the lack of state guarantees for personal rights and welfare means that most people re- embed with the very institutions from which they are formally emancipated. However, this renewed dependence is subtly changed, accomplished through formally voluntary guanxi relationships. The rarity of people such as Feng is out of all propor tion to their symbolic importance in seeming to prove these obligatory relationship voluntary' nature--as well as the harsh consequences of choosing incorrectly Another twist to re-embedment is the fact that many guanxi relationships are created with people--most notably, business clients and partners--previously outside older institutional parameters(Yan 1996) FEASTING AND THE UNCIVIL INDIVIDUAL Yan regards the individualism introduced into China in the late twentieth century to be understood as narrowly egotistical. I would argue that, in Luzhou, individualism is overlaid atop traits of historically stigmatised femaleness. There are several reasons for the tenacity of de-individuating tendencies in Luzhou. One is feasting culture's functional articulation with the economic structure. As a gatekeeping institution and cultural style, feasting works to socialise aspirants to the power structure's normative out-of-self agency. Socialisation is a process of training initiates into socially proper ways of talking and behaving(Ochs and Schieffelin 2009). Another reason for rela tional agency's tenacity lies in feasting culture's overlap with childhood socialisation patterns, in which children learn to submit to, but also to obligate others to submit to, exemplary morality. Finally individualism, in its egotistical form, is a central symbol in the moral imaginary of feast socialisation itself. Yans thesis inadequately addresses this negativecounter-symbolisation' of individualism, which acts as fuel to resistance of the new social This ugly' individualism is to be pedagogically, coercively trained out of one ritual play, as driver Yang did to Luo and me. Egotistical individualism anchors a duality whose other, positive end, is made up of other-oriented values such as genzhi loyalty(see Xiao Yu, above), feeling (ganging), and others. The symbolic moral imagi- nary of feasting operates on two levels: that of participant action during the feast, and that of society as a whole, in which cities represent a cultural loss of solidarity to ato- mising marketisation. The gathering wave of stylistically individualistic consumerism is interpreted at feasts in line with a feasters own ritual socialisation: liberatory yes, but of crassly narcissistic, accumulative ways. And the careful, self-centred image making of young consumers-a way of being echoing stigmatised conceptions of femaleness-acts as a foil for residents own re-imagination of maleness in arenas such as feasting. In mid-2005 a group of male friends who frequently ate and drank together wel- omed me to their group. Xiao Hong, a restaurateur in his late thirties from a count seat elsewhere in Sichuan, was the group,s charismatic centre. He and a good friend, Zheng, were both sons of devoted Communist Party cadres. These Luzhou locals and outsiders met at Xiao Hongs restaurant most afternoons and evenings. These lower @2014 Australian Anthropological Socety 365the lack of state guarantees for personal rights and welfare means that most people re￾embed with the very institutions from which they are formally emancipated. However, this renewed dependence is subtly changed, accomplished as it is through formally voluntary guanxi relationships. The rarity of people such as Feng is out of all propor￾tion to their symbolic importance in seeming to prove these obligatory relationships’ ‘voluntary’ nature—as well as the harsh consequences of choosing incorrectly. Another twist to re-embedment is the fact that many guanxi relationships are created with people—most notably, business clients and partners—previously outside older institutional parameters (Yan 1996). FEASTING AND THE ‘UNCIVIL INDIVIDUAL’ Yan regards the individualism introduced into China in the late twentieth century to be understood as narrowly egotistical. I would argue that, in Luzhou, individualism is overlaid atop traits of historically stigmatised femaleness.8 There are several reasons for the tenacity of de-individuating tendencies in Luzhou. One is feasting culture’s functional articulation with the economic structure. As a gatekeeping institution and cultural style, feasting works to socialise aspirants to the power structure’s normative out-of-self agency. Socialisation is a process of training initiates into socially proper ways of talking and behaving (Ochs and Schieffelin 2009). Another reason for rela￾tional agency’s tenacity lies in feasting culture’s overlap with childhood socialisation patterns, in which children learn to submit to, but also to obligate others to submit to, exemplary morality. Finally individualism, in its egotistical form, is a central symbol in the moral imaginary of feast socialisation itself. Yan’s thesis inadequately addresses this negative ‘counter-symbolisation’ of individualism, which acts as fuel to resistance of the new social imaginary. This ‘ugly’ individualism is to be pedagogically, coercively trained out of one in ritual play, as driver Yang did to Luo and me. Egotistical individualism anchors a duality whose other, positive end, is made up of other-oriented values such as genzhi loyalty (see Xiao Yu, above), feeling (ganqing), and others. The symbolic moral imagi￾nary of feasting operates on two levels: that of participant action during the feast, and that of society as a whole, in which cities represent a cultural loss of solidarity to ato￾mising marketisation. The gathering wave of stylistically individualistic consumerism is interpreted at feasts in line with a feaster’s own ritual socialisation: liberatory yes, but of crassly narcissistic, accumulative ways. And the careful, self-centred image￾making of young consumers—a way of being echoing stigmatised conceptions of femaleness—acts as a foil for resident’s own re-imagination of maleness in arenas such as feasting.9 In mid-2005 a group of male friends who frequently ate and drank together wel￾comed me to their group. Xiao Hong, a restaurateur in his late thirties from a county seat elsewhere in Sichuan, was the group’s charismatic centre. He and a good friend, Zheng, were both sons of devoted Communist Party cadres. These Luzhou locals and outsiders met at Xiao Hong’s restaurant most afternoons and evenings. These lower © 2014 Australian Anthropological Society 365 Feasting and individuation in China