How To People Relate To Thing? Much Has Been Written About Social Movements In Modern China, But Next To Nothing Is Known About The Revolution Which Transformed The Texture Of Everyday Life. This Is The First Book To Map The Many Changes In The Material Landscape Of China From The Mid-nineteenth Century To The Advent Of Communism In 1949.--book Jacket. 1. Introduction -- Material Culture In Modern China -- The Fictions Of 'authenticity', 'hybridity' And 'acculturation' -- The Limits Of 'emulation', 'consumption' And 'representation' -- Things And People -- Worship Of The Tangible -- The Sources -- Pt. I. Dissemination : Networks And Materials -- 2. The Domestication Of Foreign Goods -- Exotic Commodities In Late Imperial China -- Export Commodities In Late Imperial China -- Copy Culture And The Movement For National Goods -- 3. The Dissemination Of New Objects -- Retailing The Modern -- Recycling The Modern -- Exhibiting The Modern -- The Graphic Revolution -- 4. From Water To Wheel -- Motors In Waterland -- Highway To Heaven -- Rickshaw China -- On Your Bicycle -- Cars To Die For -- The Ubiquitous Omnibus -- Riots At The Station -- Flying Chariots -- 5. Changing Cityscapes -- Cities -- Factories -- Schools -- Offices -- 6. Electricity, Telephone And Water -- A Nation Electrified -- Water From The Dragon's Mouth -- Electric Words, Wonder Of All Wonders -- Pt. Ii. Appropriation : People And Objects -- 7. Dwelling -- The Permeable House Survives -- The Solid House Spreads -- A Glass World -- Locking Up -- Changing Interiors -- Kerosene, Torchbearer Of Modernity -- The Hidden Powers Of Domestic Objects -- 8. Clothing And Grooming -- Cotton, The Fabric Of Everyday Life -- From Bound Feet To Leather Shoes -- A Whiff Of Modernity -- Trinkets For The Poor, Watches For The Rich -- 9. Eating And Drinking -- Eating Modernity -- Eating Out -- Drinking Cultures -- 10. Seeing And Listening -- The Camera And The Second I -- Magic Lanterns And Moving Pictures -- Singing Machines : The Gramophone And The Radio. Frank Dikötter. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 341-374) And Index.