Advertising the Chinese dream

Urban billboards and Ni Weihua's documentary photography

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3839232
AutoresMeiqin Wang (0000-0002-2443-196X, California State University, Northridge, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen29
Número2
Páginas176-201
Fecha de publicación2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaChina Information (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0920203x15582023
OpenAlexW2342309998
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas25

Consumerism is a central feature of urbanism in China and has been actively promoted as a sign of urbanity in the official rhetoric and mass media. This urban ideology is exemplified by the ubiquitous presence of street advertisements that often occupy prominent urban public spaces. After all, turning every citizen of China into a consumer has become a widely accepted Chinese dream and one that is employed to mobilize a population otherwise divided by the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor. Advertisements have assumed a commanding role and are utilized by both official entities and private corporations to promote all kinds of urban consumption, ranging from concrete commodities such as high-end homes, beautiful neighbourhoods, and luxurious goods to intangible symbols such as lifestyle, ideology, and cosmopolitan identity. All these have fallen under the scrutiny of the Shanghainese artist Ni Weihua, whose photography documents billboards advertising official ideologies and real-estate projects in Shanghai and other cities. This study brings into context Ni's artistic practice and examines specific ways in which his photographic series Keywords (关键词) and Landscape Wall (风景墙) engage with formal advertisements in the street both as an urban reality and as a site for deconstruction

Advertising · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Business · China · Consumerism · Context (archaeology · Ideology · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Population · Scrutiny · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law · Urban Planning and Governance