Jin Fuzai (1942-) is a composer and master's supervisor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (fi... more Jin Fuzai (1942-) is a composer and master's supervisor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (figure 11.1). He has been composing soundtracks for many years and has won many awards for his compositions. Nowadays he is engaged in working with musical theater. Some of his most important works include the animated films Three Monks (1980),
This course is an introduction to Chinese film and visual culture from the earliest days until th... more This course is an introduction to Chinese film and visual culture from the earliest days until the present. Chinese film and media studies are rich fields with links to literature, theater and opera, and visual art. This class invites students to watch, read, and discuss films from several periods and traditions, including auteur films (films by famous directors), genre films (for example, martial arts films), and animated films. This is a film and media studies course. Students will be graded on two in class quizzes, a short response paper, and one final written essay. Course Requirements: Attendance is mandatory. More than three unexcused absences will result in a one-point reduction of your Attendance and Class Participation grade. Two lates = one absence. Justification (a medical note etc.) for any absence will be submitted at the latest the next class after said absence(s). All the readings on this syllabus are required readings. All the articles are available as downloadable files. Please see below for the required reading list. We will discuss how to download articles from the databases available through the Libraries' home page.
A step-back to consider the place of film and animation studies within Chinese studies, area stu... more A step-back to consider the place of film and animation studies within Chinese studies, area studies, and sinology.
This is chapter 3 from Animation in China. National Style remains an important series of delibera... more This is chapter 3 from Animation in China. National Style remains an important series of deliberate markers for cultural production in the PRC.
Not the American Comparative Literature Association State of the Discipline, 2024
Preface: How Did Comparative Literature Fall From Its Apex in the 1980s? (a political cartoon) re... more Preface: How Did Comparative Literature Fall From Its Apex in the 1980s? (a political cartoon) reads like a parody of a "serious" contribution and collapses under its tired witticisms, not to mention its numerous typos. It is certainly political, and cartoonish, but unfit for a State of the Discipline Report. This submission is a very broad, unfocused, and fragmentary overview of the struggles of contemporary theory/Theory and Comparative Literature. The author tends to revisit some of the old points in the decades-long debate about the discipline, which do not add much value to this paper (excuse the tautology). The facetious and often conversational tone adopted by the author does not improve it either. Whatever the strengths and shortcomings of this piece may be (which for some reason are never mentioned), the State of the Discipline Report is not the right venue for it.
This book chapter is a love letter to Li Lili. The more I found out about her the more I wanted t... more This book chapter is a love letter to Li Lili. The more I found out about her the more I wanted to watch her films and read her autobiography. A brilliant individual, Li Lili contradicts many assumptions we have about the Republican period, and what could be called a "revolutionary type" of performer. She was revolutionary before they called it revolutionary. Li would be lauded as a good revolutionary in later years, but she was her own woman in 1920 and 30 Shanghai.
One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that ju... more One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that juxtaposes concepts of the real and the unreal, and a very important component of fantastic narrative. Chin Wan (陳雲) notes the way different attitudes towards ghosts in Sinophone culture were shaped by colonialism and public policy: “Influenced by the colonialism of Western culture, Mainland China banned folk customs during the period when modernization was promoted. Chiang Kai-shek’s Republican Party had the (short-lived) ‘New Life Movement,’ while Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of China had ‘Destroy the Four Olds’ and the Cultural Revolution. Only Hong Kong has undergone modernization for one hundred fifty years without doing away with folk customs”[中國大陸受西洋之文化殖民影響，推行現代化期間，都禁制民間風俗，國府之蔣介石有「新生活運動」（為時不長），中共之毛澤東有「破四舊」與文化大革命。唯獨香港現代化一百五十年，不損民間風俗]. Chin’s comments obliquely refer to anti-superstition campaigns that were central to cultural policy from the early modern to the revolutionary period. I return to these campaigns below . . . This paper is a discussion of the fantastic genre in literature and film. I employ the term genre in this paper in two ways. First, I attempt to define the fantastic as a genre of writing through the emblematic form of the zhiguai. Second, I link this genre of writing to fantastic film, a category of genre film that has dominated the market in China recently. One of the earliest forms of fiction in Chinese literature, zhiguai were often contrasted to textually verifiable historic writing. First, I contrast discussions of zhiguai to modern conceptions of the fantastic and Enlightenment and revolutionary conceptions of narrative and history. The zhiguai share some features with fantastic storytelling in Europe, notably the Gothic tale that emerged in the late eighteenth century. Second, I draw links between state intervention in religion and superstition and the early modern classification of fantastic literature and film. State anti-superstition campaigns in the early twentieth century would frame fantastic films as superstitious (shenguai dianying). Third, I discuss how the fantastic has been framed in the contemporary China. The modern and contemporary fantastic in China is a combination of Chinese and Western categories of the real and the supernatural.
This article is an intertextual reading of Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King), the sec... more This article is an intertextual reading of Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King), the second cel-animated feature produced at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the major animation film studio in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the 1950s until the 1980s. Released in 1979, the story of Nezha Conquers is an adaptation from three chapters of a popular Ming Dynasty 16th-century novel about a rebellious boy-god. The year Nezha Conquers the Dragon King is released, 1979, is a turning point for the hero in PRC cinema. Visual design for Nezha Conquers the Dragon King seems to be a combination of Osamu Tezuka’s Astroboy and Chinese Communist sports propaganda. Chief director and screenwriter Wang Shuchen considered the film to be a return to fantastic subject matter after the Cultural Revolution. Nezha Conquers the Dragon King signaled a return to mythological themes in PRC film and ends with an elliptical, open-ended finale, suggesting the propensity for future social and...
ABSTRACT Puppet animation was one of the key forms of animation at Shanghai meishu dianying zhipi... more ABSTRACT Puppet animation was one of the key forms of animation at Shanghai meishu dianying zhipianchang and would remain so until the late 1970s transition into television. One of the most important puppet animators at the studio, Jin Xi 靳夕, contributed to approximately 23 productions, including features, shorts, and a television series. Jin Xi's animation theory, partially derived from poetics, represents some of the most sophisticated discussion of animation in the Chinese language. The employment of three-dimensional volume, texture, lighting and space in puppet animation more closely resembles three-dimensional computer animation than other animation forms. Jin Xi's last film, Xiyue qitong/Saving Mother, 1984, is tacitly the first episode of a film based on a folk story about Chenxiang, a rebellious boy-god who travels through a series of adventures to save his mother, magically trapped beneath a mountain. Chenxiang references both the national style and the house style of an earlier SAFS character, Nezha. Jin Xi's episode is a complete, self-contained example of episodic storytelling that showcases miniature landscapes, superb use of stop-motion, well-rounded characterizations and, most significantly, a non-idealized, post-revolutionary hero-protagonist.
It seems as if this short piece written at the request of the editors of a now non existent blog ... more It seems as if this short piece written at the request of the editors of a now non existent blog "The China Beat," is no longer available online. This article asks questions about why the modern writer Lu Xun would become such an important figure of modern Chinese literature. Mao Zedong's canonization of Lu Xun included an analysis of a very particular genre of writing, satirical writing/fengci/讽刺. Even digital publications such as this one are anchored in the real world. I no longer work in The Swamp. But this paper still needs a site, a server.
Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s ... more Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s “On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films” is among the first explicit theoretical discussions of animation in Chinese. Jin Xi’s theory shines a light on puppet animation production in China in the 1950s through a detailed discussion of themes and techniques in an international context, especially contemporary Czech and Russian (Soviet) puppet animation. In her 2011 study of the Quay Brothers, Suzanne Buchan bemoaned the scarcity of theory that focuses on puppet animation. Jin Xi’s article adds an important theoretical statement to a growing body of work on international puppet animation. This is a translation of Jin Xi's "On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films." Thought I might as well put this one up.
lars, and Mrs Zhou to provide another 15 silver dollars, so that the sum of money that Zhou had p... more lars, and Mrs Zhou to provide another 15 silver dollars, so that the sum of money that Zhou had paid might be returned to him. As for property B, which had not been sold to Feng Chufeng, he ruled that Mrs Zhou might continue to hold it or to sell it. So, indeed, the magistrate ruled on whether the sale amounted to dian, but whether a cousin-in-law had to be barred from redeeming had nothing to do with the case. In short, I do not see the evidence that supports Zhang’s claim that status and authority correlated strongly with generational seniority in kinship networks. Instead, I see deliberate attempts to misread the records so that they might be given that interpretation. I think there are always reasons for poor research. In Taisu Zhang’s case, despite appearances, the reason is that he has no comparative framework that sets the Chinese village and the English village side by side. Not knowing what to look for, he seizes the most superficial reference for corroboration. As always, conclusions drawn from Chinese historical records without a thorough understanding are unsafe. Nevertheless, with the other two titles being reviewed here, Zhang’s aspiration adds to the scholarly work that might contribute to an understanding of Chinese landholding practices. Gone are the days when historians of China should master Qing land practices for practical purposes, and so much documentation is now available, even from the comfort of one’s own computer, that we historians should contemplate more systematic approaches to an unwieldy subject. The documents show such a great deal of variations that I am sure future studies will introduce more typologies than we already have. At some stage, we must also contemplate cross-cultural comparisons. For the moment, I advocate Cao and Liu’s approach, involving detailed examinations of local practices and relating them to a broad framework. Their framework is not the only one that can be constructed, but when a few more such frameworks become available, they may be compared and contrasted and the study of Chinese land practices can move on.
Introduction: It All Started with a Studio 1. It All Started With a Monkey 2. Cartoons and Chines... more Introduction: It All Started with a Studio 1. It All Started With a Monkey 2. Cartoons and Chinese Studies 3. Meishu pian as national style 4. A Discussion and a Princess 5. Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King): Scar Animation and an Ending 6. Industry and Animation
Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang, 1920-1995) was one of the major prose stylists of modern Chinese lite... more Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang, 1920-1995) was one of the major prose stylists of modern Chinese literature. (1) Heir to the great tradition of premodern vernacular fiction in China, Zhang was also well-acquainted with Western modern fiction. This paper, a reading of 'Jasmine Tea,' attempts to read Zhang in the context of some of the many readings of Zhang by critics. I am not claiming to provide a framework for all of Zhang's work; however, 'Jasmine Tea' is a significant example of what Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang refers to as 'domestic conflict' in Zhang's work. Zhang's depictions of domestic relations are a key strategy of her fiction. (2) Zhang's work is sometimes linked to modernism; my approach to Zhang is to position her fiction as a type of modernist commentary. Zhang's emphasis on domesticity deserves to be historicized. In a discussion of gender in sports in China, Susan Brownell notes what she considers to be an emphasis on alliance over sexuality in contemporary China. (3) Brownell's discussion is an adaptation of Michel Foucault's historical sketch in The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, where he contrasts the deployment of alliance ('a system of marriage, of fixation and kinship ties, of transmission of names and possessions') in Western societies with the deployment of sexuality that 'has its reason for being, not in reproducing itself, but in proliferating, innovating, annexing, creating, and penetrating bodies in an increasingly detailed way, and in controlling populations in an increasingly comprehensive way.' (4) In Foucault, sexuality is an historical layer that grows out of alliance, a sort of historical development that reflects upon the system(s) of alliance. Foucault's claims hint at a teleological reading of history in which systems of sexuality develop out of alliance. The relationship between alliance and sexuality is teleological in a similar manner to Hegel's reading of the development of art, in particular Tragedy and Comedy. Hegel claimed Comedy followed Tragedy because, while both Tragedy and Comedy exhibit the self-consciousness inherent in art, in Comedy the actor goes a step further by coming out from behind the mask in 'nakedness and ordinariness,' breaking the illusion of the performance and the boundaries between 'the genuine self, the actor, or ... the spectator.' (5) Alliance, through an emphasis on fate and the predestined in human relations, partakes of the Tragic, while sexuality, even in the Foucaultian notion of governmental control, functions like a layer of self-consciousness, individualizing the body though abstraction to surpass, like Comedy, the predestined relations implied by the systems of alliance. However, instead of the teleological narratives implicit in the Hegelian/Foucaultian binaries, it would be more appropriate to suggest an interplay or tension between elements. The suggestion that alliance is superseded by sexuality would be too cut and dried to account for the interplay between tradition and modernity, and popular social practices and government policy. It is also worth recalling that a teleological relationship has been claimed between modernism and postmodernism, where postmodernism is a later development surpassing, or at least commenting upon, modernism. I describe Zhang Ailing as a modernist because this is a term that has been applied to her writing. However, in my opinion, Zhang's work is very much in historical limbo. Without reducing the field too much, twentieth-century Chinese literature is roughly divided into two separate periods, modern literature beginning with the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 and ending with the founding of the PRC in 1949, which is considered the starting point for the contemporary period. Nevertheless, the so-called Republican period (1912-1949) is far from monolithic. Modern Chinese literature is very much a series of contested sites. The first wave of modern literature is usually dated with the May Fourth period in the first two decades of the twentieth century. …
Jin Fuzai (1942-) is a composer and master's supervisor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (fi... more Jin Fuzai (1942-) is a composer and master's supervisor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (figure 11.1). He has been composing soundtracks for many years and has won many awards for his compositions. Nowadays he is engaged in working with musical theater. Some of his most important works include the animated films Three Monks (1980),
This course is an introduction to Chinese film and visual culture from the earliest days until th... more This course is an introduction to Chinese film and visual culture from the earliest days until the present. Chinese film and media studies are rich fields with links to literature, theater and opera, and visual art. This class invites students to watch, read, and discuss films from several periods and traditions, including auteur films (films by famous directors), genre films (for example, martial arts films), and animated films. This is a film and media studies course. Students will be graded on two in class quizzes, a short response paper, and one final written essay. Course Requirements: Attendance is mandatory. More than three unexcused absences will result in a one-point reduction of your Attendance and Class Participation grade. Two lates = one absence. Justification (a medical note etc.) for any absence will be submitted at the latest the next class after said absence(s). All the readings on this syllabus are required readings. All the articles are available as downloadable files. Please see below for the required reading list. We will discuss how to download articles from the databases available through the Libraries' home page.
A step-back to consider the place of film and animation studies within Chinese studies, area stu... more A step-back to consider the place of film and animation studies within Chinese studies, area studies, and sinology.
This is chapter 3 from Animation in China. National Style remains an important series of delibera... more This is chapter 3 from Animation in China. National Style remains an important series of deliberate markers for cultural production in the PRC.
Not the American Comparative Literature Association State of the Discipline, 2024
Preface: How Did Comparative Literature Fall From Its Apex in the 1980s? (a political cartoon) re... more Preface: How Did Comparative Literature Fall From Its Apex in the 1980s? (a political cartoon) reads like a parody of a "serious" contribution and collapses under its tired witticisms, not to mention its numerous typos. It is certainly political, and cartoonish, but unfit for a State of the Discipline Report. This submission is a very broad, unfocused, and fragmentary overview of the struggles of contemporary theory/Theory and Comparative Literature. The author tends to revisit some of the old points in the decades-long debate about the discipline, which do not add much value to this paper (excuse the tautology). The facetious and often conversational tone adopted by the author does not improve it either. Whatever the strengths and shortcomings of this piece may be (which for some reason are never mentioned), the State of the Discipline Report is not the right venue for it.
This book chapter is a love letter to Li Lili. The more I found out about her the more I wanted t... more This book chapter is a love letter to Li Lili. The more I found out about her the more I wanted to watch her films and read her autobiography. A brilliant individual, Li Lili contradicts many assumptions we have about the Republican period, and what could be called a "revolutionary type" of performer. She was revolutionary before they called it revolutionary. Li would be lauded as a good revolutionary in later years, but she was her own woman in 1920 and 30 Shanghai.
One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that ju... more One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that juxtaposes concepts of the real and the unreal, and a very important component of fantastic narrative. Chin Wan (陳雲) notes the way different attitudes towards ghosts in Sinophone culture were shaped by colonialism and public policy: “Influenced by the colonialism of Western culture, Mainland China banned folk customs during the period when modernization was promoted. Chiang Kai-shek’s Republican Party had the (short-lived) ‘New Life Movement,’ while Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of China had ‘Destroy the Four Olds’ and the Cultural Revolution. Only Hong Kong has undergone modernization for one hundred fifty years without doing away with folk customs”[中國大陸受西洋之文化殖民影響，推行現代化期間，都禁制民間風俗，國府之蔣介石有「新生活運動」（為時不長），中共之毛澤東有「破四舊」與文化大革命。唯獨香港現代化一百五十年，不損民間風俗]. Chin’s comments obliquely refer to anti-superstition campaigns that were central to cultural policy from the early modern to the revolutionary period. I return to these campaigns below . . . This paper is a discussion of the fantastic genre in literature and film. I employ the term genre in this paper in two ways. First, I attempt to define the fantastic as a genre of writing through the emblematic form of the zhiguai. Second, I link this genre of writing to fantastic film, a category of genre film that has dominated the market in China recently. One of the earliest forms of fiction in Chinese literature, zhiguai were often contrasted to textually verifiable historic writing. First, I contrast discussions of zhiguai to modern conceptions of the fantastic and Enlightenment and revolutionary conceptions of narrative and history. The zhiguai share some features with fantastic storytelling in Europe, notably the Gothic tale that emerged in the late eighteenth century. Second, I draw links between state intervention in religion and superstition and the early modern classification of fantastic literature and film. State anti-superstition campaigns in the early twentieth century would frame fantastic films as superstitious (shenguai dianying). Third, I discuss how the fantastic has been framed in the contemporary China. The modern and contemporary fantastic in China is a combination of Chinese and Western categories of the real and the supernatural.
This article is an intertextual reading of Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King), the sec... more This article is an intertextual reading of Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King), the second cel-animated feature produced at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the major animation film studio in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the 1950s until the 1980s. Released in 1979, the story of Nezha Conquers is an adaptation from three chapters of a popular Ming Dynasty 16th-century novel about a rebellious boy-god. The year Nezha Conquers the Dragon King is released, 1979, is a turning point for the hero in PRC cinema. Visual design for Nezha Conquers the Dragon King seems to be a combination of Osamu Tezuka’s Astroboy and Chinese Communist sports propaganda. Chief director and screenwriter Wang Shuchen considered the film to be a return to fantastic subject matter after the Cultural Revolution. Nezha Conquers the Dragon King signaled a return to mythological themes in PRC film and ends with an elliptical, open-ended finale, suggesting the propensity for future social and...
ABSTRACT Puppet animation was one of the key forms of animation at Shanghai meishu dianying zhipi... more ABSTRACT Puppet animation was one of the key forms of animation at Shanghai meishu dianying zhipianchang and would remain so until the late 1970s transition into television. One of the most important puppet animators at the studio, Jin Xi 靳夕, contributed to approximately 23 productions, including features, shorts, and a television series. Jin Xi's animation theory, partially derived from poetics, represents some of the most sophisticated discussion of animation in the Chinese language. The employment of three-dimensional volume, texture, lighting and space in puppet animation more closely resembles three-dimensional computer animation than other animation forms. Jin Xi's last film, Xiyue qitong/Saving Mother, 1984, is tacitly the first episode of a film based on a folk story about Chenxiang, a rebellious boy-god who travels through a series of adventures to save his mother, magically trapped beneath a mountain. Chenxiang references both the national style and the house style of an earlier SAFS character, Nezha. Jin Xi's episode is a complete, self-contained example of episodic storytelling that showcases miniature landscapes, superb use of stop-motion, well-rounded characterizations and, most significantly, a non-idealized, post-revolutionary hero-protagonist.
It seems as if this short piece written at the request of the editors of a now non existent blog ... more It seems as if this short piece written at the request of the editors of a now non existent blog "The China Beat," is no longer available online. This article asks questions about why the modern writer Lu Xun would become such an important figure of modern Chinese literature. Mao Zedong's canonization of Lu Xun included an analysis of a very particular genre of writing, satirical writing/fengci/讽刺. Even digital publications such as this one are anchored in the real world. I no longer work in The Swamp. But this paper still needs a site, a server.
Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s ... more Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s “On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films” is among the first explicit theoretical discussions of animation in Chinese. Jin Xi’s theory shines a light on puppet animation production in China in the 1950s through a detailed discussion of themes and techniques in an international context, especially contemporary Czech and Russian (Soviet) puppet animation. In her 2011 study of the Quay Brothers, Suzanne Buchan bemoaned the scarcity of theory that focuses on puppet animation. Jin Xi’s article adds an important theoretical statement to a growing body of work on international puppet animation. This is a translation of Jin Xi's "On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films." Thought I might as well put this one up.
lars, and Mrs Zhou to provide another 15 silver dollars, so that the sum of money that Zhou had p... more lars, and Mrs Zhou to provide another 15 silver dollars, so that the sum of money that Zhou had paid might be returned to him. As for property B, which had not been sold to Feng Chufeng, he ruled that Mrs Zhou might continue to hold it or to sell it. So, indeed, the magistrate ruled on whether the sale amounted to dian, but whether a cousin-in-law had to be barred from redeeming had nothing to do with the case. In short, I do not see the evidence that supports Zhang’s claim that status and authority correlated strongly with generational seniority in kinship networks. Instead, I see deliberate attempts to misread the records so that they might be given that interpretation. I think there are always reasons for poor research. In Taisu Zhang’s case, despite appearances, the reason is that he has no comparative framework that sets the Chinese village and the English village side by side. Not knowing what to look for, he seizes the most superficial reference for corroboration. As always, conclusions drawn from Chinese historical records without a thorough understanding are unsafe. Nevertheless, with the other two titles being reviewed here, Zhang’s aspiration adds to the scholarly work that might contribute to an understanding of Chinese landholding practices. Gone are the days when historians of China should master Qing land practices for practical purposes, and so much documentation is now available, even from the comfort of one’s own computer, that we historians should contemplate more systematic approaches to an unwieldy subject. The documents show such a great deal of variations that I am sure future studies will introduce more typologies than we already have. At some stage, we must also contemplate cross-cultural comparisons. For the moment, I advocate Cao and Liu’s approach, involving detailed examinations of local practices and relating them to a broad framework. Their framework is not the only one that can be constructed, but when a few more such frameworks become available, they may be compared and contrasted and the study of Chinese land practices can move on.
Introduction: It All Started with a Studio 1. It All Started With a Monkey 2. Cartoons and Chines... more Introduction: It All Started with a Studio 1. It All Started With a Monkey 2. Cartoons and Chinese Studies 3. Meishu pian as national style 4. A Discussion and a Princess 5. Nezha naohai (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King): Scar Animation and an Ending 6. Industry and Animation
Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang, 1920-1995) was one of the major prose stylists of modern Chinese lite... more Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang, 1920-1995) was one of the major prose stylists of modern Chinese literature. (1) Heir to the great tradition of premodern vernacular fiction in China, Zhang was also well-acquainted with Western modern fiction. This paper, a reading of 'Jasmine Tea,' attempts to read Zhang in the context of some of the many readings of Zhang by critics. I am not claiming to provide a framework for all of Zhang's work; however, 'Jasmine Tea' is a significant example of what Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang refers to as 'domestic conflict' in Zhang's work. Zhang's depictions of domestic relations are a key strategy of her fiction. (2) Zhang's work is sometimes linked to modernism; my approach to Zhang is to position her fiction as a type of modernist commentary. Zhang's emphasis on domesticity deserves to be historicized. In a discussion of gender in sports in China, Susan Brownell notes what she considers to be an emphasis on alliance over sexuality in contemporary China. (3) Brownell's discussion is an adaptation of Michel Foucault's historical sketch in The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, where he contrasts the deployment of alliance ('a system of marriage, of fixation and kinship ties, of transmission of names and possessions') in Western societies with the deployment of sexuality that 'has its reason for being, not in reproducing itself, but in proliferating, innovating, annexing, creating, and penetrating bodies in an increasingly detailed way, and in controlling populations in an increasingly comprehensive way.' (4) In Foucault, sexuality is an historical layer that grows out of alliance, a sort of historical development that reflects upon the system(s) of alliance. Foucault's claims hint at a teleological reading of history in which systems of sexuality develop out of alliance. The relationship between alliance and sexuality is teleological in a similar manner to Hegel's reading of the development of art, in particular Tragedy and Comedy. Hegel claimed Comedy followed Tragedy because, while both Tragedy and Comedy exhibit the self-consciousness inherent in art, in Comedy the actor goes a step further by coming out from behind the mask in 'nakedness and ordinariness,' breaking the illusion of the performance and the boundaries between 'the genuine self, the actor, or ... the spectator.' (5) Alliance, through an emphasis on fate and the predestined in human relations, partakes of the Tragic, while sexuality, even in the Foucaultian notion of governmental control, functions like a layer of self-consciousness, individualizing the body though abstraction to surpass, like Comedy, the predestined relations implied by the systems of alliance. However, instead of the teleological narratives implicit in the Hegelian/Foucaultian binaries, it would be more appropriate to suggest an interplay or tension between elements. The suggestion that alliance is superseded by sexuality would be too cut and dried to account for the interplay between tradition and modernity, and popular social practices and government policy. It is also worth recalling that a teleological relationship has been claimed between modernism and postmodernism, where postmodernism is a later development surpassing, or at least commenting upon, modernism. I describe Zhang Ailing as a modernist because this is a term that has been applied to her writing. However, in my opinion, Zhang's work is very much in historical limbo. Without reducing the field too much, twentieth-century Chinese literature is roughly divided into two separate periods, modern literature beginning with the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 and ending with the founding of the PRC in 1949, which is considered the starting point for the contemporary period. Nevertheless, the so-called Republican period (1912-1949) is far from monolithic. Modern Chinese literature is very much a series of contested sites. The first wave of modern literature is usually dated with the May Fourth period in the first two decades of the twentieth century. …
These sample pages are provided for promotional and academic cross-purposes. Chapter 1 discusses ... more These sample pages are provided for promotional and academic cross-purposes. Chapter 1 discusses Wan Laiming’s career with reference to his autobiography (Me and Sun Wukong/ Wo yu Sun wukong, 1986) and the nec plus ultra of Chinese “classic” animation Uproar in Heaven/ Danao tiangong (1961; 1964). The story itself is loosely based on the first seven chapters of the 16th century novel Journey to the West as well as a very well known opera version of the same story. At the same time, the film actually consists of two parts, two films that seem to repeat a parallel plot structure specific to the films. Sun Wukong is, in many ways, a trope for the process of animation itself. Oh, and by the way, the word "pimawen" is the Wade-Giles spelling for "bimawen." A little transliteration slip there. Also, see my profile pic for another version, an alternate Chinese transcription!
Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s ... more Without a doubt, Jin Xi (1919–1997) is one of the masters of puppet animation in China. Jin Xi’s “On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films” is among the first explicit theoretical discussions of animation in Chinese. Jin Xi’s theory shines a light on puppet animation production in China in the 1950s through a detailed discussion of themes and techniques in an international context, especially contemporary Czech and Russian (Soviet) puppet animation. In her 2011 study of the Quay Brothers, Suzanne Buchan bemoaned the scarcity of theory that focuses on puppet animation. Jin Xi’s article adds an important theoretical statement to a growing body of work on international puppet animation.
This is a translation of Jin Xi's "On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films." Thought I might as well put this one up.
One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that ju... more One of the most important tropes for the fantastic is the ghost, a quasi-universal figure that juxtaposes concepts of the real and the unreal, and a very important component of fantastic narrative. Chin Wan (陳雲) notes the way different attitudes towards ghosts in Sinophone culture were shaped by colonialism and public policy: “Influenced by the colonialism of Western culture, Mainland China banned folk customs during the period when modernization was promoted. Chiang Kai-shek’s Republican Party had the (short-lived) ‘New Life Movement,’ while Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of China had ‘Destroy the Four Olds’ and the Cultural Revolution. Only Hong Kong has undergone modernization for one hundred fifty years without doing away with folk customs”[中國大陸受西洋之文化殖民影響，推行現代化期間，都禁制民間風俗，國府之蔣介石有「新生活運動」（為時不長），中共之毛澤東有「破四舊」與文化大革命。唯獨香港現代化一百五十年，不損民間風俗]. Chin’s comments obliquely refer to anti-superstition campaigns that were central to cultural policy from the early modern to the revolutionary period. I return to these campaigns below . . .
This paper is a discussion of the fantastic genre in literature and film. I employ the term genre in this paper in two ways. First, I attempt to define the fantastic as a genre of writing through the emblematic form of the zhiguai. Second, I link this genre of writing to fantastic film, a category of genre film that has dominated the market in China recently. One of the earliest forms of fiction in Chinese literature, zhiguai were often contrasted to textually verifiable historic writing. First, I contrast discussions of zhiguai to modern conceptions of the fantastic and Enlightenment and revolutionary conceptions of narrative and history. The zhiguai share some features with fantastic storytelling in Europe, notably the Gothic tale that emerged in the late eighteenth century. Second, I draw links between state intervention in religion and superstition and the early modern classification of fantastic literature and film. State anti-superstition campaigns in the early twentieth century would frame fantastic films as superstitious (shenguai dianying). Third, I discuss how the fantastic has been framed in the contemporary China. The modern and contemporary fantastic in China is a combination of Chinese and Western categories of the real and the supernatural.
Review of Zodiac by By Ai Weiwei With Elettra Stamboulis, illustrated by Gianluca Costantini , 2024
Ai Weiwei is a true postmodern artist. When Ai started producing art in New York City in the 1980... more Ai Weiwei is a true postmodern artist. When Ai started producing art in New York City in the 1980s, Andy Warhol was still alive. But Ai did not just pick up techniques from contemporary Western art, he entered into it headfirst through a kind of performance of personality. In traditional Chinese visual culture, personality is as important as individualism is in the avant-garde. Ai Weiwei’s personality is an important component of his art. In some ways, this gives the impression that his role is analogous to that of a film director, organizing performances and happenings to remind the public he has not gone away.
Before I read this book, I was not aware of Hu Xiaojiang 胡晓江 as an independent comic book artist.... more Before I read this book, I was not aware of Hu Xiaojiang 胡晓江 as an independent comic book artist. Therefore, I am approaching this artist from the rather unique perspective of a book of short stories and illustrations. Comics, animation, and gaming have been growing as important cultural industries in China for the past two decades at least. From the limited amount of independent comics I have seen from China, including Hong Kong, such work shares a tendency to be idiosyncratic and personal (for want of better term), and often but not exclusively employs techniques that draw attention to the hand-made aspects of the art, features they share with independent comics outside of China . . .
MCLC Resource Center is pleased to announce publication of Sean Macdonald’s review of China Imagi... more MCLC Resource Center is pleased to announce publication of Sean Macdonald’s review of China Imagined: From European Fantasy to Spectacular Power, by Gregory B. Lee. The review appears below and at its online home: https://u.osu.edu/mclc/book-reviews/sean-macdonald. My thanks to Nicholas Kaldis, MCLC literary studies book review editor, for ushering the review to publication.
Review of Visual Culture in Contemporary China: Paradigms and Shifts, by Xiaobing Tang. Cambridge... more Review of Visual Culture in Contemporary China: Paradigms and Shifts, by Xiaobing Tang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Frontiers of Literary Studies in China 10.1 (2016): 160-163.
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This is a translation of Jin Xi's "On the Distinguishing Characteristics of Puppet Films." Thought I might as well put this one up.
This paper is a discussion of the fantastic genre in literature and film. I employ the term genre in this paper in two ways. First, I attempt to define the fantastic as a genre of writing through the emblematic form of the zhiguai. Second, I link this genre of writing to fantastic film, a category of genre film that has dominated the market in China recently. One of the earliest forms of fiction in Chinese literature, zhiguai were often contrasted to textually verifiable historic writing. First, I contrast discussions of zhiguai to modern conceptions of the fantastic and Enlightenment and revolutionary conceptions of narrative and history. The zhiguai share some features with fantastic storytelling in Europe, notably the Gothic tale that emerged in the late eighteenth century. Second, I draw links between state intervention in religion and superstition and the early modern classification of fantastic literature and film. State anti-superstition campaigns in the early twentieth century would frame fantastic films as superstitious (shenguai dianying). Third, I discuss how the fantastic has been framed in the contemporary China. The modern and contemporary fantastic in China is a combination of Chinese and Western categories of the real and the supernatural.