Haunted Modernization

Urban Legends and Cultural Transition in Contemporary China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8933585
AutoresFang Tang (0000-0001-7936-9537, Twitter (United States), autor de correspondencia), Lu Gan (0000-0003-1056-7660), Gan Lu (0009-0002-6921-3912)
Año2024
Volumen135
Número1
Páginas48-68
Fecha de publicación2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaFolklore (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
EditorialRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2023.2282281
OpenAlexW4392809233
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas11

Over the past half-century, a series of reforms in China have brought about economic prosperity and rapid urban development. Urban legends in contemporary China constitute an essential part of folk culture, reflecting the distinctive features of Chinese urbanization and its subsequent problems. This article aims to explore some of the most representative popular urban legends, including the 'Legends of the Campus and Shopping Mall', 'The Vanishing Hitchhiker', and the 'Legends of Phoenix Men', in relation to social development in the period of rural–urban transformation. The article argues that Chinese contemporary urban legends provide an alternative narrative of cultural transition and fragmentation, stretching from the rural traditions to modern urbanization. They express Chinese people's wishes, hopes, and desires for a better world, yet at the same time they also reveal their fears, anxieties, and concerns about the rapid pace of social change and the subsequent problems it brings, such as higher crime rates, political corruption, a deeper class divide, and a shaken cultural foundation. It is hoped that this article will provide a fresh insight into studies of folk culture and urban legends

Archaeology · China · Economic geography · Geography · Modernization theory · Political science · Transition (genetics · Asian Culture and Media Studies · History