Bodies of Difference : Experiences of Disability and Institutional Advocacy in the Making of Modern China

__Bodies of Difference__ chronicles the compelling story of disability's emergence as an area of significant sociopolitical activity in contemporary China. Keenly attentive to how bodies are embedded in discourse, history, and personal exigency, Matthew Kohrman details ways that disability became a fount for the production of institutions and identities across the Chinese landscape during the final decades of the twentieth century. He looks closely at the creation of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and the lives of numerous individuals, among them Deng Pufang, son of China's Communist leader Deng Xiaoping. Bodies of Difference chronicles the compelling story of disability's emergence as an area of significant sociopolitical activity in contemporary China. Keenly attentive to how bodies are embedded in discourse, history, and personal exigency, Matthew Kohrman details ways that disability became a fount for the production of institutions and identities across the Chinese landscape during the final decades of the twentieth century. He looks closely at the creation of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and the lives of numerous individuals, among them Deng Pufang, son of China's Communist leader Deng Xiaoping. Contents Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. A Biomythography in the Making 2. Why Ma Zhun Doesn’t Count 3. Building a Corporeal Corporate Body 4. Speeding Up Life in Beijing 5. Troubled Sociality: The Federation-Canji Relationship in Wenchang County 6. Dis/ablement and Marriage: Ridiculed Bachelors, Ambivalent Grooms Epilogue Notes Appendix A. The Five Criteria of Disability Used by the 1987 National Sampling Survey of the Disabled Appendix B References Index