China and the global era: From globalisation to everyday life

Abstract

This introductory chapter explains why it is important to take a fresh perspective on understanding China's distinctive and changing place in the global era. We introduce a novel conceptual framework that extends globalisation theory by combining global studies and practise theories of everyday life. Ten original case studies illustrate China's changing place in the global era by tracing transformations in processes of economic restructuring, neoliberalism, urbanisation, public health, gender relations, knowledge diffusion and cultural change, and community building. By thinking about these cases through an "everyday global" framework we gain insights into resilience, and resourcefulness. We close with a call for further comparative research on everyday global China, one that may be transdisciplinary and attentive to a planetary praxis that is fit for the purpose of addressing our shared, wicked problems.