Chinese Subjectivities and the Beijing Olympics develops the Foucauldian concept of productive power through examining the ways in which the Chinese government tried to mobilize the population to embrace its Olympic project through deploying various sets of strategies and tactics. It argues that the multifaceted strategies, tactics, and discourses deployed by the Chinese authorities sustain an order of things and values in such a way that drive individuals to commit themselves actively to the goals of the party-state.The book examines how these processes of subjectification are achieved by zooming in on five specific groups of the population: athletes, young Olympic volunteers, taxi drivers, Chinese citizens targeted by place-making projects, and the Hong Kong population. In doing so it probes critically into the role of individuals and how they take on the governmental ideas to become responsible autonomous subjects.

1. The Productive Aspect of Power: The Art of Making an Active Chinese Subject / 2. Embodying the Nation: The Production of Gendered Chinese Subjects / 3. Young Chinese Subjects: The Making of New Model Citizens / 4. From Driving in the City to Driving the City: Moulding Taxi Drivers into Presentable Urban Subjects / 5. Temporising Space and Time / 6. The Resinification of HK Chinese Subjects: Media as End and Instrument of Government / 7. Foucault and China: Governmentality and the Subjectification of Chinese Subjects / Bibliography / Index