Shanzhai : Deconstruction in Chinese Volume 8 Paperback / softback
by Byung-Chul (Professor, Universitat der Kunste Berlin) Han
Part of the Untimely Meditations series
Paperback / softback
Description
Tracing the thread of "decreation" in Chinese thought, from constantly changing classical masterpieces to fake cell phones that are better than the original. Shanzhai is a Chinese neologism that means "fake," originally coined to describe knock-off cell phones marketed under such names as Nokir and Samsing.
These cell phones were not crude forgeries but multifunctional, stylish, and as good as or better than the originals.
Shanzhai has since spread into other parts of Chinese life, with shanzhai books, shanzhai politicians, shanzhai stars.
There is a shanzhai Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Porcelain Doll, in which Harry takes on his nemesis Yandomort.
In the West, this would be seen as piracy, or even desecration, but in Chinese culture, originals are continually transformed-deconstructed.
In this volume in the Untimely Meditations series, Byung-Chul Han traces the thread of deconstruction, or "decreation," in Chinese thought, from ancient masterpieces that invite inscription and transcription to Maoism-"a kind a shanzhai Marxism," Han writes. Han discusses the Chinese concepts of quan, or law, which literally means the weight that slides back and forth on a scale, radically different from Western notions of absoluteness; zhen ji, or original, determined not by an act of creation but by unending process; xian zhan, or seals of leisure, affixed by collectors and part of the picture's composition; fuzhi, or copy, a replica of equal value to the original; and shanzhai.
The Far East, Han writes, is not familiar with such "pre-deconstructive" factors as original or identity.
Far Eastern thought begins with deconstruction.
Information
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Out of Stock - We are unable to provide an estimated availability date for this product
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:104 pages, 25 color illus., 3 b&w illus.; 28 Illustrations, unspecified
- Publisher:MIT Press Ltd
- Publication Date:06/10/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780262534369
Information
-
Out of Stock - We are unable to provide an estimated availability date for this product
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:104 pages, 25 color illus., 3 b&w illus.; 28 Illustrations, unspecified
- Publisher:MIT Press Ltd
- Publication Date:06/10/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780262534369
