Geschmack und Sozialität beim „Nationaltrend“ in China

Abstract

This article elaborates on the new phenomenon “national trend” in the light of a cultural production in a changing socio-economic environment in the Chinese consumer landscape. As a cultural production, the “national trend” reveals a sociality subject to historical change, with aesthetics adding a level of attributes to consumer goods. Taste acts as a social shaper, reflecting aesthetic and identical principles that are objectified through the cultural expressions and aesthetic characteristics of the products and manifested through preference. Focused on the younger urban middle class as the protagonist of the “national trend”, this article shows how consumers and participants of cultural production in China position themselves in the respective vertical and horizontal tensions. Globalization as a context creates a new environment for cultural production and the cultural world in China, whereby products with aesthetic features serve as a socially meaningful expression, which are integrated into the framework for a social reality.