Chinese Urban Shi-nema : Cinematicity, Society and Millennial China

**This book dives into the __mise-en-scène__ of contemporary China to explore the “becoming cinema” of Chinese cities, societies, and subjectivities. Set in the wake of China’s radical and rapid period of urbanization and infrastructural transformation, and situating itself in the processual city of Ningbo, the book combines empirical, ficto-critical, and philosophical methods to generate a dynamic account of everyday life as new forms of consumer culture bed in. Harnessing a Realist approach that allows for different scales of analysis, the book zooms in on five architectural assemblages including: surreal real estate showrooms; a fragmented history museum; China’s “first and best” Sino-foreign university; a new “Old town”; and weird gamified “any-now(here)-spaces.” Together these modern arrangements and machines for living cast light upon the broader picture sweeping up greater China.** Preface Getting Started: And Learning from Our Students References Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction Notes Towards a Method Notes on Terminology 1: Films and “The Cinema” Notes Towards a Vertiginous Method On the State of a City Ningbo-a-Go-Go Structure of Approach and Synopsis of Chapters References Filmography Chapter 2: Shi-Story and Theory 1935: From Zunyi to New York, Paris and Beijing ... via Hollywood and the Screen Body Regarding the Cinematisation of Cities and Life Towards a Theory of Chinese Cinematicity From Cinema to Shi-nema via Assemblage Theory Fractal Modelling A Fractalactic Case Study: Or, “The House Always Wins” Concerning Individuals and Their Freedom 4E Psychogeography References Filmography Chapter 3: Commercial Overground Shi-Nema: Some Notes on Cinematicity and Its Propensity for Selling Dream (Un)Real Estate in Contemporary China On Aspirational Commercial Cinema Real (Estate) Aspirations and the Gendered Properties of Property China Moulds Hearts and Designs Cities for Living Staging (Trans)actions: Or, Actualising the Dream SAS ́ in the City From Commercial Mainstream Shi-nema to In-dependent Art Shi-nema References Filmography Chapter 4: In-dependent Art Shi-Nema: Decomposing the Main Melody via Monu-mental Time-Images Architecture and/as Cinema Contemporaries and Counterparts Museums and World Expos: A Postsocialist (Post)modernity? Assemblage Art/Theory Independent Time-Image Shi-nema Ningbo’s Monu-mental Hybrid-Image Historical Museum Cracked, Crystalline, Cinematic Walls Assembling a Playful Architectonic Cinema Cracked Cine-Crystals Conclusions References Filmography Chapter 5: Transnational Sci-Fi Shi-nema: Or, Diary Notes from “Westworld” Regarding Neoliberal Dulosis, “Academic” Automatons and the Franchised Post-historical University in the Era of Global “Excellence” Sci fi and Simulacra Cinema/Shi-nema Notes from Westworld: (Video) Casting Call Western History in Three Acts, Ages or Concepts Back to the Future (of Cool Britannia) Notes from Westworld II: Arrival on Set Notes from Westworld III: Invasion of the Body Snatchers EX Men versus the Yes Men The Student Experience Planet Starbucks and the “RUOK” Zoo Conclusions References Filmography Chapter 6: Shi-Nematic Games (Casino Capitalism) Shi-t(rick) Chinese Cinema Let There Be Lights ... and Keys Spot the Difference, Cat and Mouse The Price is Right, Speed Dating Designers, the Pied Piper, Golden Eggs and Talking Birds Ningbo Expo The Peacock, Capitalist Carpet and Wheel of (Starbucks’) Fortune Legendary Games: The七夕节日(Qixi) Festival and the Hunger Games Scramble References Filmography Chapter 7: Epilogue: Disneyfied Dreamwork Shi-nema—Tracing a New “Old” Path Through the Inauthentic “Traditional” Hybrid Huallywood Cinema The New Old: Or, the Past Is a Foreign (and Exotic) Land The Old New: Or, the Future Is a Familiar (and Nearby) Land Farewell to Ningbo: Or, a Picture Postcard Featuring a Picture of a Picture References Filmography Index This book dives into the mise-en-scene of contemporary China to explore the "becoming cinema" of Chinese cities, societies, and subjectivities. Set in the wake of Chinas radical and rapid period of urbanization and infrastructural transformation, and situating itself in the processual city of Ningbo, the book combines empirical, ficto-critical, and philosophical methods to generate a dynamic account of everyday life as new forms of consumer culture bed in. Harnessing a Realist approach that allows for different scales of analysis, the book zooms in on five architectural assemblages including: surreal real estate showrooms; a fragmented history museum; Chinas "first and best" Sino-foreign university; a new "Old town"; and weird gamified "any-now(here)-spaces." Together these modern arrangements and machines for living cast light upon the broader picture sweeping up greater China