Property-driven urban change in post-socialist Shanghai: reading the television series Woju

Journal article | Zeitschriftenartikel

In late 2009, the television series Woju received extremely high audience ratings in major Chinese cities. Its visual narratives engage the public and comment on social developments by presenting detailed pictures of urban change in Shanghai and the everyday lives of a range of urban characters who are involved in and affected by the urban-restructuring process and represent three distinct social groups: "white-collar" immigrants, low-income local residents, and powerful officials. By analysing the visual narratives of these characters, this article highlights the loss of the city's historical identity and shows how the reorganization of urban space translates into a reallocation of resources, power and prestige among the social groups. The article also shows that Woju represents a new development in literary and television production in the age of the Internet and globalization; its imaginative construct of the city was based on transnational and virtual rather than local and neighbourhood experience. This also testifies to the loss of the city's established identity in cultural production.

Object Details

• Alternative title: Eigentumsorientierte Umstrukturierung im postsozialistischen Shanghai: anhand der Fernsehserie Woju
• ISSN: 1868-4874
• Extent: Seite(n): 3-28
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Veröffentlichungsversion; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 39(4)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Publizistische Medien, Journalismus,Verlagswesen ; Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Allgemeine Soziologie, Makrosoziologie, spezielle Theorien und Schulen, Entwicklung und Geschichte der Soziologie ; Siedlungssoziologie, Stadtsoziologie ; Medieninhalte, Aussagenforschung ; Nachbarschaft ; Interessenpolitik ; Unterschicht ; Niedrigeinkommen ; China ; Metropole ; Einwanderung ; Strukturwandel ; Stadtgebiet ; soziale Schicht ; Ostasien ; Konflikt ; Familie ; Identität ; sozialer Wandel ; Stadtentwicklung ; Machtpolitik ; Alltag ; Oberschicht ; Fernsehserie ; empirisch ; empirisch-qualitativ

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Liang, Samuel Y.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Deutschland
• (when): 2010

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-4-3555
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:27 PM CEST