The Teahouse Under Socialism: The Decline and Renewal of Public Life in Chengdu, 1950-2000 | National Humanities Center

Work of the Fellows: Monographs

The Teahouse Under Socialism: The Decline and Renewal of Public Life in Chengdu, 1950-2000

By Di Wang (NHC Fellow, 2006–07)

Socialism; Teahouses; Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution; Cultural History; Chinese History

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018

From the publisher’s description:

Wang looks at the transformation of these teahouses from private businesses to collective ownership and how state policy and the proprietors’ response to it changed the overall economic and social structure of the city. He uses this transformation to illuminate broader trends in China’s urban public life from 1950 through the end of the Cultural Revolution and into the post-Mao reform era. In doing so, The Teahouse under Socialism charts the fluctuations in fortune of this ancient cultural institution and analyzes how it survived, and even thrived, under bleak conditions.

Awards and Prizes
Best Book in Non-North American Urban History (2018)
Subjects
History / Socialism / Teahouses / Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution / Cultural History / Chinese History /

Wang, Di (NHC Fellow, 2006–07). The Teahouse Under Socialism: The Decline and Renewal of Public Life in Chengdu, 1950-2000. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018.