Analysing this performance using Ortner's concepts, I refine the definition of indi- vidualism further, to a vision of agency in which the self sets and pursues its own goals without interference from powerful others. In Zhangs performance, the individual project 'of self-admiration and expression is ultimately vindicated by the acknowledg- ment of an alternate, emergent power,, the audience. The ideological nature of this vision of individualism lies in the way power is depicted as the prize, rather than the competitive means, of individuality. She stands alone in the spotlight, but the thou- sands of rivals Zhang had to defeat to stand there are invisible; the millions of others who dream of being in her place are barely glimpsed by the camera. In Luzhou, how- ever,an agency of individual projects is widely understood not as circumventing or disavowing power relations but as solely contingent on successfully mastering them. In short, the ability to freely carry out projects' is widely regarded as a privilege of power competitively obtained, another reason I consider this individuality a 'dream Heeding Kipnis'(2012: 13)contention that individuation is a problematic rather han an absolute social fact,, I use elements of Yan's argument as occasion to explore the benefits of an analytic emphasis on social subjectivity and agency in addressing the question of individualism in Chinas cities. Feasting is, in the urban context, the cen tral socialising arena of political and economic power. While individual persons use feasting to amass power to themselves, feastings internal ethic, if you will, is of a group project in which separate agencies are artfully routed through others. I use the term ' intersubjective to refer to feastings model of agency. Roughly put, the individ ual in Luzhou is a powerful dream, in part because of the great structural difficulty of achieving it. The intersubjective agency exemplified in feasting continues to define cit ies political economies, mediating economic production, welfare distribution, domes tic provisioning, and public identities The broad stylistic-symbolic shift toward individualism (in consumer culture, rights activism, etc. )refracts differently through the political-economic prism, seg menting Luzhou's urban population roughly into three. Middle-aged and older urban residents, including both ordinary residents socialised into pre-1992 norms of govern mentality and residents currently positioned in the state-led political economy, con tinue to display self-denying intersubjective ritual disposition. Established members of this group have achieved a substantive, individual agency of power,, but as ritual con stitutes their main node of socialisation into the power structure, their projects,,to use Ortner's terminology, are carried out in an intersubjective idiom. On the contrary, younger urban residents and many middle-aged women, as well as rural migrant wage workers and vendors, display great interest in gexing(unique different) markers of individualised disposition. Implicit in this interest is a de emphasis of coercive hierarchical relations(enacted in feasting) and their cultural hab itus as impediments to individual expression. Small business people among them are forced to engage in guanxi network-building, while wage workers embrace--of neces sity--their'disposable', temporary employment status. Their inclination to individual agency is conditioned by their weak position in the relations of production. Small business operators, however, are forced to re-embedin guanxi relations to secur e 2014 Australian Anthropological SocietyAnalysing this performance using Ortner’s concepts, I refine the definition of indi￾vidualism further, to a vision of agency in which the self sets and pursues its own goals without interference from powerful others. In Zhang’s performance, the individual’s ‘project’ of self-admiration and expression is ultimately vindicated by the acknowledg￾ment of an alternate, emergent ‘power’, the audience.4 The ideological nature of this vision of individualism lies in the way power is depicted as the prize, rather than the competitive means, of individuality. She stands alone in the spotlight, but the thou￾sands of rivals Zhang had to defeat to stand there are invisible; the millions of others who dream of being in her place are barely glimpsed by the camera. In Luzhou, how￾ever, an agency of individual projects is widely understood not as circumventing or disavowing power relations but as solely contingent on successfully mastering them. In short, the ability to freely carry out ‘projects’ is widely regarded as a privilege of power competitively obtained, another reason I consider this individuality a ‘dream’. Heeding Kipnis’ (2012: 13) contention that ‘individuation is a problematic rather than an absolute social fact’, I use elements of Yan’s argument as occasion to explore the benefits of an analytic emphasis on social subjectivity and agency in addressing the question of individualism in China’s cities. Feasting is, in the urban context, the cen￾tral socialising arena of political and economic power. While individual persons use feasting to amass power to themselves, feasting’s internal ethic, if you will, is of a ‘group project’ in which separate agencies are artfully routed through others. I use the term ‘intersubjective’ to refer to feasting’s model of agency. Roughly put, the ‘individ￾ual’ in Luzhou is a powerful dream, in part because of the great structural difficulty of achieving it. The intersubjective agency exemplified in feasting continues to define cit￾ies’ political economies, mediating economic production, welfare distribution, domes￾tic provisioning, and public identities. The broad stylistic-symbolic shift toward individualism (in consumer culture, rights activism, etc.) refracts differently through the political-economic prism, seg￾menting Luzhou’s urban population roughly into three. Middle-aged and older urban residents, including both ordinary residents socialised into pre-1992 norms of govern￾mentality and residents currently positioned in the state-led political economy, con￾tinue to display self-denying intersubjective ritual disposition. Established members of this group have achieved a substantive, individual ‘agency of power’, but as ritual con￾stitutes their main node of socialisation into the power structure, their ‘projects’, to use Ortner’s terminology, are carried out in an intersubjective idiom. On the contrary, younger urban residents and many middle-aged women, as well as rural migrant wage workers and vendors, display great interest in ‘gexing’ (unique, different) markers of individualised disposition.5 Implicit in this interest is a de￾emphasis of coercive hierarchical relations (enacted in feasting) and their cultural hab￾itus as impediments to individual expression. Small business people among them are forced to engage in guanxi network-building, while wage workers embrace—of neces￾sity—their ‘disposable’, temporary employment status. Their inclination to individual agency is conditioned by their weak position in the relations of production. Small business operators, however, are forced to ‘re-embed’ in guanxi relations to secure 360 © 2014 Australian Anthropological Society B. D. Harmon and B. Harmon