Despite growing affluence, a large number of urban Chinese have problems making ends meet. Based on ethnographic research among several different types of communities in Guangzhou, China, Soup, Love and a Helping Hand examines different modes and ideologies of help/support, as well as the related issues of reciprocity, relatedness (kinship), and changing state-society relations in contemporary China. With an emphasis on the subjective experience, Fleischer's research carefully explores people's ideas about moral obligations, social expectations, and visions of urban Chinese society.

Friederike Fleischer is Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. She was previously a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany. She is the author of Surburban Beijing (2010), and co-editor of Ethnographies of Support (2013).

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Map
List of Main Interlocutors

Introduction

PART I: SOUP

Chapter 1. "If Not His Child, Who Will Pay for His Living?": Household and Kin-Based Support
Chapter 2. Neighbors and Friends
Chapter 3. Support and Reciprocity

PART II: LOVE

Chapter 4. Religious Revival

Chapter 5. The Church: Social and Religious Services
Chapter 6. Love: A Community of Believers

PART III: A HELPING HAND

Chapter 7. Philanthropy, Charity, and Volunteerism
Chapter 8. Inspirations and Motivations to Volunteer
Chapter 9. Volunteering: Governmentality and Agency

Conclusion: Soup, Love, and a Helping Hand: Urban Transformations and the Ethics of Social Support

Bibliography
Index