The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness: Anxieties, Hopes, and Moral Tensions in Everyday LifeBecky Yang Hsu, Richard Madsen What defines "happiness," and how can we attain it? The ways in which people in China ask and answer this universal question tell a lot about the tensions and challenges they face during periods of remarkable political and economic change. Based on a five-year original study conducted by a select team of China experts, The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness begins by asking if Chinese citizens’ assessment of their life is primarily a judgment of their social relationships. The book shows how different dimensions of happiness are manifest in the moral and ethical understandings that embed individuals in specific communities. Vividly describing the moral dilemmas experienced in contemporary Chinese society, the rituals of happiness performed in modern weddings, the practices of conviviality carried out in shared meals, the professional tensions confronted by social workers, and the hopes and frustrations shared by political reformers, the contributors to this important study illuminate the causes of anxiety and reasons for hope in China today. |
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activists adult children asked banquet Beijing bride celebration ceremony chapter Chen Huihai child Chinese Dream Chinese society Confucian Contemporary China couple cuisine culinary described Duan Yi eating economic emotional essay example fascicle feel fieldwork filial piety friends goals groom Guan Xiaozhi Guangdong Guangzhou guanxi guests gutter oil happy meal Hong Kong human rights ideals individual interviews Jin Yan labor NGOs labor rights Liang Liang Qichao live Maoist marriage married material meaning migrant modern moral NGOs official one’s parents party Peking University People's percent political pressure profession professional prosperity pursuit relationships respondents restaurant rights lawyers rituals Shanghai Shanghainese Sichuan social workers Taiwan Teng Biao tensions tion unhappy urban China values virtue vision Wang Jing wedding word xingfu Xi Jinping Xiao Shu xingfu Xuzhou young adults yuan Yunxiang Zhang Zhiru Zhu Daogang