The growing political conflicts unfolding in China provide an opportunity for rethinking the cultural politics of affect. Although the political formations in the region can be laden with a multitude of emotions, they tend to be poorly understood. This book explains why affect and emotion matter to Chinese politics from the Mao Zedong to the Xi Jinping era. It makes a unique contribution by investigating why and how affect matters to politics through a series of in-depth case studies of various art forms. It studies the dynamics of political passions and the contexts from which emotional subjects engage in hegemonic struggles through the creation of various cultural forms. Topics discussed include the mobilisation of revolutionary emotions in political movements, the desire of nationalism, the virtual affective space created by antagonistic identity politics, the subaltern body as a surface of emotion work, and the blurring of public-private divides on social media. This book finds that cultural feelings and emotional experiences are salient to understanding political life, action and order. It concludes that the formulation and reconfiguration of the affective space are essential to political struggle.

Affective Spaces analyzes key moments of emotional intensities in Chinese political life from Mao to the internet. An important contribution to the study of emotion, media and society. -- Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania
A compelling foray into the cultural politics of China through the lens of sentiment. Layered, sophisticated, and fun to read, Affective Spaces illustrates how participatory practices lean on mood, atmosphere, and feeling, to reimagine cultural boundaries across China. A modern and contemporary read which makes a significant contribution. -- Zizi Papacharissi, author of Affective Publics and After Democracy

Shih-Diing Liu is Professor of Communication at the University of Macau. He completed his PhD at the University of Westminster. His research has appeared in journals including Dushu (Beijing), Positions, and New Left Review. He is the author of The Politics of People: Protest Cultures in China (2019). Wei Shi is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Macau. She completed her PhD at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her articles have been published in journals including Chinese Journal of Communication, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies and Feminist Media Studies. She is the author of Wandering in China’s Las Vegas: Migrant Workers in Macau (2018).