Surrounded all around by processes of touristification and Disneyfication.
On the domestic front, we are still recovering from the Pope’s visit and getting ready for the Tour de France’s Grand Départ—the icing on the cake of our city’s ongoing transformation into a cross between Venice and Las Vegas.
On the work front, I am still thinking about Professor Gladys Nieto’s superb presentation last week on extractivism and touristification of the Chinese New Year celebration in Usera. And this morning I read Andrew Higgins’ China’s Most Famous Modern Writer: From Fiery Rebel to Cute Communist Mascot, and how the CCP “has turned Lu Xun, a Mao-era hero who excoriated the establishment, into a bland, Disney-style character.”
