China Underground
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An American’s experiences of the traditions, changes, and subcultures of 21st-century China—“a seamless portrait of a complex modern society” (Publishers Weekly).
Formerly a student in Beijing, Zachary Mexico returned to China in 2006 to chronicle the immense changes in Chinese society ushered as it joined the world’s headlong rush into the future. Focusing on the Chinese of his generation, Zach journeys into the vibrant subcultures of the marginalized and outcast that exist alongside China’s centuries of tradition.
Talking to such varied personalities as a mafia kingpin, a prostitute, and a wannabe rock star, Zach offers a unique perspective on the radical shifts in Chinese society. Finding individuals with fascinating stories, he delves into topics ranging from culture to politics to environmental issues and sexual mores.
Readers will meet a closeted graphic designer; a self-taught disaster photographer; a struggling punk band; a ladies’ man who can’t stay in one place; and many more faces of this unique country. This is a remarkable portrayal of a country undergoing rapid-fire change in a place where timeless historical legacies still line the streets.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Collected through intimate encounters over an impressive range of travels, Mexico's menagerie of voices tell the unique story of contemporary China's seismic social shifts from the point of view of the marginalized and disaffected. A musician and writer, Mexico is a remarkably eloquent and perceptive participant-observer. Focusing on and dissecting broader cultural, political and economic issues in episodic chapters, he puts faces and names to the staggering statistics. We learn about the government-estimated "5 to 10 million active homosexuals," through the story of a closeted graphic designer. We meet an infamous photojournalist who chronicles China's mining disasters, corruption, car accidents and environmental degradation. We encounter bohemians 80-year-old women selling marijuana on the side of busy streets and slackers whose indolence is a protest against the frenzied consumerism that surrounds them. One such self-proclaimed "social parasite" opened a bar in a trendy area of Beijing to sell drinks at cost and only to his friends. The overall effect is a seamless portrait of a complex modern society in which an ancient culture persists in spite of lightning-speed economic changes.
