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1997), pp. 133-154;
24. "Inequalities and stratification in the nineties," in China Review 1995 (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1995), pp. 1-25.
25. Erika Rappaport, Shopping for Pleasure (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 12;
26. Maris Gillette, Between Mecca and Beijing (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000);
27. James Watson, Golden Arches East (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997);
28. Yunxiang Yan, "The politics of Chinese society," in Tyrene White (ed.), China Briefing 2000 (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2000), pp. 159-193.
29. Piper Gaubatz, "China's urban transformation," Urban Studies, Vol. 36, No. 9 (1999), pp. 1495-1521;
30. Deborah Davis, "Social transformations of metropolitan China since 1949," in Joseph Guggler (ed.), Cities in the Developing World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 248-258.
31. Martin Whyte and William Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), pp. 85-90
32. Deborah Davis, "Urban household supplicants to the state," in Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell (eds.), Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 50-76.
33. Gaubatz, "China's urban transformation"
34. Hanlong Lu, "To be relatively comfortable in an egalitarian society," in Deborah Davis (ed.), The Consumer Revolution in Urban China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 124-144;
35. Xiaobo Lu and Elizabeth Perry, Danwei: The Changing Chinese Workplace (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997);
36. Shaoguang Wang, "The politics of private time," in Deborah Davis, Richard Kraus, Barry Naughton and Elizabeth Perry (eds.), Urban Spaces (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 149-172;
37. Whyte and Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China.
38. Deborah Davis, "Introduction," Consumer Revolution in Urban China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000). The official embrace of consumers as positive agents of change can be summarized by the dramatic increase in the number of articles published in Renmin ribao that use the word consumer, and the very limited number of times the words consumer and waste are ever linked in one article. Not only does the basic frequency increase over time, but between 1995 and 2003 consumers became even more visible than either workers or university students The Renmin ribao archive that is accessible through http:// willard.library reported 681 articles that included at least one reference to consumers, 504 to university students, 1,231 to workers in 1995. For 2003, the comparable frequencies were 1,126 to consumers, 1,058 to workers and 814 to students. Accessed in May 2004.
39. In 1980 less than 15% of urban residential property was owner-occupied; by 2002 80% of non-migrant residents had become home owners and almost 100% of migrants rented from private landlords. Xinhua News Agency, 9 August 2002.
40. Only 5% of the fathers and 15% of the mothers worked outside the state sector, 24% of fathers and 66% of mothers were manual workers, 14% of fathers and 13% of mothers did routine white-collar jobs, 22% of fathers and 14% of mothers did non-routine white-collar work, 29% of fathers and 2% of mothers were middle management, and 10% of fathers and 4% of mothers were professionals.
41. Materials from occupational and housing histories collected from these families have been previously analysed in Deborah Davis, "Social class transformation," Modern China (July 2002), pp. 251-275;
42. "Self-employment in Shanghai," The China Quarterly, No. 157 (March 1999), pp. 22-43;
43. "Job mobility in post-Mao cities," The China Quarterly, No. 132 (December 1992), pp. 1062-85,
44. "Urban households: Supplicants to a socialist state."
45. The 20 items were: Sofa, desk, radio, colour television, electric rice cooker, microwave oven, exhaust hood for stove, DVD/VCD, desk computer, laptop computer, fixed line phone, mobile phone, carpet, piano, hot-water heater, electric fan, air conditioner, exercise equipment, refrigerator and washing machine.
46. Davis, "Urban household: Supplicants to the state," pp. 50-76.
47. Hanlong Lu (ed.), Shangahi shehui fazhan lanpi shu (Blue Book of Shanghai Social Development) (Shanghai: Shanghai shekeyuan chubanshe, 2004), p. 65.
48. Li Xuan, Shinei zhuangshi xinkuan (New Sincerity of Interior Decoration) (Chengdu: Chengdu keji daxue chubanshe, 1995);
49. He Sheng et al. (eds), Jushi zhuangxiu jisu yu shili (Techniques and Examples for Home Renovation) (Beijing: Zhongguowujia chubanshe, 1996);
50. Zhen Tiegang (ed.), Xiandai jushi de kongjian yu secai (Colour and Space in Today's Rooms) (Tianjin: Tianjin daxue chubanshe, 1995); all these magazines purchased August 1997 in the bookstore of the state-owned Parkson Department Store on Huai Hai Road, Shanghai.
51. Zhen Tiegang, Colour and Space in Today's Rooms.
52. Li Xuan, New Sincerity of Interior Decoration.
53. All the magazines cited in the footnote above were bought as I systematically viewed customers in four Shanghai bookshops in August 1997. All the magazines I bought were read or purchased during the time of my observations by people who had been reading the magazines, and the one edited by Li was particularly dog-eared.
54. "Pinwei jiating, pinwei shenghuo" cover slogan in Deco Times, 16 January 2004.
55. See for example advertisements accessed February 2004: Www.artdeco.com for bedding; www.dulcet.com for stereo equipment; www.haier.com for all appliances; www.hangang.com.cn for high quality paint; www.hongda.com.cn for door hardware; www.hukla.de for Danish furniture; www.shjustep.com for flooring; www.shfugao.com for electronic products; www.sodun.net for luxury furnishing; as well as individual designers only some of whom were actually based in Shanghai, such as for example Tai Yun at www.taiyun.com or Rex Chan at www.xalpcc, both of whom claimed to offer sophisticated designs at economical prices.
56. Based on visits and floor plans in the two stores during February, Marchand December 2004.
57. The studio for the single male was 24 square metres, the smallest unit in Shanghai was 36 square metres for an elderly couple whose only son had moved out but occasionally returned to visit.
58. http://www.ikea.com, accessed in December 2004.
59. Alexander Brenner, based on interview with the Ikea representative in Beijing, "The Ikea-man cometh," Institute of Current World Affairs Letter, 20 January 2004.
60. Per capita monthly income for the middle 20% of the 2003 income distribution averaged 3,150 yuan, barely lower than Ikea's 3,350 yuan cut-off, and those in the top 40% of the income distribution all fit the Ikea profile. Shanghai tongji nianjian 2004 (Shanghai Statistical Yearbook, 2004) (Shanghai: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe, 2004), pp. 99, 102 and 106
61. For example, sofas which were generally the centrepiece in new living rooms cost less than 1,500 yuan; sofa beds were under 3,000 yuan. By contrast prices in a state store such as Seashore were usually 50% more expensive and, in the eyes of my colleagues, of poorer quality. For Ikea prices, I consulted http://www.ikea.com/ms/zh_CN/virtual_catalogue/ main.html. Accessed in December 2004.
62. In one case the husband was a PLA officer newly returned from a posting outside Shanghai; in the second, the couple were both on the faculty of a university in Tianjin.
63. Hanlong Lu, "To be relatively comfortable in an egalitarian society," in Deborah Davis (ed.), The Consumer Revolution in Urban China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 124-144.
64. Xinhua News Agency, 9 August 2002. In Shanghai 80% of non-migrant residents were homeowners. By comparison in the United States, which has one of the highest levels of home ownership, only 68% of all residential units were owner-occupied in 2003, and this percentage was the highest level in over 100 years. For US census data, see www.calvert-henderson.com/shelter2. Accessed in May 2004.
65. Interviewee No. 74 on 4 April 2004.
66. From home visits to interviewees No. 20 on 3 April 2004, No. 37 on 28 March 2004, No. 27 on 27 February 1997, No. 50 on 4 March 2004.
67. Pun, "Subsumption or consumption?" p. 469.
68. Mike Featherstone, "Life style and consumer culture," Theory, Culture and Society, No.4 (1987), pp. 55-70;
69. Gillette, Between Mecca and Beijing;
70. Nicola Green, "How everyday life became virtual," Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2001), pp. 73-92;
71. Michele Lamont and Virag Molnar, "How blacks use consumption to shape their collective identity," Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2001), pp. 31-45
72. Jing Wang. "Culture as leisure and culture as capital," Positions, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2001), pp. 69-104.