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This article was downloaded by: [Selcuk Universitesi] On: 20 December 2014, At: 15:44 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/riac20 Working and spending in South China: a methodological experiment with visual ethnography Eric Ma & Ducky Tse Published online: 06 Aug 2006. To cite this article: Eric Ma & Ducky Tse (2005) Working and spending in South China: a methodological experiment with visual ethnography, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 6:1, 113-125 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462394042000326932 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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This article was downloaded by: [Selcuk Universitesi]On: 20 December 2014, At: 15:44Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Inter-Asia Cultural StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/riac20

Working and spending in South China: amethodological experiment with visualethnographyEric Ma & Ducky TsePublished online: 06 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Eric Ma & Ducky Tse (2005) Working and spending in South China: amethodological experiment with visual ethnography, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 6:1, 113-125

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462394042000326932

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Volume 6, Number 1, 2005

ISSN 1464–9373 Print/ISSN 1469–8447 Online/05/010113–13 © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group LtdDOI: 10.1080/1462394042000326932

Working and spending in South China: a methodological experiment with visual ethnography

Eric MA and Ducky TSE

Taylor and Francis LtdRIACS6107.sgm10.1080/1462394042000326932Inter-Asia Cultural Studies1464-9373 Print/1469-8447 OnlineOriginal Article2005Taylor & Francis Ltd61000000March 2005EricMACommunication Division, The Graduate SchoolChinese University of Hong KongHong [email protected] the summer of 2001, I boarded a transborder bus in Hong Kong and headed for Dong-guan in South China. The journey started before I had studied the roadmap. The minibusleft Shenzhen and dashed into the factory zones. It roared and rolled like a wild beast. ‘Tocatch up’ is the motto of China’s modernization. Thus, cars run. People flock. Mobility inSouth China is the magic word for success. The young and innocent from the rural imaginethe haven in the southern cities. But who knows where the journey ends?

The summer heat melted everything solid into the air. I was lost in the busy street, inthe mosaic roadmap. Like many qualitative researchers, finding a way into the field andfixing a research method are difficult, especially at the starting point of fieldwork. But Ihave vague questions to ask: ‘How do rural migrant workers in South China become urban?How do traditional villagers become modern?’ After months of negotiation, I finally settleddown in a factory and a disco bar. During the period from 2001 to 2003, our research teamregularly visited these two research sites. My research assistant served as a factor workerand a bar waiter respectively for 3 months, while I worked more closely with the bosses ofthe factory and the bar. From these research sites we branched out to other social networksfor interviews and participant observations. This research design enables us to examinehow micro life-politics and trajectories of rural migrant workers are drastically re-shaped bythe macro dynamics of the rising work-and-spend culture in South China.

Ethnographic research is about reflexive improvisation, both in terms of research tacticsand cultural presumptions. Trained in media studies, I formulated a ‘brilliant’ quasi-experi-ment by installing a big screen projection TV in the factory canteen. My plan was to screenselected Hong Kong movies and TV dramas and collected ‘before and after’ attitudechanges. It turned out that factory workers ignored the expensive big screen, continued togo outside the iron gate of the factory, enjoyed the open space in the streets, and watchedthe low-resolution TV at small shops. They simply wanted to be away from the factory attheir leisure time. After a few similar initial setbacks, we had become more responsive to theeveryday routines of the informants. Computer and English courses were organized; tripsto supermarkets and McDonalds were traced. A female research assistant was recruited toconverse better with female workers on intimate issues. In the disco bar, we entertainedfrequent requests from workers to buy various items from Hong Kong. The shopping listincluded foreign cookbooks for the chef, shampoo for the ladies, trendy mobile phones foryoung waiters, western CDs for the disc jockey, and various electronic items ranging fromdigital cameras to laptop computers. In various ways, we dipped into the lifeworld ofmigrant workers and documented their voices and life histories.

However, it would be naïve to present their lifeworld in social realist term. The project,despite its ethnographic nature, can at best be treated as an exchange between the urbanlifeworld of Hong Kong researchers and that of the rural migrant workers across the main-land Chinese border. In order to be more multi-vocal, I invited veteran photographer DuckyTse to joint the team at the later stage of the research. I told Ducky about the research, the

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114 Eric Ma and Ducky Tse

background of the informants and my own preliminary thesis. Ducky was free to make hisown interpretation in the research sites. We made frequent photo taking trips but Duckywas not asked to shoot specific items. He took black and white photos on the spot withoutartificial lighting. Yet authorship was not hidden behind this journalistic and documentarygenre; interpretative framing was sometimes very obvious. After the photo trips, I waspresented with ‘new’ images from the field. The lifeworlds of the informants were re-inter-preted afresh. Unexplored dimensions were re-examined. Some photos were re-taken afterdiscussion.

The final stage of the research included the writing up of academic papers and alsovarious forms of cultural intervention. The project was partially motivated by my personaldesire to re-discover my cultural ties with my home village in South China and the connec-tion between the rural and the urban. It was not just a theoretical exercise of exploringurban life style formation of modernity, but also an attempt to foster understanding ofChinese workers among Hong Kong urbanites. A photo-text exhibition, an installationdisplay, and several talks were respectively organized at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the2003 Hong Kong Book festival, and the Kubrick Bookstore/Coffee Shop. A non-academicphoto book was published after the exhibition. A one-off postgraduate course was alsooffered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to cultivate ethnographic research.

Finally, I would like to make a few methodological observations on using photographyin ethnographic research. First, visual representation can add a dialectical element into theresearch. The tension between the photos and the written ethnographic text, the perspec-tives of the photographer and the researcher, and the dialectics between the imagined andvisual actuality can enhance multi-vocal interpretation and lessen the illusion of ethno-graphic authenticity. Secondly, against the assumption that visuals are intuitive and lesstheoretical, Ducky’s photos had actually helped crystallize my theoretical arguments. SinceI had immersed myself into the field for an extended period of time, re-reading the repre-sentation of that familiar field through unfamiliar visual means provided me with a criticaland analytic distance for more flexible and reflexive theorizing. Thirdly, visual elements aregood for communication. Photos are carriers of meaning. They speak and inspire. Includingphotography in this project had broadened the channels of representing the lifeworld ofmigrant workers to the general public.

Author’s biography: Eric MA is head and associate professor, Communication Division, The GraduateSchool, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Contact Address: Eric Ma, Communication Division, The Graduate School, Chinese University of HongKong, Hong Kong. Email: [email protected]

Photographer’s biography: Ducky TSE, photographer, Ming Pao Weekly.

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Working and spending in South China 115

From villages to factories,From paddy fields to production linesA new rhythm emerges from the machine hymnsA new body forms among the assembling partsA new life unfolds inside and outside the iron gatesThey are the footnotes of the saga of modernizing ChinaThe refrain of the symphony of progression and prosperity.

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A production lineAssembling body partsIn the shadow of modernityMaximizing productivityRe-constructing everyday life

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Tasting homeIn the safety net of friends

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In the magic hours, migrant workers go to the town square to dance. Some of them are stillwearing factory uniforms. Some of them transform into party ladies, with long skirts, ortight t-shirts and bell-bottom jeans. They go into the open dance floor to start the mostwonderful hour of the day. There is no entrance fee, no leader, no contract and no punish-ment. The line between friends and strangers is blurred. People dance hand in hand. Peoplelearn the latest step from each other. They come here to watch and to be watched, to enjoythe scene and to constitute the scene.

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Your new name is Tom!Straighten up!A Fantasyland is resting on your shoulder

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The presence of westerners means class and tasteThe gestures of the customersThe protocols for the attendantsA good life in a test tube, western style

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At the bar’s anniversary, all food and drinks are free for the attendants. The wonderfulworld inside the disco bar gives a new sensation to the migrant workers. In their eyes, theneon lights, the glittering billboards and the colourful cocktail drinks are all symbols ofprosperity, of hope, of betterment of life. To tease the eyes is to induce desire. ‘Home is tooquiet. Factory is too noisy. This is a right place. It is lively.’ To consume, to play, to indulgein the sensual gratification – these are the mundane bodily sensations of city dwellers andthe new-found emotion of individuality for migrant workers.

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Dreaming his life away?

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Producing a dream of upward mobility

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Consuming a transnational identity of urban professionals

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Work hard, play hardThe new work-and-spend culture in south ChinaA fantasy for migrant workersA new-found freedom for the rising middle classTwo tracks of social mobility reinforcing each otherYoung urban professionals actualizing the early dream of modernityGrassroots workers fancying the success stories of the middle classA double helix of developmentA seemingly realizable dream for oneA near illusion for another

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