ABSTRACT
In the last two decades, narratives about China’s rapid transformation have emphasized the country’s architectural feats of construction, demolition, and renovation, as well as the large-scale movement of labor migration to urban centers, and new modes of technology. In global news headlines, the Chinese metropolis is often associated with its dystopian elements of social alienation, surveillance, and environmental degradation. But a closer look at Chinese multimedia visual culture reveals alternative visions of belonging and home-making in the big city. This chapter provides an overview of China’s two most iconic cities: the political capital of Beijing, and its cosmopolitan counterpart, the commercial metropolis of Shanghai.
Surveying a range of screen media from the first two decades of the 21st century, the chapter draws from TV miniseries, photography, and mainstream, experimental, and independent documentary film to examine how contemporary forms of media build on and also complicate earlier images of Beijing and Shanghai and their inhabitants. While both first-tier cities have long occupied distinct roles in the Chinese cultural imaginary, media representations of everyday urban life now provide reflection on how individuals can feel at home and belong amidst the constantly shifting landscape of the metropolis.
