Singing on the river / by Igor Iwo Chabrowski.

"Revised and enlarged version of an EUI Ph.D. thesis "'Tied to a boat by the sound of a gong' : world, work and society seen through the work songs of Sichuan Boatmen (1880s-1930s)"" -- Title page verso.

Ph. D. European University Institute 2013.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-295) and index.

The social origins of the songs -- The sounds of the river -- Mapping the river world -- Where do we belong -- On women and love.

Singing on the river' by Igor Chabrowski, based on Sichuan boatmen’s work songs (haozi), explores the little known world of mentality and self-representation of Chinese workers from the late 19th century until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937). Chabrowski demonstrates how river workers constructed and interpreted their world, work, and gender in context of the dissolving social, cultural, and political orders. Boatmen asserted their own values, bemoaned exploitation, and imagined their sexuality largely in order to cope with their low social status. Through studying the Sichuan boatmen we gain an insight into the ways in which twentieth-century nonindustrial Chinese workers imagined their place in the society and appropriated, without challenging them, the traditional values.