Creative ‘Shanzhai Labour’? Leung Mee-ping’s ‘Made in Hong Kong/Shenzhen’

  • Louis Ho*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    Shanzhai is a term that encompasses a wide range of concepts including copy-and-paste, grass-roots cleverness, and even anti-authoritarian culture. In traditional Chinese, shanzhai refers to ‘villages in the mountain with stockade houses’ and, in Shenzhen, there is a real village called Dafen Oil Painting Village, which is famous for making ‘shanzhai art’ – replicas of oil paintings by globally renowned artists. The Hong Kong artist Leung Mee-ping carried out a project called ‘Made in Hong Kong/ Shenzhen’, in which the artist produced a series of ‘Hong Kong-themed’ paintings with the ‘techniques’ she learnt at the Dafen Village. This chapter attempts to explore the cultural dynamics of Leung’s project by rethinking various related notions, including authorship, creativity, shanzhai, and appropriation art.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationBoredom, Shanzhai, and Digitisation in the Time of Creative China
    EditorsJeroen de Kloet, Yiu Fai Chow, Lena Scheen
    PublisherRoutledge
    Pages171-185
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Electronic)9781040775929, 9781003691839, 9789048535538
    ISBN (Print)9789462984745, 9781041176350
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 4 Oct 2019

    Publication series

    NameAsian Visual Cultures

    User-Defined Keywords

    • craft labour
    • creative labour
    • Dafen Village
    • shanzhai
    • shanzhai art

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