Caring in Times of Precarity

Chow Yiu Fai is Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing of Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.

“The book is … a remarkable read for its critical recalibration of certain Western-based theories on womanhood, feminism and precarity that – as a consequence – does not fall into the trap of Asianisms and rejection of theories from the ‘West’ (e.g., Foucault, Mouffe). This book is certainly a good choice for scholars and students in critical area studies, Asia/Chinese Studies, Gender and Urban Studies, as well as Transcultural and Globalisation Studies.” (newbooks.asia, April 9, 2021)“Chow Yiu Fai’s book … offers an interesting study of a special group of individuals in contemporary China: single women creative workers in Shanghai. … The intersectional approach to gender and creative work adopted, innovative and multiple methodology used, and non-Western ethnographic perspective make Caring in Times of Precarity a highly valuable contribution to current theorizations about creative labour.” (Jian Lin, China Information, Vol. 33 (3), November, 2019)“This recently published book by Yiu Fai Chow nonetheless offers many exciting new perspectives … . Chow adopts a flexible and informant-oriented approach to define what creative work is. … Chow is successful in presenting to us a different reality of Chinese single women and creative workers … . This book is a good reminder for all of us to revisit the role of academic research and knowledge production in times of precarity.” (Lucetta Y. L. Kam, China Review International, Vol. 26 (4), 2019)

• Chapter 1: Living on my own, creatively, precariously.- Chapter 2: Living with their own images.- Chapter 3: Living with a generation – qilinghou, balinghou, jiulinghou.- Chapter 4: Balancing work/life?.- Chapter 5: To love, to live.- Chapter 6: Living with us – the case of Kunqu.- Chapter 7: Living with the city.- Chapter 8: Living with themselves, creating themselves.- Chapter 9: Epilogue.