MIGRANT BEGGARS AND BUSKERS: China's Have-Less Celebrities

Jeffreys, E; Wang, S

MIGRANT BEGGARS AND BUSKERS: China's Have-Less Celebrities

Jeffreys, E

Wang, S

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Critical Asian Studies, 2012, 44 (4), pp. 571 - 596
Issue Date:: 2012-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Jeffreys, E https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8269-7080	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wang, S	en_US
dc.date.issued	2012-12-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Critical Asian Studies, 2012, 44 (4), pp. 571 - 596	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1467-2715	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/31530
dc.description.abstract	This article examines issues of migrancy and socioeconomic disadvantage in present-day China with references to two cases involving the celebritization of migrant beggars and buskers. The first concerns Cheng Guorong, a 34-year-old vagrant beggar with mental health issues who became an international fashion icon known as "Brother Sharp" in 2010 after an amateur photographer posted candid photographs of him walking down a street on an internet forum. The second case involves two migrant buskers in Beijing who performed to an audience of around 1 billion viewers worldwide on China Central Television Station's annual Spring Festival Gala in 2011, after a friend posted a mobile phone video clip of them singing on his microblog. These cases show how the mediated contexts provided by the World Wide Web, combined with the corollary growth of a young digital-technology-savvy population, are generating new entertainment-orientated communities and celeb-rity-making practices in China. It also shows how these seemingly apolitical entertainment practices are refashioning public debates about the politics of prosperity and equality. © 2012 Copyright BCAS, Inc.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Critical Asian Studies	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/14672715.2012.738542	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Cultural Studies	en_US
dc.title	MIGRANT BEGGARS AND BUSKERS: China's Have-Less Celebrities	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	4	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	44	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	4	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	44	en_US

Abstract:

This article examines issues of migrancy and socioeconomic disadvantage in present-day China with references to two cases involving the celebritization of migrant beggars and buskers. The first concerns Cheng Guorong, a 34-year-old vagrant beggar with mental health issues who became an international fashion icon known as "Brother Sharp" in 2010 after an amateur photographer posted candid photographs of him walking down a street on an internet forum. The second case involves two migrant buskers in Beijing who performed to an audience of around 1 billion viewers worldwide on China Central Television Station's annual Spring Festival Gala in 2011, after a friend posted a mobile phone video clip of them singing on his microblog. These cases show how the mediated contexts provided by the World Wide Web, combined with the corollary growth of a young digital-technology-savvy population, are generating new entertainment-orientated communities and celeb-rity-making practices in China. It also shows how these seemingly apolitical entertainment practices are refashioning public debates about the politics of prosperity and equality. © 2012 Copyright BCAS, Inc.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/31530