Post-80s Pop Novels: The Playground of Dandies and Racecar Drivers

The highest grossing authors of the moment in China are not the bastions of literary seriousness, the politically committed and highly eloquent Yu Hua, Gao Xingjian or Mo Yan. Instead, the giants in the field of publishing come in much more varied and flamboyant packaging.

The 20-somethings Guo Jingming and Han Han are the two most prominent representatives of their post-80s generation, a demographic targeted for its ultra-consumerism, selfishness and political apathy. Guo is the posterboy/covergirl of his generation's fascination with image and *bling* and Han the stinging mouthpiece of its stubborn individualism. When the two aren't writing they're primping, shopping, racing cars or humoring (or cursing) the camera. Sauntering on the track in his jumpsuit, Han was recently seen at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit giving the bird to a panel of judges. If Guo was absent, it was because he had run out of L'Oreal's Bare Naturale and had to charter some in from Paris.

The public images of these new writers, however cuddly or caustic, belongs to a visual generation that has grown up during the explosion of local and foreign medias. Writing is only one facet of their public personae, and sometimes it appears to take a back seat in the shadows of the photo shoot. Nonetheless, Guo and Han are serious writers and seriously good ones, despite the poopoo-ing of critics. Both attained early stardom in their teens and have been prolific ever since. Their deft wielding of the medium and their informed command of the publishing industry as a whole testifies to their precocious abilities. They're both still in their twenties, enthroned atop a tower of publications and a mountain of cash! And they remain untouched by complacency. In addition to cranking out new novels, Guo and Han are also tackling the magazine industry. Guo's I5land and Top Novel and Han's forthcoming Chorus of the Soloists are poised to chime in as contending heavyweights in that ring as well.

Texts:
*Selections from Guo's N. World N. 世界 (2010)
*Selections from Han's His Country 他的国 (2009)

Questions:
(1) How would you characterize Guo's lyrical writing style?
(2) How do Han's meandering narratives pose a different kind of narrative style?
(3) What seems to be important to these writers?
(4) What is it about Guo and Han's works that so completely captures the imagination of under20s in China?

Links:
Time's article on Han Han (November 2009)
New York Times article on Guo Jingming (May 2008)
Han Han's (in)famous blog
Guo Jingming's blog

Being a Kid in Mao's Country

A quick browse through the virtual pages of the Juvenile and Children's Publishing House 少年儿童出版社 website gives one a vivid sense of the radical changes in literary publications that have transpired since the end of the Mao era. Two of the more popular titles being pushed on the main page for children ages 7-9 include: (1) the Internet Witch 飞翔在网络里的女巫, and (2) The Treasure Seekers 寻宝记. The stories are echoes of popular international juvenile genres dealing with witches and sleuths. They also integrate the importance of modern science and technology into their entertaining plots. The abstract of the Internet Witch asks children to log onto a new kind of magical web. With any luck, when surfing at home alone, a cackling internet witch might pop out to play!

A short temporal shift to view children's literature of the 60s and 70s provides a revealing contrast to the type of lives children were expected to live in a Maoist China. The abstract to the 1978 edition of Er Wazi 二娃子 offsets the tone of modern literature quite nicely (or grotesquely):

"Er Wazi grew up in a rural village. Originally, he enjoyed life with his father, mother, grandma and baby sister. But the Nationalist Reactionaries and a wicked Landlord struck at his home, scattering and killing his family... Er Wazi's father was made to march for the Nationalist Army, his sister was forced to marry the Landlord. His mother, sick with worry drowned herself in a nearby river. Er Wazi was forced to work for the Landlord, fetching water and working the pestle. But he never got a square meal. In fact, he was often beat and cursed. It felt like he'd been tossed into a fire pit. He'd had about all he could take."

The picture painted for children is very clear: non-Communists, conservatives and capitalists
are enemies and out to hurt and kill you and your family. Fear isn't the ultimate message of this popular kind of children's story of the era, though. Ultimately, Er Wazi triumphs and gets his revenge. He rebels and combines forces with upright and empathetic (even teary-eyed) Red soldiers to turn in his oppressors and free the community from repression.

Er Wazi's tale sets the tone for our study of three other popular children's stories of the era: Catching Enemies on Our Island 海岛捉敌, Grandpa Wang Luogu 王洛古爷爷 and The Children's Brigade of the Grasslands 草原儿童团. The beautiful art and captivating tales of these books all emphasize two important characteristics expected of patriotic children: (1) vigilance to spot national enemies (especially those closest to you), and (2) the courage and strength to confront and dispense of them. Being a child in Mao's China was serious business. Finding buried treasure and following witches on the web would never have been deemed appropriate activities for future heroes of the People's Republic. Children were set upon the path of espionage and hard-fought socialist glory from a tender age.

This section will help us to gain insight into the kinds of ideological, psychological and physical pressures laid upon the shoulders of children of the time.

Texts:
*Er Wazi (1977)
*Grandpa Wang Luogu (1966)
*Catching Enemies on Our Island (1975)
*The Children's Brigade of the Grasslands (1964)

Questions:
(1) How is shame displayed in the text and inculcated in its readers?
(2) What kind of dangers are children expected to place themselves into in these tales?
(3) What rewards and incentives await children who perform their duties?
(4) What kind of psychological effects do you perceive these tales having on their young readership?

Rock'n to a New Youth Culture

The spirit of China's increasingly experimental and independent youth (the so-called "rising power generation") is conveyed in a famous chorus from Indie rock band Carsick-Cars' 2007 release, Maybe Mars. While the song paints a drippy, dreary night of Chinese conformity, an anthem blares out championing a lone hero who defies the darkness to become a "rock 'n' roll" hero:

Harmony (和声)

"it was late at night,
and all the people going to their hole
walking down the street
he talked to me just like crazy, real loud
he said this is all about your dreams
you should fight all the time
and he was the only one who wasn't scared,
to fall apart

hey, johnny, he doesn't want to,
he wants to be a rock and roll hero

hey, johnny, he doesn't want to,
he wants to be a rock and roll hero

hey, johnny, he doesn't want to,
he wants to be a rock and roll hero

hey, johnny, he doesn't want to,
he wants to be a rock and roll hero"

The lyrics lionize the youth as a recalcitrant, harmonizing (和声) element to the stagnant melody of his surroundings. While the population sleeps inside their holes, Johnny is made to see a heroic alternative that provides a new avenue for individual expression and in the process enriches the collective sounds of his society.

While Johnny and his rebel friend are by no means flooding the streets of contemporary China, the historically dormant frequencies of popular youth culture are markedly fluctuating. A recent article in The Telegraph (07 Dec 2009, UK) suggests notable rises in alternative band growth (~20,000 at the moment) and huge gains in concert attendance (up 30%). The nation's new found wealth and the radical contraction of the traditionally sprawling, Chinese nuclear family have given China's new youth immense new freedoms and resources to explore the world and to create themselves. Inspired by the retro80s and protopunk sounds and cultures of the West, Chinese bands and their listeners are blazing new avenues for self-expression. Grassroots jamming and lyrical and instrumental innovation have made Chinese Indie a big hit at home and abroad. The Carsick-Cars are close friends with NYC's own noise band Sonic Youth and their dependable opening act.

While excitement brews in cultural and academic circles over the stirrings of Chinese Indie (we anticipate Andrew Field's documentary on the scene early 2010), not everyone is as persuaded by its transformative powers and cultural significance. In fact, P.K. 14, the godfather of Chinese Indie, is pessimistic about its impact and skeptical about its popularization. Yang Haisong says that the fervor surrounding the scene is a marketing construct and that the youth's interest in new Chinese rock is more an expression of slavish conformatism than release of alternative energies. In other words, Indie rock is threatening to become a new catalyst for a classic case of homogenization.

We will look at and listen to some of the leading bands on the Chinese Indie scene and add our own voices to the sociological and cultural debate of what this all means for China's rising generation.

Readings:
*Han Han's His Own Country (他的国)
*Lonely China
*Carsick-Cars
*P.K. 14
*NY Times Article on Communist Sponsored Rockfests (2010)

Questions to consider:
(1) What are you first impressions about the sounds and the lyrics of the music? Thinking of the passage from His Own Country, how can rock be freeing for the Chinese?
(2) What do you perceive as being attractive to Chinese youth in Indie and punk music?
(3) How can what's new about Indie music threaten to snuff out its creative and liberational prospects?

Links:
*Rock Music and China's Youth Market (Telegraph)

Fashionably Red: Nationalist Fervor and the 60th Anniversary of Communism

The Martyrs Float (浴血奋斗) glides majestically past Tian'an men square commemorating the sacrifices of thousands along China's path to modernization. It is one of hundreds of caiche 彩车 (parade floats) that filled the streets of Beijing on October 1, 2009, to celebrate 60 years of Communist rule and national progress.

Nationalist fervor has been, unsurprisingly, on the rise since the beginning of the summer. October's celebrations further capitalize (pardon the word choice) on this increasing patriotism to consolidate nationalist sentiment (especially among the youth), to reinterpret Communist history and to bolster a host of profitable industries. Some social programs and businesses benefiting from this anniversary include: Cun guan 村官 (a modern-day perversion of the Cultural Revolution in which university grads head to the countryside to instruct country folk), Red Tourism (i.e. pilgrimmages to Yan'an, idyllic base of fledgling Communist forces), the film industry (e.g. Han Sanping's blockbuster "The Founding of a Republic" 建国大业),




and, strangely enough, Wedding Photography (this couple poses as Red Guard cadets).



These celebrations mark a new stage in the evolution of Chinese nationalism and national culture. For instance, the Grand Finale of the gala (shown below) features a song by Jackie Chan in which the words "囯" and "家," the modern bisyllabic composite for "country," are redefined and offered as a new communal ideal. Through our study of this and other cultural texts bound up in the anniversary, we will strive to define some of the characteristics of this 21st century Chinese socialist sentiment.




Readings:
*The Founding of a Republic (2009)
*Chinadaily interviews (29 September 2009)

Questions to consider:
(1) How would you explain the paradoxical craze for the Communist past of Chinese youth who are more cosmopolitan than ever?
(2) How would you describe the intersection of nationalism and commerce in China today?
(3) How might you anticipate the different generational reactions to this anniversary?

Supplementary references:
*Top 15 unofficial documentaries of the People's Republic (Fanhall)
* The 4 major anthems heard at the celebration (Xinhua News)

* Danwei article on Mao Impersonators

*Modern Society Website (Anti-Western)

*Red Songs Competition at HNU (2011)

Formosa and the Fear of What's to Come

Formosa Betryaed, written by Will Tiao and directed by Adam Kane, is a 2009 Formosa Film release that explores the anxieties the inhabitants of the small island of Taiwan carry with them into the 21st century. A territory of mixed races passed through the hands of multiple imperial powers (e.g. Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese), the island now nervously contemplates its future just as one of its staunchest political allies, the US, now seems to be quietly observing its cultural, political and economic gravitation back towards mainland China. The official website of the film describes it in the following way: "Taiwan is a nation that struggles to be recognized, sometimes even by its own people, as an independent nation. Perhaps most significant is America's refusal to recognize Taiwan as a nation while protecting its right to democracy from the People's Republic of China government across the Taiwan strait."

The political thriller resurrects actual events that occured in the 1980s when the Taiwanese Nationalist government tracked down and murdered a number of intellectuals abroad who disagreed with plans to reunite with the mainland. An interesting twist in this cinematic interpretation of historical events is the presence of American officers and detectives seeking to track down the killers and uncovering a national conspiracy. Recently (Sept. 2009) the film was privately screened for US congressmen in hopes of raising consciousness of the contemporary cultural and political plights of Taiwan in a world of global powers gambling again with its fate.

Questions:

*How does the film's plot succeed in invoking a nationalist spirit to rally around?
*How is an overt American presence in the film relevant to the political message of the production?
*How might some Taiwanese reject this understanding of their nation?

Links:

*Caving in to the Chinese Economy (2010)
*Formosa Betrayed (official website)
*Article on private US Congress screening (Taipei Times)

From "I am!" to "What am I?": Bei Dao and Can Xue

After the death of Mao and the fall of the tyrannical Gang of Four in the mid-seventies, China felt the natural tremors of cultural change rumble to the surface after more than a decade of boundless repression. Maoism had demanded of the people a constant psychosomatic devotion to the communist party and its nationalist projects. After years of mental and physical conditioning in the methods of forfeiting their selves to and for the party, Chinese citizens seemed destined to remain passive to the eternal mandates of an external authority. Despite these strategies and tactics to vaccuum out its people individual essences, certain indominitable spirits survived. When Maoism and its ultra-militant champions were temporarily halted, intellectuals and artists who had sheltered their spark of individuality broke out to express themselves. During the 1980s, this frantic airing-out of individuality occured forcefully and moved briskly. From the simple, impassioned cries of affirmation of Bei Dao to the surreal, confounding explorations of the substance of subjectivity of Can Xue, Chinese writers rushed to articulate what it meant to exist individually in a post-Mao China.

Bei Dao 北島, Misty poet stand-out and co-founder of the controversial literary publication Jintian 今天 (1978-80; 1990-), is recognized as one of the first artists to break out after the collapse of Maoism to assert openly the possibility of assuming individuality in China. His poem "A Reply" 回答 demonstrates the forceful imposition of a singular voice against the colossal forces of history and reality that weigh down upon it: "I tell you, World! / I--Don't--Believe--You!"

From these initial outbursts of affirmation of post-Mao subjects, Chinese writers of prose moved quickly from the assertion of the "I" to explorations of its defintion in a new era of modernization/postmodernization. One of its most provocative and controversial writers, Can Xue 殘雪, originally a tailor, is an extreme example of how narratives have come to confront the meaning of subjectivity in Chinese literature. Her dizzying, Kafka-esque worlds of volatile identities and fluid personalities reveal the hyper-instability of the content of individuality. From a study of a selection of Bei Dao's and her work, we catch a glimpse of the frantic evolution of the search for subjectivity in late twentieth-century Chinese literature.

Readings:
*Selections from Bei Dao's poetry collections
*Selections from Can Xue's Old, Floating Clouds

Questions:
(1) What seems sure in Bei Dao's exclamations of individuality?
(2) How do the expository methods of Bei Dao and Can Xue contribute to their differing conceptions of individuality?
(3) What is stable in Can Xue's narrations?

Links:

*Hong King Bei Dao Archive

Supplementary references:
*Dian Li. The Chinese Poetry of Bei Dao: Resistance and Exile, 1978-2000. Edwin Mellen, 2006.

Love in a Time of Consumption

Love and sexuality are physiological phenomena that despite their apparent transperancy, are actually highly temporal and cultural specific. It is often taken for granted that human emotions and aesthetic responses are universal and universally translatable across times and cultures. The display of a sub-Saharan African child crying or the image of smiling Burmese elder might seem to be naturally comprehensible. What we intuitively grasp as the reasons for and meanings of these emotions are, in fact, culturally conditioned. The sub-Saharan child may not be crying because he is hungry, as decades of televised, American broadcasts have insisted, nor is the Burmese elder smiling because he lives an idyllic, oriental existence. We interpret emotions and feelings hastily and instinctively, but when confronting those of other cultures, it is important to take a step back to remember that the expressive rising and falling of emotions are themselves languages, culturally-specific codes that function differently in various contexts and are as susceptible to misinterpretation as any foreign gesture or word. Furthermore, those same culturally-specific codes are as subject to the evolutions of time as simple vocabulary. The influences of authority, history, cultural exchange, education, media, and the markets all impinge upon the changing manifestations of how people fall in love and how they express it.

In Comrades, Almost a Love Story (Tian mi mi)(1996), Peter Ho-Sun Chan reveals the susceptability of romantic sentiments to the recurrent pulsations of a global market. Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao embark on financial and sentimental quests in Hong Kong to find money and to nurture love. In these complicated processes of chasing down both goals, Chan demonstrates just how much love is affected and conditioned by capitalist consumption. The power and pervasiveness of the global market succeeds in producing a number of different ways of being Chinese and of being in love as such.

Questions to consider:
(1) What is the relationship of money to romance in the film?
(2) How does the continual presence of Teresa Teng's song "Tian mi mi" function in the film?
(3) How has consumption in Hong Kong affected the love of the main characters in the film?

Links:
*Censoring Dating Shows in the PRC (2010)

Secondary references:
*Chow, Rey. "By Way of Mass Commodities." Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films. New York: Columbia UP, 2007. 105-120.