Events

DIRECTORS

Prof Zhu Xiaoyang and Mr Li Weihua, Peking University, China

SYNOPSIS

Hongren is a village on the eastern shore of Dianchi, a like outside of Kunming, Yunnan Province. The region used to be surrounded by fields of paddy rice, vegetables and lotus. In early 2000s, the Eastern shore of Dianchi witnessed the disappearance of arable lands. It has thus become an “urban village,” an enclave within a megalopolis. While the rural community is being exterminated by forced urbanization, the villagers had their own way of urbanization. Since 2005, the villagers have been working to build a modern community, adjacent to their old one. But the local government suddenly decided to demolish this new community, on the very day of its completion.

A citywide policy was launched in May 2010, “urban village reconstruction,” which targeted places such as Hongren, both the new community and the old village. The Hongren residents launched their resistance as well. A group of anthropological scholars and students were invited to participate in their resistance.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

ZHU Xiaoyang is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology, Deputy Chair of the Department of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Institute of Social Anthropology at Peking University, China. He received his PhD in Anthropology, Macquarie University Australia. His research interests include political anthropology, anthropology of law, Industrial anthropology and development studies. He is the author of Facing with the Confusion of Legal Tongues: From Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives (2008), Offenses and Punishment: Stories of Xiaocun 1931-1997 (2003), Topography and Political Economics: Stories of Xiaocun 2003-09(forthcoming, World Scientific), and many articles include “The Chinese Staff and Workers’ Representative Congress: An Institutional Channel for Workplace Grassroots Interests?” and “Misreading Law and the Imagined Homeland: A Case Study of the State-owned Enterprise”.

LI Weihua is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Institute of Sociology and Anthropology, Peking University. Mr. Li has participated in the making of several ethnographic films, including Eastern Shore of Dianchi, Kachin Refugees, andThe Ritual of Duode. Based on an 11-month field work among the Kachin refugee camps at the China-Burmese border, Li’s Ph.D. dissertation explores the roles of Christianity, the Qing Empire and British colonial power in the making of the history of the Kachin people in the past two centuries. Through the life experience of the Kachin refugees, Li also sheds light on the formation of the modern nation-states in China and Burma .

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP Mr Jonathan Lee via email: jonathan.lee@nus.edu.sg