Short review

Osburg’s approach that heavily relies on the case studies recorded from ethnographic fieldwork has rendered the volume reader-friendly in a novel-like style, however at the finance of being less convincing and critical theoretically. The extensive ethnography efforts provided a lucid window into the regional “nouveau riche” Chinese in Chengdu, Sichuan. However, what is foremost missing is a reductionist mistake of failing to provide a comprehensive definition of the “nouveau riche” which can be categorized into different groups based on individual and family wealth, source of income, cultural capital (education), stability or continuity of the income, age, etc. In addition, Chengdu, as the site of fieldwork, carries regional features (geography, history, culture and local habitus) that make the city itself stand out from other Chinese metropolitan centers like Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen; and these distinctive characteristics were unfortunately omitted in the analysis. The author’s literature review of Bourdieu’s theory on class and taste takes into account the “Chineseness” features of the Chengdu new rich, however, again falls into the trap of reductionism by simply emphasizing the convertibility among social, cultural and economic capital.