Becker, Catherine

China today: “counterfeit paradise” or “delightful hell”? - 2022.


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Contemporary Chinese society has been shaped on the temptation of luxury framed as a system. The middle class has yielded to this temptation that comprises a yearning for elsewhere, for the West, which, at the same time, responds to Chinese philosophy, politics and history. But “this counterfeit paradise” has eventually morphed into a “delightful hell” of sacrifices and corruption. Today, however, the temptation of a new kind of luxury allows the Chinese to redefine themselves within the Chinese society.