In this book, the author draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Shenzhen to examine the rise and transformation of maker culture in China. Tracing the shift from grassroots creativity to a developmental apparatus shaped by policy agendas and geopolitical ambition, it explores the changing relationship between creative labour, innovation, and governance in contemporary China. It will be of interest to scholars and students of media and communication, STS, and China studies.
Chapter 1. Crafting the Innovative Nation: China's Unique Take on the Maker Movement.- Chapter 2. Understanding China's Cultural and Creative Industries.- Chapter 3. Maker as Creative Labour: Informal Labour, Agency, and Precarity.- Chapter 4. From Bottom-up to Top-Down: Modes of Governance and Dynamics in the Workplace.- Chapter 5. In and Out: Local Creative Clusters and Displaced Makerspaces.- Conclusion: Techno-entrepreneurial Solutionism and the Future of China's CCIs.
Pengfei Fu is Assistant Professor at the School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He earned his PhD in Media and Communication at Monash University. His research draws on critical cultural and media studies and qualitative inquiry to examine how digital technologies shape everyday life, cultural production, and governance in China.
