From China to the Big Top: Chinese Acrobats and the Politics of Aesthetic Labor, 1950–2010. (28th April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Tracy Y.
• Editors: Mosoetsa, Sarah; Stillerman, Joel; Tilly, Chris
• Is Part Of: International labor and working class history. Number 89(2016:Spring)
• Page Start: 40
• Page End: 63
• Publication Date: 2016-04-28
• Subjects: Working class -- History -- Periodicals; 305.56205
• DOI: 10.1017/S0147547915000332
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0147-5479

Abstract

Abstract: Since the mid-1980s, North American circus shows have imported jaw-dropping acrobatic acts from the People's Republic of China. This article examines the shifting politics of body and labor that facilitate the international recruitment of Chinese acrobats. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival materials, this study analyzes how a socialist labor hierarchy and ideas of ownership shape acrobats' relationships with the Chinese state. Since the 1980s, these politics of labor and body have shifted in accordance with the accelerated commercialization of acrobatics, facilitating the international export of acrobats' labor. This historical investigation sheds light on an overlooked chapter in the history of temporary foreign workers.