Kafka “Shanghai-Ed”: Orientalist China in Kafka’s Fiction and Kafkaesque Phenomena in China

During a visit to Shanghai in August 2019, I attempted to use the auto-ethnographic method to answer a few general questions: what is the image of China in Kafka’s literary imagination, what is Kafkaesque in Shanghai, and what is Shanghai-esque in Kafka? Because the combination of theoretical interest, spontaneous ethnographic observations, and personal reflections proved insufficient to respond to these questions, I also analyzed Kafka’s ‘Chinese’ stories, namely The Great Wall of China, In the Penal Colony, The Message from The Emperor, An Old Manuscript, and The Letters to Felice, and two Kafkaesque phenomena in China: the Shanghai World Expo and the Chinese Ghost Cities. I concluded that Kafka’s fiction contains certain Orientalist elements and that, through the perspective of contemporary material Kafkaesque phenomena, are more western than the West.

Kafka “Shanghai-Ed”: Orientalist China in Kafka’s Fiction and Kafkaesque Phenomena in China

During a visit to Shanghai in August 2019, I attempted to use the auto-ethnographic method to answer a few general questions: what is the image of China in Kafka’s literary imagination, what is Kafkaesque in Shanghai, and what is Shanghai-esque in Kafka? Because the combination of theoretical interest, spontaneous ethnographic observations, and personal reflections proved insufficient to respond to these questions, I also analyzed Kafka’s ‘Chinese’ stories, namely The Great Wall of China, In the Penal Colony, The Message from The Emperor, An Old Manuscript, and The Letters to Felice, and two Kafkaesque phenomena in China: the Shanghai World Expo and the Chinese Ghost Cities. I concluded that Kafka’s fiction contains certain Orientalist elements and that, through the perspective of contemporary material Kafkaesque phenomena, are more western than the West.

RESEARCH OF THE ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT IN SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO PARK

The conceiving of future cities converged at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo from 246 different countries and regional organizations. With a focus on the world energy crisis, the expo’s design, construction and exhibitions offer solutions to this issue. Energy planning is integrated into the overall planning of the expo to continue and diffuse the follow-up effect of the Shanghai World Expo in the social, economic, environmental aspects. In order to obtain a deeper understanding of the urban “heat-island effect” distribution causes and a series of climatic factors closely related to urban heat environment. In this paper, we combine the Ecotect software and CFD software, simulating the thermal environment of the city in the Shanghai World Expo. With broad application, these research methods can also be introduced in future urban planning, formulate design guidelines for corresponding urban climate environments according to different geographical and climatic characteristics of cities. We extract the application and exhibition of a future city’s construction and technology from the World Expo venues. The statistical analysis provides information on the construction trends of future cities.

Back to the future: The politics of culture at the Shanghai Expo

Mega-events such as the Olympics and international expositions have long been understood as staging platforms upon which host countries offer displays of nation-state splendor. This article examines representations at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a largely state- and corporate-funded mega-event, to consider contemporary China’s particular narrative of the nation as it emerges as a global power in the 21st century. Through an analysis of Expo films, displays, and architecture, this article argues that the Shanghai Expo offered a model for the future that linked future progress to past glory, wedding traditional Chinese practices and belief systems to contemporary economic growth and technological advancement. While recognizing that the representations at the Expo were largely aspirational, the article demonstrates that studying such idealized forms of national identity can reveal much about China’s attempts to position itself as a prototype for global futures.