Structure, Audience, and Soft Power in East Asian Pop Culture

Chua Beng Huat is professor of sociology at National University of Singapore, and the author of Life Is Not Complete Without Shopping: Consumption Culture in Singapore.

Chua Beng Huat offers us a tasty buffet of selections from East Asian cinema, TV drama, music, animation and manga in this groundbreaking book. He shows how linguistic differences in culturally proximate regions work with commercial Pop Culture forces to engender multiple, complex identities that are open to change and strategic use. -- Michael Keane, Queensland University of Technology In this excellent introductory text Chua Beng Huat captures East Asia's cultural and capitalist vibrancy. The book's regional in scope and conceptual clarity make it a welcome tool for teaching students who are captivated by the topic and informing scholars seeking expert guidance in an emerging field of scholarship. -- Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University An accessible introduction to a field that the author has been at the forefront of for some years now. Countering the assumption of a 'greater China' based on shared Confucian values, Chua shows how popular culture forges a multicentered and varied Chinese identity beyond any one state or territory. -- Chris Berry, Goldsmiths, University of London Chua Beng Huat... offers a fascinating exploration of pop culture and soft power at the crossroads of transnational exchange in East Asia... An accessible introduction... written in a highly readable style... A good preliminary tetbook to undergraduate and graduate courses on pop culture studies, as well as more focused courses on China pop, the Korean Wave, and Japanese popular culture. Pacific Affairs