- Visit the Sports Nutrition Store and find a huge range and great offers on top-brand products for all aspects of your fitness and never run out of 100s of products with Subscribe & Save.
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Anthropologist Susan Brownell, heptathlon gold medallist in the 1986 National College Games of the People's Republic of China, draws on her direct experience of Chinese athletics to provide an insight into the culture of sports and the body in China. The book introduces the notion of "body culture" to analyze Olympic sports as one element in a whole set of Chinese body practices: the "old people's disco dancing" craze; the popularity of bodybuilding (following reluctant official acceptance of the bikini); mass calisthenics; martial arts; military discipline; and more. Translating official and dissident materials into English and drawing on performance theory and histories of the body, the text uses the culture of the body as a focal point to explore the tensions between local and global organizations, the traditional and the modern, and men and women. The author's intimate knowledge of Chinese social and cultural life and the wide range of historic examples utilized aim to provide a novel perspective on how gender, the body and the nation are interlinked in Chinese culture.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
As I stood with my teammates behind the Beijing City flag, I suddenly felt overwhelmed by the gaze of fifty thousand pairs of eyes converging from around the bowl-shaped stadium onto those of us in the infield. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
As I stood with my teammates behind the Beijing City flag, I suddenly felt overwhelmed by the gaze of fifty thousand pairs of eyes converging from around the bowl-shaped stadium onto those of us in the infield. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
One doesn't have to be a sports enthusiast to benefit from Prof. Brownell's book. It is a unique approach in teaching Chinese society. I had the honor of being one of her students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in one of her Chinese society classes and I have taken many other classes not taught by her and I must say that her book has given me more insight in the cultural structure of the norms, beliefs and politics than I have ever gotten from any other college text. I also recommend this book for readers who aren't studying anthropology. It is just facinating to read about her adventures being an American college student taking part of the nation's equivalent to the Olympic Games in Beijing while studying abroad in Communist China.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Very unique and brillant avenue to study Chinese Society
15 Nov 1998
Format:Hardcover
One doesn't have to be a sports enthusiast to benefit from Prof. Brownell's book. It is a unique approach in teaching Chinese society. I had the honor of being one of her students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in one of her Chinese society classes and I have taken many other classes not taught by her and I must say that her book has given me more insight in the cultural structure of the norms, beliefs and politics than I have ever gotten from any other college text. I also recommend this book for readers who aren't studying anthropology. It is just facinating to read about her adventures being an American college student taking part of the nation's equivalent to the Olympic Games in Beijing while studying abroad in Communist China.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
