Deze scriptie heeft de verbeelding van de stad Beijing geprobeerd te analyseren aan de hand van het boek Beijing Doll van schrijfster Chun Sue. Allereerst is besproken op welke manier Beijing wordt...Show moreDeze scriptie heeft de verbeelding van de stad Beijing geprobeerd te analyseren aan de hand van het boek Beijing Doll van schrijfster Chun Sue. Allereerst is besproken op welke manier Beijing wordt (en werd) verbeeld in literatuur, waarbij regelmatig een vergelijking met Shanghai is gemaakt. Hoofdstuk 3 heeft het boek Beijing Doll geanalyseerd en geconcludeerd dat er twee hoofdzakelijk Pekinese hoofdthema's zijn: de focus op onderwijs en identificatie met een muzikale subcultuur (punk). Hoewel elementen dus duiden op haar Pekinese karakter, kan er niet zwart op wit worden gesteld dat Beijing Doll een typische 'Beijing roman' is, aangezien er verschillende overeenkomsten met literatuur uit Shanghai aan te wijzen zijn.Show less
This thesis focuses on two novels of early 2000s Beijing: "Beijing Doll" by Chun Sue and "Fucker" by Yin Lichuan. These authors are often labelled as 'beauty writers' and are therefore associated...Show moreThis thesis focuses on two novels of early 2000s Beijing: "Beijing Doll" by Chun Sue and "Fucker" by Yin Lichuan. These authors are often labelled as 'beauty writers' and are therefore associated with the a group of Shanghai-based authors. This thesis focuses on beauty and gender structures within these novels to find out if these authors are challenging the traditional patriarchal gender construction. This thesis also looks into the role of (domestic and international) publishers into the branding of these authors.Show less
The present research is an attempt to explore the presented and hidden narratives, or non-disclosed behaviors, of the galleries of two art hubs located in Beijing: Caochangdi art village and 798...Show moreThe present research is an attempt to explore the presented and hidden narratives, or non-disclosed behaviors, of the galleries of two art hubs located in Beijing: Caochangdi art village and 798 art district. These two districts are perceived as radically different from each other: 798 is considered by many workers of the field as commercialized, whereas Caochangdi is deemed to be "about art." However, is there an actual difference between the galleries of the two art hubs? Thus the research question was easily defined: “What are the narratives the two Beijing’s Contemporary art district’s galleries use to present themselves and do the districts differ in it or are they similar? In which way would they be similar?” This research aims at answering this question through a series of interviews. These interviews were based on theory drawn from secondary sources and are aimed at defining commercial (innovative) or non-commercial (inventive) behaviors in the sample galleries.Show less
Deze BA-scriptie doet onderzoek naar wat de Olympische Spelen in 2008 voor Beijing hebben betekend. De auteur beantwoordt de vraag in hoeverre de Olympische Spelen hebben geleid tot een...Show moreDeze BA-scriptie doet onderzoek naar wat de Olympische Spelen in 2008 voor Beijing hebben betekend. De auteur beantwoordt de vraag in hoeverre de Olympische Spelen hebben geleid tot een nalatenschap (legacy) op milieukundig, economisch en stedenbouwkundig gebied. Door een raamwerk voor het in kaart te brengen van nalatenschap toe te passen op de literatuur over dit onderwerp, concludeert de auteur dat de Olympische Spelen in Beijing hebben bijgedragen aan een versnelde verbetering van het milieu en van de infrastructuur. Daarnaast hebben de Spelen gezorgd voor de bouw van accommodaties, waarvan een deel nog wordt gebruikt, een deel niet meer wordt gebruikt en een ander deel opnieuw kan worden gebruikt voor de aankomende Olympische Spelen in 2022. Tot slot hebben de Spelen gezorgd voor nieuwe woningen door de bouw van het Olympische Dorp én hebben ze niet geleid tot een schuldenlast, ondanks het feit dat ze niet hebben bijgedragen aan een groei van het toerisme; voor andere steden die de Spelen hebben georganiseerd heeft dat tot problemen geleid.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis has focused on the transition of the 798 Dashanzi factory from 'artist village' to 'art zone' to show the positive and negative effects of the implementation of creative industries in...Show moreThis thesis has focused on the transition of the 798 Dashanzi factory from 'artist village' to 'art zone' to show the positive and negative effects of the implementation of creative industries in the Chinese urban context. I traced its evolution from its origins as an electronics factory, to an appropriation of urban land by artists and workers of the creative field, to an institutionally-accepted and promoted centre for 'creativity' and innovation. This evolution is deeply intertwined with socio-economic factors which the Chinese government supported as vehicles of (urban) development since Deng's 1978 'Open-door Policy': the dismantling of the danwei (work unit) structure; urbanization; the emergence of a real-estate market, and the rise of an urban upper-middle class. In addition, since the mid-2000s and following the explosion of Chinese contemporary art in the global art market, the government has supported the implementation of Culture Creative Industries as a strategy to build Chinese soft-power and capitalizing on intellectual property. If, on the one hand, these policies had indirect positive effects, such as the preservation of former industrial structures and the incrementation of the local economy, on the other hand they had dramatic consequences on the social environments which were subjected to them. In particular, in the case of 798, the artist community that gave rise to the artist village has been dismembered in favour of commercialization and gentrification of the area. Contemporarily to 798, the Caochangdi artist village sprang up as an urban village on the fringes of Beijing and has constituted itself as an independent reality, taking advantage of the semi-regimented rural status and falling into the cracks of Beijing's residential administration system. Thanks to its semi-illegal configuration, it has managed both to take advantage of the new creative policies implementing local economy, and to maintain the local community somewhat untouched by top-down urban rehabilitation. By adopting a perspective from the theories of place-making and place-branding, the comparison among the two artist villages and the analysis of their transformations helped me to stress the importance of the role of communities in the management of these areas.Show less
