The Extraordinary in the Mundane

Family and Forms of Community in China

Becky Yang Hsu

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English

Columbia University Press
11 March 2025

Sociology & anthropology

How do individuals address serious challenges in a context where organized gatherings are subject to strict government control? This book brings together a diverse group of scholars to explore the many ways people in China self-organize and create varied forms of coordination to solve important problems.

Through compelling, detail-rich case studies, The Extraordinary in the Mundane shows that family structures and networks deeply shape these modes of association. Because the public-private dichotomy does not resonate with many people in China, they rely on informal social ties, not formal organizations or state agencies, to confront personal challenges. Chapters present vivid ethnographic portraits that consider both positive and negative aspects of community formation. A woman with an autistic child creates an organization to advocate for inclusion of neurodivergent children in public schools. A trainee in a psychological counseling course finds mutual support among other participants. A boy is taken by his father to an internet addiction treatment camp that aims to restructure family interactions. A woman in her seventies shows off the burial clothes she prepared for herself, to the admiration of a group of friends. Offering a glimpse into the unofficial realities that often remain off the record, this book provides a wide-ranging and timely examination of the varieties of civic action in contemporary China.

Edited by: Becky Yang Hsu
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780231217910
ISBN 10: 0231217919
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 11 March 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Becky Yang Hsu is associate professor of sociology at Georgetown University, where she is also affiliated with the Asian Studies Program and is a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Her most recent book is The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness: Anxieties, Hopes, and Moral Tensions in Everyday Life (coedited with Richard Madsen, 2019).

Reviews for The Extraordinary in the Mundane: Family and Forms of Community in China

Becky Yang Hsu and the contributors have produced an exemplary volume that transcends the false dichotomy of China versus the world, presents rich ethnographic details, and, most importantly, highlights the cultural and moral dimensions of Chinese associational life. -- Bin Xu, author of The Culture of Democracy: A Sociological Approach to Civil Society The fine-grained essays in this book delve into the textures of daily life in contemporary China, providing convincing clues about the dramatic transformations that China is undergoing through minute adjustments in social ethics and practices. These essays expertly demonstrate how shifts in family and marital relations, electronically mediated social relations, and funerary practices both propel as well as result from the economic dynamism of the sometimes troubled powerhouse that is China today. -- Mayfair Yang, author of Re-Enchanting Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China The Extraordinary in the Mundane is a tour-de-force of on-the-ground research in contemporary China. Challenging the idea that civil society is dead, the authors of this book show how social space still exists and that individuals act in ways that reflect informal organizations. -- Ian Johnson, author of Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future