Entering the twentieth-first century, post-Mao China continues its considerable transformation. The central theme of this research lies in the examination of social networking through a case study of Shanghai Expo 2010. It is an analysis of the forms of networking in the formation of Shanghai as a global city. The overall question is: To what extent will China be able to enter the global network economy whilst maintaining its emphasis on hierarchical decision-making and central control? This concerns the role of the social in the preparation of Shanghai Expo 2010, with a particular focus on creative networks. The notion of creative networks, which was a starting point for this thesis, is theoretically understood as creative people who are specialists in rather privileged contexts involved with the new economy. The analysis of creative networks is framed in a dialectic relationship between agents (the researcher) and the structure within which they act. Ultimately, however, this thesis problematises the notion of creative networks as they are generally understood in Western urban cultures, providing a reflexive perspective with a focus on people and subjectivities, practices of networking, and socially embeddedness. In addition to an analysis of documents and histories, the main methodology is ethnographic. The aim was to gain access to the creative networks related to Expo 2010. But this proved extremely difficult. Due to access problems, I aim to develop an argument about two rather different networking logics: on the one hand the Western oriented 'creative networks' and, on the other hand, the specific Chinese guanxi. Creative networks show a more open social system comprised of open, inclusive, reflexive and fluid networks. Guanxi represents a closed social system that is conditioned by traditionally hierarchical networks of family and the state. The research ultimately demonstrates how these two types of networking work differently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:485319 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Lee, Yu-Hsuan |
| Publisher | Nottingham Trent University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/303/ |
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