tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/chinese-literature-7560/articlesChinese literature – The Conversation2024-03-21T12:40:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2260492024-03-21T12:40:01Z2024-03-21T12:40:01Z3 Body Problem: Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin’s alien invasion trilogy is captivating<p>Chinese science fiction writing has experienced an <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-reincarnated-giant/9780231180238">unparalleled surge</a> in global acclaim over the last decade, with author Liu Cixin and his novel <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765382030/thethreebodyproblem">The Three-Body Problem</a> (2006) at the forefront. <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/03/08/barack-obama-three-body-problem-cameo/72897973007/">Barack Obama</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-recommends-the-three-body-problem-2015-10?r=US&IR=T">Mark Zuckerberg</a> are among the many readers captivated by Liu’s Three-Body trilogy, thanks to its unique blend of historical and cultural storytelling.</p>
<p>The eight episodes of the new Netflix adaptation take place across the trilogy, including the other two novels, The Dark Forest (2008) and Death’s End (2010). </p>
<p>The series offers an intense narrative journey that probes into the trilogy’s core questions. If a technologically superior alien civilisation were to invade Earth – a planet already plagued with ecological destruction and human conflict – how should humanity respond? Is humanity worth saving? Is saving ourselves even possible?</p>
<p>The series begins with the story of astrophysicist Ye Wenjie’s (Rosalind Chao) disillusionment with humanity, which leads her to invite aliens known as Trisolarans to intervene. The show then follows a number of strategic defences against the impending Trisolaran invasion, culminating in complex interstellar efforts to preserve human civilisation. It weaves a story of survival, betrayal, and the relentless quest for human and alien coexistence with cosmic threats and the search for a mutual understanding between vastly different beings.</p>
<p>The series showcases some of the most widely discussed plots from Liu’s science fiction universe, bringing them to life with stunning visuals. It makes for a superb viewing experience, both for fans of Liu’s original novel and those new to the story.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for 3 Body Problem.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A strange echo of the Cultural Revolution</h2>
<p>China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) is an important cultural backdrop for Liu’s novels. This nationwide political campaign brought death and catastrophe for millions of families in the People’s Republic of China, under the leadership of Mao Zedong.</p>
<p>Ye Wenjie is a witness to this calamity. The Netflix series opens with a harrowing scene where she sees her father, a leading physicist, brutally beaten to death by the Red Guards.</p>
<p>Nearly every episode in the series alludes to the Cultural Revolution in some way. However, the adaptation oversimplifies its impact on Ye’s life, and consequently her complex role in the clash between humanity and the Trisolarans. </p>
<p>For instance, in the second episode, Ye immediately sends a message to the Trisolarans after encountering the unrepentant Red Guard who killed her father. This accentuates her deep-seated bitterness toward the Cultural Revolution and her ensuing disillusionment with humanity. </p>
<p>But in the novel, her confrontation with the Red Guard doesn’t happen until much later. By this point, she’s gone through a whirlwind of ideological shifts and emotional developments that are key to her changing attitudes toward both China and humanity as a whole. </p>
<p>Netflix’s adaptation glosses over the significant influence of the Cultural Revolution on the plot of The Three-Body Problem. These changes to the story, which presumably aim to add global appeal, miss a deeper exploration of the novel’s important themes.</p>
<h2>Rewriting characters and humanity’s decisions</h2>
<p>The Netflix series introduces the “Oxford Five” – a diverse group of Oxford-educated physicists and intellectuals with various skin colours and cultural backgrounds, who don’t appear in Liu’s novels. This creative decision highlights the message that humanity, despite our differences, should be united in addressing existential threats.</p>
<p>Through the Oxford Five, the series successfully explores deep ethical questions. Should we sacrifice individuals today to prevent potential future crises? Or should we focus on current issues, such as poverty and social inequality? </p>
<p>Despite the additions and changes, 3 Body Problem masterfully unfolds Liu’s expansive universe. It teases potential collaborations between the scientists and the UN, and questions how humanity might reassess its social fabric and relationships amid external threats. </p>
<p>The first season offers a range of diverse answers but ultimately, its mix of intrigue and open-ended storytelling encourages viewers to draw their own conclusions.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mia Chen Ma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>3 Body Problem tells a story of survival, betrayal, and a relentless quest for human and alien coexistence.Mia Chen Ma, Research Fellow in Medical Humanities, China and the UK, University of Strathclyde Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116312023-08-17T13:31:43Z2023-08-17T13:31:43ZSix books to read this Women In Translation month – recommended by our experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543043/original/file-20230816-29-p8ed5q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C17%2C1961%2C1179&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harvill Secker/The Feminist Press at CUNY/Amazon Crossing/Dedalus Ltd/Deep Vellum Publishing/Other Press</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Only a third of books translated into English are by women authors. August is <a href="https://www.womenintranslation.org/witmonth">Women in Translation</a> month, which hopes to address this imbalance by getting more people reading and buying – and publishers translating – books by women. In a bid to do our part we asked a few of our experts to recommend some of their favourite books.</em></p>
<p><em>This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a starting point for you to go and discover more wonderful books by women from all over the world that have been translated into English.</em></p>
<h2>1. <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/412741/little-aunt-crane-by-geling-yan/9780099569633">Little Aunt Crane</a> by Yan Geling, translated from Chinese by Esther Tyldesley</h2>
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<img alt="Book cover featuring a woman in a red scarf and holding an umbrella." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543004/original/file-20230816-31-1ytir0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harvill Secker</span></span>
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<p>Little Aunt Crane shocks readers with its powerful opening. The second world war is ending and the Japanese have surrendered. The village of Sakito in north-eastern China is full of Japanese nationals and as the Chinese draw in, the elders decide to preserve their honour. The villagers embark on a mass suicide. There is only one survivor, 16-year-old Tatsuru. </p>
<p>Tatsuru, alone and in a country hostile to Japanese people, attempts to flee but is captured by human traffickers and sold to a wealthy Chinese family looking for a surrogate. Her name is changed to Duohe and she is told she must bear the children of their son while pretending to be the sister of his wife, Xiaohuan. An unlikely bond develops between the two women in this story that spans several decades of Mao’s rule.</p>
<p>Little Aunt Crane is a powerful novel about identity, love and family that also manages to trace the intricate emotional, ethical and even political challenges in post-war China. It’s a rare example of a Chinese novel that focuses on a Japanese protagonist in the post-war era, highlighting the struggles of women like Duohe and Xiaohuan. </p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Beixi Li</em></p>
<h2>2. <a href="https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/la-bastarda">La Bastarda</a>, by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel</h2>
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<img alt="Purple book cover featuring a white ring and text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543006/original/file-20230816-19-f4anvz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Feminist Press at CUNY</span></span>
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<p>“Come on, try it. You’ll like it. You’re in the forest – the Fang forest is a free space. Now you’re free.” Freedom is not something orphaned narrator Okomo is accustomed to. Which makes this particular scene of queer sexual desire – away from the heterosexual, patriarchal traditions of the village – all the more exhilarating. Okomo’s family belong to the Fang community, the largest ethnic group in mainland Equatorial Guinea. </p>
<p>This short, sharp, addictive novel follows Okomo as she decodes and navigates the restrictive norms of Fang culture and searches for her estranged father. The narrative is laden with rules and hierarchies that structure Okomo’s existence and the characters around her are distinguished by their position, their relationships and their achievements. </p>
<p>Yet Trifonia Melibea Obono – and Lawrence Schimel, through his translation from Spanish – draw us to those who do not fit within these hierarchies. In these relationships between outcasts there is sanctuary to be found, away from the structural and physical violence, away in the shelter of the forest.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Olivia Hellewell</em></p>
<h2>3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37660359-the-golden-hairpin">The Golden Hairpin</a> by Cece Qinghan, translated from Chinese by Alex Woodend</h2>
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<img alt="Book cover featuring a hand reaching for a bird cage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543005/original/file-20230816-19-7z7nqn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amazon Crossing</span></span>
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<p>The Golden Hairpin is a historical crime novel set during the reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang (AD859 to AD873) of China. The main character, Huang Zixia, is accused of murder. She disguises herself as a boy and infiltrates the palace to try to clear her name.</p>
<p>Huang Zixia finds herself caught up in mysteries, which must be solved against a background of treacherous court battles and intrigue. In China, Huang Zixia’s hairpin is as iconic as Sherlock Holmes’s deerstalker hat and pipe and she is an intelligent and courageous female sleuth. </p>
<p>If you are interested in Chinese culture, especially the Tang Dynasty, you will love this beautifully written and intricately plotted novel.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Beixi Li</em></p>
<h2>4. <a href="https://www.dedalusbooks.com/our-books/book.php?id=00000378#:%7E:text=This%20volume%20brings%20together%20six,Yugoslavia%20until%20the%20early%201990s.">Take Six: Six Balkan Women Writers</a>, translated from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian-language">Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian</a> and Macdeonian by Will Firth, and Slovenian by Olivia Hellewell</h2>
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<img alt="Book cover featuring two paintings of women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543007/original/file-20230816-22-63htsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dedalus Ltd</span></span>
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<p>Anthologies can be tricky things and grouping writers together by arbitrary labels is not without its problems. But this anthology, which brings us six writers from six countries that were part of Yugoslavia until the early 1990s, is an excellent example of what a good anthology can do. </p>
<p>As one of its translators, I am biased, but this collection showcases a variety of forms and styles and provides the opportunity to dip in and discover writing that is not otherwise easy to come by in English translation.</p>
<p>Under one cover, readers can find autobiographical pieces, little-heard accounts of women’s lives in rural Bosnia, meandering travel prose, a genre-defying polyphonic story about time and space and stories connected by small objects or by settings. As a translator of the Slovenian stories, I am especially fond of the humour that Ana Svetel’s stories inject into the collection.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Olivia Hellewell</em></p>
<h2>5. <a href="https://fireflypress.co.uk/books/blue-book-of-nebo/">The Blue Book of Nebo</a>, written and translated from Welsh by Manon Steffan Ros</h2>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Deep Vellum Publishing</span></span>
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<p>Told as a series of diary entries, The Blue Book of Nebo is a moving tale of a mother-son relationship after an unspecified apocalypse devastates the UK. Rowenna and her teenage son Dylan survive alone in their Welsh village, growing their own food and raiding nearby houses for tools and books. </p>
<p>The book is a knowing take on the young adult post-apocalypse novel. It reminded me, in the best way, of nuclear novels like <a href="https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2243130.children-dust-louise-lawrence/">Louise Lawrence’s Children of the Dust</a> (1985) or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Children_of_Schewenborn">Gudrun Pausewang’s The Last Children of Schewenborn</a> (1983). </p>
<p>Manon Steffan Ros usually writes in Welsh. The English version is a beautiful reflection on reclaiming the Welsh language – an aspect of the novel which was, intriguingly, introduced in translation. Last year the novel became the first ever translated book to win the <a href="https://yotocarnegies.co.uk/2023-winners-announced/#:%7E:text=For%20the%20first%20time%20in,translated%20by%20Manon%20Steffan%20Ros.">Yoto Carnegie Medal</a> for children’s literature.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Carol O'Sullivan</em></p>
<h2>6. <a href="https://otherpress.com/product/as-we-exist-9781635422849/">As We Exist: A Postcolonial Autobiography</a> by Harchi Kaoutar, translated from French by Harchi Kaoutar and Emma Ramadan</h2>
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<img alt="Book cover featuring a Polaroid picture of a woman holding a baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543012/original/file-20230816-23-gpnjf5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Other Press</span></span>
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<p>Harchi’s literary memoir retraces the author and sociologist’s formative years in eastern France. Born in a loving, hardworking family from the Moroccan diaspora, Harchi dispels the myth of a multicultural France to capture the injustices of a society where “the figure of the Muslim embodies the myth of the enemy within”. </p>
<p>Harchi describes various forms of sanctioned violence imposed on post-colonial citizens that fall under the banner of state racism, including marginalising women and banning religious symbols from state schools. Harchi’s elegant prose recalls the fear experienced within many communities when <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/06/29/in-2005-three-weeks-of-rioting-shook-france-after-the-deaths-of-two-teenagers_6039444_7.html">the death of two teenagers</a> fleeing from the police led to three weeks of violent riots against police brutality and increased cultural divisions in 2005. </p>
<p>Written in powerful poetic language, Harchi’s book eloquently describes how growing up as an outsider shaped her identity and awakened her political awareness. This timely translation provides a pertinent insight into contemporary French society.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Nicole Fayard</em></p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:nicole.fayard@le.ac.uk">nicole.fayard@le.ac.uk</a> has previously received funding from the British Academy.
Affiliations: Chair of Leicester Freeva; member of the Executive Board of the ASMCF (no financial interest in either) and member of staff at the University of Leicester (no financial gain).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beixi Li, Carol O'Sullivan, and Olivia Hellewell do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mysteries from China, short stories from the Balkans, a French-Morrocan autobiography and more.Beixi Li, PhD Candidate, Translation Studies, University of BristolCarol O'Sullivan, Associate Professor in Translation Studies, University of BristolNicole Fayard, Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of LeicesterOlivia Hellewell, Assistant Professor in Peninsular Spanish and Translation Studies, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987852023-02-13T01:58:20Z2023-02-13T01:58:20ZWhat the sci-fi blockbuster Wandering Earth II can teach us about China’s global and local aspirations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508547/original/file-20230207-13-fclmjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C2%2C1908%2C1074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CMC Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A prequel to the 2019 film Wandering Earth, the Chinese blockbuster hit Wandering Earth II opens on a futuristic dystopia where the dying Sun is about to explode and engulf Earth. </p>
<p>A survival strategy is proposed: the Wandering Earth Project will build giant engines and use them to propel Earth away from the Sun. </p>
<p>Amid a global crisis, China rises to save the world. Western countries descend into chaos. Using state-of-the-art made-in-China technologies, China carries out the Wandering Earth Project – disregarding the cost of lives lost. </p>
<p>Now released globally, Wandering Earth II has earned <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/china-box-office-post-holiday-weekend-1235514038/">more than half a billion dollars</a> in China since it opened on January 22. It has also achieved critical success in its home country, with domestic media saying it exemplifies a “Chinese-style space romance”. </p>
<p>Adapted from a short science fiction story by celebrated Chinese author Liu Cixin, at first sight the plot will seem very familiar to fans of Hollywood. </p>
<p>But this film speaks to China’s growing ambition of leading global governance, and its embrace of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/collectivism">collectivism</a> and <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/">consequentialism</a>. </p>
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<h2>Chinese science fiction</h2>
<p>These political imaginations are not recent. They are deeply rooted in China’s political traditions, along with the development of science fiction literature in China. </p>
<p>Western science fiction was first translated into Chinese in 1902, at a time when Chinese thinkers <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Learning_as_Substance,_Western_Learning_for_Application">called for</a> learning from the West to “subdue” the West: a self-salvation plan to modernise China. </p>
<p>Science fiction was taken as an educational tool to disseminate Western sciences. Science fiction enabled China to imagine a bright future when it achieved national independence from Westerners – or became a new power in international politics. </p>
<p>An early Chinese science fiction book was The New Era, published in 1908. This book envisioned China would rise as a regional power in 1999 and secure peace in the Asian continent. </p>
<p>Chinese science fiction began by learning from Western counterparts at the turn of the 20th century when works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells were widely translated and read in China. </p>
<p>After 1949, however, the genre followed the footsteps of the Soviet Union in its imagination of how science and technology could be better used in the hands of communists than Western capitalists. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-communist-party-at-100-revolution-forever-163665">China's Communist Party at 100: revolution forever</a>
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<h2>East versus West</h2>
<p>Wandering Earth II continues this tradition of praising the science possible under communism, and positioning China as a global power. Here, China invests the most resources – technological, financial and human – in saving Earth. </p>
<p>The West is often represented as a rival in Chinese science fiction literature. Alternatively, it serves as a witness to China’s victory: in Wandering Earth II, even the United States has to consult a Chinese diplomat for advice.</p>
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<p>This diplomat, Mr Zhou, bears a remarkable resemblance to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Enlai">Zhou Enlai</a>, China’s first premier under Mao Zedong’s leadership. As a diplomat, Zhou Enlai helped China negotiate regional disputes with neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>Today, Xi’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Common_Destiny">community of common destiny</a>” is shaking the world order. </p>
<p>China’s leadership in Wandering Earth II’s “united Earth government” echoes the increasingly assertive image of China in global politics.</p>
<h2>Chinese collectivism</h2>
<p>The Wandering Earth Project exemplifies Chinese collectivism when old astronauts voluntarily join in a suicide mission – although some of them are not given a chance to speak. </p>
<p>Chinese history is permeated with political myths of individual sacrifices, derived from the long-existing authoritarian regime. </p>
<p>After communism won in 1949, “for the people” became supreme doctrine: the new government worked to eliminate remaining bourgeois liberal thoughts, and build revolutionary heroes. Individual interest was reduced to be secondary to service for the nation. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An astronaut stands on the moon" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508555/original/file-20230207-17-8l9gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Science fiction has long enabled China to imagine a bright future – Wandering Earth II is no different.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CMC Pictures</span></span>
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<p>A key part of Chinese political life is the collective ideology of conspicuous consequentialism: that is, the morality of an action is measured only in its consequences.</p>
<p>Taking human survival as its goal, the supreme artificial intelligence in the film pushes Earth to the verge of destruction to test the willingness of human unity. </p>
<p>Despite the “good” intentions of this artificial intelligence, it drags everyone’s life into extreme danger and leaves more than half the world’s population on a barren and frozen Earth without atmospheric protection. </p>
<p>No one in Wandering Earth II questions this draconian decision-making logic. Indeed, when the AI’s true purpose is revealed at the end of the film, the human survivors eulogise its intelligence, forgetting the high price they have paid.</p>
<h2>Individual sacrifices</h2>
<p>There are many parallels to draw between Wandering Earth II and modern Chinese society.</p>
<p>Today in China, the authoritarian bureaucracy emphasises results, while the policy goals – whether extensive economic growth or COVID-zero – lead to a moral dilemma between overall outcome and individual losses in the process. </p>
<p>When the greater good is achieved, individual sacrifices are lightly portrayed as a necessary cost and a “detour” in the development – which, of course, can be forgivable, and then forgettable. </p>
<p>In contrast to Kant’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantian_ethics">humans are ends, not means</a>, both Wandering Earth II and Chinese politics conceive the opposite.</p>
<p><hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-lunar-missions-means-more-space-junk-around-the-moon-two-scientists-are-building-a-catalog-to-track-the-trash-196645">More lunar missions means more space junk around the Moon – two scientists are building a catalog to track the trash</a>
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</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Amid global a crisis, China rises to save the world – while Western countries descend into chaos.Yimin Xu, Ph.D student at School of Humanities & Language, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW SydneyGuangyi Pan, PhD candidate, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1636652021-07-01T16:13:24Z2021-07-01T16:13:24ZChina’s Communist Party at 100: revolution forever<p>This month the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is celebrating its 100th anniversary. It has come a long way from its secret beginnings in July 1921, when 12 delegates from a small number of study groups of ardent young Marxists gathered in Shanghai for their first national congress. </p>
<p>These groups emerged from the anti-imperialist and nationalist protests of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/May-Fourth-Movement">May 4 1919</a> that had merged with a larger social and cultural movement. In an intensely international intellectual environment young students sought radical change and found inspiration in a range of new ideologies, from liberalism, humanitarianism and individualism to anarchism, feminism and socialism.</p>
<p>After the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Marxism gained significant traction. The Moscow-based Third Communist International offered support and sent a representative to the Shanghai meeting. The CCP thus emerged from a combination of the anti-imperialist and nationalist impulses of the May Fourth Movement with – as American scholar <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40201403">Maurice Meisner puts it</a>: “The chiliastic [millenarian] expectations of an imminent international revolutionary upheaval inspired by the writings of Lenin and Trotzky.”</p>
<p>How does one square this youthful rebelliousness with the situation today where the party has a membership of more than 90 million and is ruling over the world’s largest population. A party that has opened itself to private businesses, with the result that aspiration to membership is largely a career decision?</p>
<h2>Creating a revolutionary tradition</h2>
<p>At the beginning of 2021, the Ministry of Education launched an <a href="https://sieconnection.com/insight/2021/4/7/trends-in-chinese-education-white-paper-2021nbsp">educational campaign</a> with the aim of bolstering young people’s allegiance to the party. In an international environment where China is under intense pressure to justify its increasingly relentless authoritarian stance, this campaign is the expression of a deep anxiety about the preservation of the party’s revolutionary credentials and political legitimacy. </p>
<p>The preservation of “the red genes” lies at the heart of this campaign, as shown in this analysis by the China Media Project: <a href="https://chinamediaproject.org/2021/06/25/the-color-must-not-fade/">Our Colour Must not Fade</a>. Back in January 2021 the Ministry of Education issued <a href="http://edu.sc.gov.cn/scedu/jyt2021/2021/2/7/6b09aaea737e4facb68b067f3c102366.shtml">guidelines</a> on how to inculcate the revolutionary tradition into the minds of young children through the primary and secondary school curriculum. </p>
<p>This was followed by further instructions on how to teach children from a young age to “follow the party forever” using a series of tools from short video clips to class assemblies celebrating the “party spirit”, to patriotic education through red tourism. </p>
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<img alt="Group picture of Mao Zedong and members of the CHinese COmmunist Party at Yan'an in 1942." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409341/original/file-20210701-23-38zub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mao Zedong and members of the Communist Party of China at Yan'an, the ‘birthplace of the revolution’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>The study of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/world/asia/xi-jinping-thought-explained-a-new-ideology-for-a-new-era.html">Xi Jinping’s New Era Thought</a> is seamlessly brought together with a party/state history that focuses on the establishment of the “New China”. In this narrative, “New China” begins with the glorious foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949. China’s development is tracked through the “Reform and Opening” policies launched in 1978 that “opened” China to the world after the end of the Mao era, to its reconstitution as the major global power that it is today.</p>
<p>Conveniently brushing over the disasters of the Mao era, such as the purges of “rightist” intellectuals, the famine of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, these new guidelines aim to make children from primary school age to “<a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202103/t20210330_523534.html">unswervingly obey the party</a>”. </p>
<p>Xi wants to go back to the revolutionary roots of his party without the social turmoil attached to it. The exact opposite of a revolution.</p>
<h2>The century of youth</h2>
<p>Party propagandists know why they focus on young people. It’s the youth that are uncompromising, daring and hungry for change. But it’s also the youth that tend to hold authorities to account – and therefore need to be brought in line. This part of the revolutionary tradition was shaped in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/653116">Rectification Campaign of 1942</a> in Yan'an, a remote corner of the country, where the embattled communists had built their new base.</p>
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<img alt="Statue of Mao Zedong at the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao in Beijing, China." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409332/original/file-20210701-21-1g05cir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Setting the tone: monument fo Mao Zedong in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">cowardlion via Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>In March of that year, <a href="https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2017/01/20/wang-shiwei-documentary/">Wang Shiwei</a>, a freethinking writer who would become one of the most tragic victims of this campaign, published his essay, Wild Lilies – the work that would bring him into trouble. Its opening lines told about Li Fen, a young student at Beijing University in 1926 where she joined the Communist Party. With great affection, sadness and admiration Wang describes Li’s courage and determination when she faced a martyr’s death upon being betrayed to the authorities by a member of her own family only two years later. </p>
<p>The purity of the youthful martyr stands in stark contrast to the hypocrisy of the elitist party leadership in Yan’an. In Wang’s mind, what was dismissed by some as youthful grumbling over minor injustices – such as unequal access to food and women – diminished and mocked the sacrifices made by young idealist revolutionaries such as Li. He wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The potential value of youth lies in its purity, sensitivity, fervour and love of life. When others haven’t felt the darkness, they sense it first, when others are reluctant to utter the unmentionable, they speak out courageously.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Wang saw in youth – as embodied by Li – a heightened perceptiveness, a strong sense of justice and greater willingness to stand up for their ideals. The celebrated author Ding Ling’s <a href="https://www.marxists.org/chinese/reference-books/yanan1942/2-02.htm">exposition of gender inequalities</a>, criticising the party’s double standards when it came to women’s emancipation, was a more prominent example of the same. </p>
<p>The fates of both were in different ways signs of things to come and set the tone for the political campaigns and purges of the following decades. Wang spent the next years in confinement and was executed in 1947. Ding retracted and became a lauded author of social realism. </p>
<p>Wild Lilies highlighted the deep chasm between the idealism and the sacrifices made by women like Li and the betrayal of those values by the privileged leaders of the revolutionary society in Yan’an. What remained of the May Fourth rage was soon drowned in ideological struggles and Leninist party discipline. Ding lived, but her literary creativity was essentially stifled.</p>
<p>Mao would later use the power of the youth to turn against his own party, when he launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in a desperate attempt to reassert his position of power. The Cultural Revolution was the spectre that was evoked to justify the brutal crackdown when young students initiated the social protest movement of the early summer of 1989 leading to the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. Students have also been the main force behind the recent protests in Hong Kong. </p>
<p>The 100 years of the CCP’s history are full of ambiguities and contradictions, hope and joy, suffering and despair. There is a lot that is worth remembering. But the inculcation of a streamlined revolutionary tradition in an attempt to create new generations of blindly obedient followers is likely to backfire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Janku does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As it celebrates it’s 100th birthday, the Chinese ruling party’s latest programme of education aims to harness the power of youth in its own interests.Andrea Janku, Lecturer, Department of History, School of History, Religions & Philosophies, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460172020-09-15T19:54:07Z2020-09-15T19:54:07ZDisney’s Mulan tells women to know their place<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357791/original/file-20200914-18-1f90udg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C1994%2C1329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disney’s live-action adaptation of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4566758/">Mulan</a> was released last week amid much controversy. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/08/mulan-trailer-is-a-dismal-sign-disney-is-bowing-to-china-anti-democratic-agenda">Accusations</a> of Disney bowing to the Chinese Communist Party emerged when the trailer was released. </p>
<p>Many were outraged to learn the movie was partially filmed in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/world/asia/china-mulan-xinjiang.html">Xinjiang</a>, where at least <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/uighurs/">one million Uighurs</a> have been forced into internment camps. They also objected to actress Liu Yifei’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/disneys-mulan-star-sparks-call-for-boycott-with-hong-kong-stance">reported support of the Hong Kong police</a> during the 2019 protests. </p>
<p>Criticisms of the movie include its <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/mulan-trailer-criticized-china-historical-inaccuracies-1202157142/">historical and geographical inaccuracies</a>, an undertone of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/9/9/21427978/mulan-disney-controversy-explained-uighurs-xinjiang">Islamophobia</a>, and a <a href="https://international.thenewslens.com/article/140433">misrepresentation of <em>qi</em></a> (life force).</p>
<p>Also concerning, but less visible, is how Disney’s Mulan is a more conservative telling of an ancient story – and the place of women – than some historical Chinese renditions. While Mulan might claim to be a tale of female empowerment, ultimately this film is about how women will only be rewarded if they know their place.</p>
<h2>A 1,500-year-old tale</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357792/original/file-20200914-16-1i7cd5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of Mulan on silk dating to the 18th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Trustees of the British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 2020 adaptation of Mulan follows the basic plot of the 1998 Disney <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120762/">animation</a>. The dutiful heroine cross-dresses as a man to take her father’s place in the army. She returns victorious. </p>
<p>The original ballad <em><a href="https://www.tor.com/2020/09/03/womens-work-the-evolution-of-the-ballad-of-mulan/">Mulan shi</a></em> (“The Ballad of Mulan”) dates back to the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), a period of warfare and instability. Readers of this poem are exposed to the painful emotions that surround Mulan’s decision to go to war. </p>
<p>In early renditions, Mulan was a Northerner of unspecified ethnicity, and some retellings cast her as a resistor to the imperial court. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/2200655/Transformations_of_the_Woman_Warrior_Hua_Mulan_From_Defender_of_the_Family_to_Servant_of_the_State%5D">Scholars</a> have likened Mulan to a blank canvas. The freedom to tell her story in different ways has contributed to its popularity. By the 20th century, the ethnicity of this female warrior was designated as Han, and her loyalty allied with the central government. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Movie still" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357831/original/file-20200914-22-zysxzl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chen Yunshang played Mulan in the 1939 film.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xinhua Pictorial</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192338/">Mulan Joins the Army</a> (1939), Mulan’s filial piety was emphasised as a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2200655/Transformations_of_the_Woman_Warrior_Hua_Mulan_From_Defender_of_the_Family_to_Servant_of_the_State">service to the country</a>. </p>
<p>Similar themes were explored in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064452/">Lady General Hua Mu-lan</a> (1964) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1308138/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mulan: Rise of a Warrior</a> (2009). Disney’s 1998 animation was the first major non-Chinese adaptation of the Mulan story. </p>
<p>In these retellings, Mulan had fully transformed into a defender of the state.</p>
<h2>‘Know your place’</h2>
<p>Early in the new film, the village matchmaker tells 16-year-old Mulan (Liu Yifei) a good wife is “composed, graceful, polite” and “when a wife serves her husband, she must be silent, invisible.” </p>
<p>Mulan fails to embody these long-held virtues of an ideal Chinese girl, and her father exhorts Mulan to hide her special <em>qi</em>. This masculine power has no place in a girl’s life. The only way she can honour her family is through marriage.</p>
<hr>
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<hr>
<p>However, Mulan ultimately brings honour to her family by demonstrating that she is “loyal, brave and true” – qualities engraved on her father’s sword. Mulan knows her crippled father will die in battle if he is conscripted into the army. Taking his place, she leaves home in the middle of the night with the sword.</p>
<p>As a reward for her courage and leadership in saving the Emperor, he bestows her an official position in the imperial guard, but Mulan rejects the offer in order to return home. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mulan reaches for a sword." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357808/original/file-20200914-16-vk7yz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mulan puts her family and her Emperor ahead of herself, and is rewarded for this.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Emperor sends his men to offer Mulan a new sword. In addition to the three qualities, the new sword is engraved with a fourth virtue, <em>xiao</em> (“filial piety,” translated in the film as “devotion to family”). The men urge her to reconsider the Emperor’s offer and join the guard.</p>
<p>The film ends with the phoenix, Mulan’s ancestral guardian, circling above her. This creature has been her guide and its reappearance signals her acceptance of the offer. Because her love interest, Honghui, is an imperial soldier, it is implied she will fulfil her romantic desires as well. </p>
<p>Mulan is rewarded for knowing her place and for her <em>xiao</em>: by working within the dominant patriarchal system, she is a woman who “can have it all.” </p>
<h2>A 17th century band of sisters</h2>
<p>Within the film, the villain Xianniang (Gong Li) provides a powerful contrast to Mulan. </p>
<p>Xianniang invites Mulan to join forces and rebel against the Emperor. She wants to build a kingdom where strong women like them are accepted for who they are, but Mulan responds, “I know my place” – emphasising her duty is to serve her Emperor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Xianniang reaches towards the camera with an eagle's claw for a hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357803/original/file-20200914-24-n1yg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the film, Xianniang is punished because she chooses to step outside of what is expected of women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, Xianniang sacrifices herself to save Mulan. By refusing to work within the system, Xianniang’s death signifies the failure of her radical approach. </p>
<p>Rather than being a story of female empowerment, Mulan promotes the idea that women must put male authority figures before themselves to achieve recognition. </p>
<p>The story of Mulan hasn’t always sent this message. In a version by the 17th century author <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2200655/Transformations_of_the_Woman_Warrior_Hua_Mulan_From_Defender_of_the_Family_to_Servant_of_the_State">Chu Renhuo</a>, set at the end of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), Xianniang is a warrior princess who becomes Mulan’s sworn sister. They lead a group of women soldiers and travel together. This friendship is absent from the Disney film.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The story of Mulan has been told and retold for 1,600 years. This latest version is more conservative, when it comes to a woman’s place, than one told in the 17th century.Sin Wen Lau, Senior Lecturer in China Studies, University of OtagoShih-Wen Sue Chen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Literature, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1380072020-05-18T20:03:00Z2020-05-18T20:03:00ZFang Fang’s Wuhan diaries are a personal account of shared memory<p>Starting on January 25 2020, novelist and poet Fang Fang has posted 60 daily diary entries about life and death in her home town of Wuhan to WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform.</p>
<p>Born in 1955, Fang has a long and respected career as a writer of poems, novels and novellas. She won the prestigious <a href="https://paper-republic.org/pers/fang-fang/">Lu Xun Literary Prize</a> in 2010, and was elected president of the government-funded Writers Association of Hubei Province in 2007. But her work has rarely been translated into English.</p>
<p>Her diaries were read widely in China, and but their reception was mixed. Some readers celebrated Fang for voicing people’s struggles in lockdown, others criticised her viewpoints. In her diary, Fang wrote* about her persistence: “I’m never too old to lose the strength of criticising.”</p>
<p>News of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/chinese-writer-fang-fang-faces-online-backlash-wuhan-lockdown-diary">publication</a> of her translated diaries in English and German only the inflamed debate in China. But in any language, Fang Fang’s unfolding recording of the pandemic will be valuable for the globe’s understanding of our shared memories of this time. </p>
<h2>Fang Fang and her dairies</h2>
<p>Before becoming a writer, Fang worked as a dockworker at the Port of Wuhan, on the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers. Her stories mostly depict struggling social underdogs in Wuhan.</p>
<p>Fang’s diaries (which I read in the original Mandarin) chronicle the situation in Wuhan throughout the lockdown. </p>
<p>She describes her daily life in quarantine: food shopping, online communication with families and friends, and responding to readers. </p>
<p>She touches on sensitive topics: the investigation of China’s belated reporting on coronavirus, overcrowded hospitals, and those dying at home unattended. </p>
<p>There are heartbreaking snapshots: scattered, unclaimed cell phones at a mortuary; sweet moments when volunteers help with the old and the weak. She reflects on the dilemma of media workers in a public crisis, emergency policies enacted by local administrations, and misinformation capturing the interest of Chinese netizens.</p>
<p>In Fang’s diaries, we see a personal account of public memory and national trauma.</p>
<p>Fang’s diaries attracted a large following during the outbreak in China. One reader commented under her post: “These diaries are the respiratory valve for us in gloom.”</p>
<p>Fang’s tone is colloquial, poignant and accessible. Her words resonate with people isolated and frightened in her appeals for help, and her grieving over the beloved.</p>
<h2>A critical reception</h2>
<p>By the end of Fang’s diarising on March 25, criticism had swelled, with Chinese citizens targeting the writer’s credibility and integrity. This torrent of criticism peaked when Harper Collins <a href="https://paper-republic.org/links/harper-collins-to-publish-fang-fangs-wuhan-diary/">announced</a> it would be publishing the diaries in English translation, under the title <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008420352/wuhan-diary-dispatches-from-a-quarantined-city/">Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City</a>.</p>
<p>Fang was denounced by her opponents as selling Wuhanese suffering to Westerners and <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1185055.shtml">defaming China’s effort</a> in fighting the virus. Opponents have said this book will “hand over the knife” to anti-Chinese sentiment, and <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/would-fang-fangs-english-translated-wuhan-diary-become-ammunition-anti-chinese-forces">provide legitimacy</a> to conspiracy theories and unjustified blame on China. One post about her on Weibo said: “You’re giving Western countries ammunition to target China.”</p>
<p>There is also some contention about the legitimacy of Fang’s dairies as the testimony of Wuhan. Her writing presents anxiety and anger in quarantine, but <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/fc18c38d-bca8-4cd8-b542-f526259d97fd">some challenge</a> her viewpoints as partial and information unattested. She is accused of exposing too many negative emotions, losing authenticity and objectivity. </p>
<h2>Sharing testimonies</h2>
<p>“Global memory” is a phrase I use to describe recording experiences and the transposition and reconstruction of local memories across borders and barriers. It considers both the potential for mutual understanding, and the difficulty in communicating experiences across languages and cultures. </p>
<p>As the world goes through the trauma of COVID-19 and its eventual aftermath, psychological effects <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-study-shows-staggering-effect-of-coronavirus-pandemic-on-americas-mental-health-137944">are emerging</a>. The publication of diaries and other texts will become important in how memories are handled individually and collectively. </p>
<p>In her dairies*, Fang sighs:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People in Wuhan are all traumatised. We’re not lucky; we are only survivors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fang’s writing can help identify patterns, solutions and mindsets to deal with pandemics. She reminds us cooperation is required between people and nations, and this cooperation is too often frustrated because of racial bias, political agendas and economic competition. </p>
<p>She writes about the medical assistance teams from across China aiding Wuhan, and asks why the Wuhanese outside Wuhan – suspected as infected – are refused entry to cities, towns and villages. This story of alienation and repulsion is now recurring in a global context with stories of fear and racism <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-latest-disease-to-fuel-mistrust-fear-and-racism-130853">across the world</a>. These narratives shape, and repeat in, human history of pandemics, wars and trade.</p>
<hr>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-latest-disease-to-fuel-mistrust-fear-and-racism-130853">Coronavirus: The latest disease to fuel mistrust, fear and racism</a>
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</em>
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<p>Global memory entails a humanitarian thinking about how we relate ourselves to “others”. </p>
<p>Fang’s dairies capture Wuhan’s memory and will help people in and outside China understand and empathise with other humans whose lives are all drastically changed by the pandemic. </p>
<p>In sharing universal human emotions, these dairies will empower those currently feeling confusion and desperation. In remembering the pandemic – even as it continues to unfold – readers will rethink their present, and their uncertain future.</p>
<hr>
<p>*<em>Quote translated from Mandarin by Meng Xia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meng Xia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fang Fang publicly diarised the Wuhan lockdown in realtime. Now, her WeChat diaries are being published in English.Meng Xia, PhD candidate on Literature, memory and trauma, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/998352019-01-14T19:09:20Z2019-01-14T19:09:20ZGuide to the classics: The Water Margin, China’s outlaw novel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Li Kui (李逵), one of the characters in The Water Margin, battles tigers after they killed his mother. Utagawa Kuniyoshi, between between 1845 and 1850. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utagawa_Kuniyoshi_-_%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B8%E5%82%B3_-_%E6%9D%8E%E9%80%B5_3.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Margin">The Water Margin</a>, also known in English as Outlaws of the Marsh or All Men Are Brothers, is one of the most powerful narratives to emerge from China. The book, conventionally attributed to an otherwise obscure Yuan dynasty figure called Shi Nai’an, takes the form of a skein of connected tales surrounding various heroic figures who — persecuted, exploited, wronged, or trapped by venal officials — eventually band together in the fortress of Liangshan (Mount Liang), in the present-day province of Shandong. </p>
<p>Its influence has gone far beyond the usual genres of fiction, film, art, and theatre. The stories provide, even today, a point of reference for codes of honour, social and economic networks, secret societies and political movements. </p>
<p>Generations of China’s governments have sought to represent themselves as guardians of an often explicitly neo-Confucian order characterised by a fixed and morally-grounded political and social order constructed of hierarchical relationships. But The Water Margin represents another, equally real and representative, Chinese worldview. In this world, local injustice is the rule, and defence against cruel local authority is a matter of vengeance, stratagem, and violence. </p>
<hr>
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</em>
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<p>From this universe, itself a highly mediated depiction of the rapidly decaying Northern Song dynasty in the 12th century, derive fictional worlds of errantry, struggle and righteousness that have gone through endless narrative and cinematic iterations. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253589/original/file-20190114-43529-1l7k9jz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration from The Water Margin. Circa 15th Century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shuihu9.PNG">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of these descendants, the most familiar today are the fictional worlds of Hong Kong writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Yong">Jin Yong</a>, which remain the closest thing to a reading list for adolescents in the Chinese world, and the kung fu genre that has been the global calling card of Sinophone film since at least Bruce Lee. </p>
<h2>Rebels with a cause</h2>
<p>With printed versions dating back to the 14th century, The Water Margin largely follows the adventures of strongmen, innkeepers, footpads, peasants, vagabonds, fishermen, hunters, petty officials and local gentry. Surrounding these protagonists are the thousands of nameless followers and victims who are knocked off or maimed (just as they might be casually dispatched in Homer) in the novel’s thousand-odd pages. </p>
<p>Women, when they (not so very often) appear, are hard-nosed mistresses, pugnacious sisters, hapless wives, strategising helpmeets, or murderous innkeepers (one of whom has hit on Mrs. Lovett’s idea of baking humans into pies a full 800 hundred years before her). This also sets it apart from the mainstream of imperial fiction, which is substantially preoccupied with the passions and travails of high-born, talented women and their ambitious scholar swains, not to mention emperors and generals.</p>
<p>It is only a novel after a fashion: The Water Margin’s text is substantially the record of stories that had already been circulating at the time it was committed to the page. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Nai%27an">Shi Nai’an’s</a> authorship is little more than a conventional attribution, and the text is far from stable, existing in various versions beginning from the 14th century, two hundred years after the events it depicts. It reached its usual present form in the 17th century. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253574/original/file-20190114-43535-1qwoq1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Li Kui (李逵), from The Water Margin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utagawa_Kuniyoshi_-_%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B8%E5%82%B3_-_%E6%9D%8E%E9%80%B5_3.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the Ming (14th-17th century) and Qing (17th-20th century) dynasties, the bandits of The Water Margin continued to influence all manner of groups operating far from the seat of power, despite periodic attempts to ban the book. </p>
<p>The fact that the villains of the novel are local officials, while the bandits remain at least notionally loyal to the imperial court, has proven an enduring inspiration. Many are the brands of rebellion that have found it practical to be on the other side of the law while retaining a claim to the values of brotherhood, honour, loyalty and patriotism. </p>
<h2>Enduring legacy</h2>
<p>The plot’s political relevance has never gone away. Having been adopted in the 1930s by reformers as a healthily anti-feudal narrative, it was later deployed in a major 1975 government campaign, in which the leader of the Liangshan bandits in the book, Song Jiang, was criticised for accepting the emperor’s offer of amnesty. Had he not given the game away? And was he therefore not guilty of coexistence with forces inimical to the masses, just as party members, late in the Maoist era, would be guilty of capitulationism if their fervour flagged? </p>
<p>This move, widely interpreted as an effort to head off the fall of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four">Gang of Four</a> shows how centrally the characters have been retained even in modern and contemporary Chinese consciousness. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conrads-imperial-horror-story-heart-of-darkness-resonates-with-our-globalised-times-94723">How Conrad’s imperial horror story Heart of Darkness resonates with our globalised times</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253556/original/file-20190113-43520-r40rkb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A board for a Sichuan board game, based on The Water Margin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B8%E9%81%B8%E4%BB%99%E5%9C%96.png">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s commonplace to lament human transience and contrast it with the immutability of nature. But those going in search of the dense marshlands of Shandong —- where in the novel crafty fishermen might cause unwary inconvenient minor officials to disappear —- will be disappointed. The entire geography of the novel has been altered beyond recognition by river engineering and irrigation. </p>
<p>This of course does not prevent local governments continuing to put up buildings tagged to certain events in the novel, hoping at the same time that the message of righteous rebellion against local authority is never taken too literally. The formidable, impregnable, fortified mountain, Liangshan, rises just short of 200 metres in reality. </p>
<p>The place of The Water Margin has moved almost entirely into the imaginary, and it is the situations, the events, the stratagems and above all the characters – furious and righteous, looking to set the world right – that have left their mark on posterity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99835/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josh Stenberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In The Water Margin, first put to paper in the 14th century, local injustice is the rule, and defence against cruel local authority is a matter of vengeance, stratagem, and violenceJosh Stenberg, Lecturer in Chinese Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/634162016-11-17T19:06:42Z2016-11-17T19:06:42ZChinese literature in Africa: meaningful or simply ceremonial?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146062/original/image-20161115-31148-nr9nmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A South African Buddhist celebrates the Chinese New Year at Nan Hua Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstpruit, South Africa</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sino-African relations have garnered a great deal of public interest in recent decades. Commentary tends to focus on <a href="http://www.reporting-focac.com/5-must-read-china-africa-books.html">trade, economic investment and aid</a> and is often negative in tone. Based on interviews I conducted in Benin in early 2015, culture is perceived as the most positive aspect of the relationship. Cultural exchange is a crucial domain of interaction, and one in which China is investing heavily.</p>
<p>China has a <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2014-09/30/content_18687863.htm">growing ambition</a> to become a major world cultural power and to compete with Western cultural influence. If China aims to counter the cultural hegemony of the West, the translation and exporting of its literature plays a vital role. </p>
<p>The export of its cultural products is key if China is to gain visibility on the global stage. In 2006 the Chinese government announced a strategic <a href="https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2006/09/13/outline-of-the-national-11th-five-year-plan-period-cultural-development-plan/">five-year plan</a> for cultural development. Numerous projects were launched to promote China’s publication exports. The most well known of these is the <a href="http://www.chinabookinternational.org/aboutcbi/Project/">China Book International</a> programme. This is sponsored by the government to sell its printed media abroad.</p>
<p>As Chinese scholar Li Mingjiang has <a href="http://cjip.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/2/287.extract">observed</a>, the distribution of Chinese literature abroad is a tool for “cultivating a better image of China” and “correcting foreign misperceptions”.</p>
<p>To understand the dynamics of Sino-African cultural exchanges better we <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/ctccs/projects/building-images.aspx">did a survey</a> of Chinese literature available in translation across Africa.</p>
<p>The results are far from exhaustive. They suggest that the strategy has had limited success. But they also highlight isolated cases that exemplify the potential for mutual enrichment.</p>
<p>The research suggests that the translation of Chinese literature in Africa primarily fulfils a ceremonial and diplomatic function. The ceremonies around <a href="http://windowofshanghai.library.sh.cn">book donations</a> to African libraries are a key example. Much more needs to be done to generate meaningful cultural interaction and exchange. </p>
<h2>Limited success so far</h2>
<p>A great deal of translated Chinese literature comes from publishing houses in France, the UK and the US, and not directly from China. The available literature is therefore generally in European languages – primarily English and French. UNESCO’s <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7810&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">Index Translationum</a> cites 2331 translations from Chinese into English and 1508 into French.</p>
<p>Filtering Chinese literature through Western intermediaries and languages determines which books are distributed in African countries. It also affects where the books end up. For example, many of the titles published in French are tucked away in the libraries of various <a href="http://www.institutfrancais.com/fr">Instituts Français</a> in Francophone countries rather than in public libraries and bookshops. </p>
<p>There is also a noticeable shortage of translations into African languages. The <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7810&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">index</a> shows that, apart from a few translations into Arabic, there is not a single translation of a Chinese literary text into an African language. This excludes a wide range of African readers and creates a barrier to more direct intercultural dialogue between China and African countries. </p>
<p>One possible difficulty in increasing the number of translations is the lack of authors and translators with the necessary linguistic skills. Another major contributing factor is the lack of a developed print industry and availability of printed publications in many African countries. </p>
<h2>Promising signs</h2>
<p>One recent promising case demonstrates the potential benefits of meaningful cultural exchange.</p>
<p>A collection of poetry by the award-winning Chinese poet <a href="https://paper-republic.org/authors/jidi-majia/">Jidi Majia</a> has recently been published in Kiswahili. The collection, <a href="http://twawezacommunications.org/maneno-ya-moto-kutoka-china-book-launch/">Maneno Ya Moto Kutoka China</a>, is heralded as the first creative work of Chinese literature to be translated into the lingua franca of Kenya, Tanzania and much of southeast Africa. </p>
<p>Jidi Majia is a prize-winning Chinese poet of the minority Yi nationality who claims an affinity with African writers. Choosing to translate a contemporary poet from a minority community in China might appear to be an unusual choice for a first publication in Kiswahili. The <a href="http://en.fltrp.com">Chinese publisher</a> said the decision was taken to ensure that the writings of a poet from a Chinese minority group can be seen by different peoples of different cultures. </p>
<p>This type of publication opens a window to Chinese culture for African people wishing to read in their native and national languages. African scholars also argue that publishing in Kiswahili and other African languages is important for <a href="http://qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/9165/8_15_ogechi.pdf">enhancing adult literacy</a> and combating the scarcity of reading material available in these languages.</p>
<h2>No coherent strategy</h2>
<p>Despite a few examples, the translation of Chinese literature into African languages remains extremely limited. Rather than being part of a coherent translation strategy, these projects depend on individual collaborations.</p>
<p>What might a coherent strategy look like? I would suggest that there should be efforts to build collaborations between Chinese and local African publishing houses without going via a European or Western intermediary. At the moment, these are rare. But they do begin to outline what meaningful relationships may look like. These relationships could engage the African literary community of editors, translators and authors. At the same time China could gain a more direct line of access to a broad African readership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63416/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research stems from the project 'Building Images: exploring 21st century Sino-African dynamics through cultural exchange and translation', which was funded by the AHRC from 2014-2016; Dr Catherine Gilbert was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on this project from 2014-2015.</span></em></p>Much of the recent commentary on Sino-African relations has a negative tone. But genuine cultural exchange holds the promise of mutual enrichment.Catherine Gilbert, Teaching Fellow in Comparative Literature, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/614472016-07-21T12:10:53Z2016-07-21T12:10:53ZFrom China with love: Tang Xianzu was the Shakespeare of the Orient<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131523/original/image-20160721-32633-1vu12fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tang and Shakespeare's dramas are being blended together in a series of adaptions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Performance Infinity</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his 400th anniversary year, Shakespeare is still rightly celebrated as a great wordsmith and playwright. But he was not the only great master of dramatic writing to die in 1616, and he is certainly not the only writer to have left a lasting impact on theatre.</p>
<p>While less known worldwide, Tang Xianzu is considered China’s greatest playwright and is highly revered in that country of ancient literary and dramatic traditions. With the aim of exploring the common ground between these two masters, <a href="http://performance-shakespeare-2016.xycollective.co.uk/">a series of productions from China and the UK</a> are to be performed over the coming months to celebrate their lives and literary legacies.</p>
<p>Tang was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi province, and pursued a low-key career as an official until, in 1598 and aged 49, he retired to focus on writing. Unlike Shakespeare’s substantial body of plays, poems and sonnets, Tang wrote only four major plays: The Purple Hairpin, The Peony Pavilion, A Dream under a Southern Bough, and Dream of Handan. The latter three are constructed around a dream narrative, a device through which Tang unlocks the emotional dimension of human desires and ambitions, and explores human nature beyond the social and political constraints of the feudal system of the time. It is a similar dream motif that we find in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131525/original/image-20160721-32628-9z58fj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe interweave Shakespeare’s tragedy Coriolanus with Tang Xianzu’s love story The Peony Pavilion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Performance Infinity</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/july-august-2006-indo-chic/deaths-and-lives-peony-pavilion">The Peony Pavilion</a> is considered Tang’s masterpiece. Over 55 scenes it explores the passions of young Du Liniang, daughter of Du Bao, the governor of Nan'an. After dreaming of a young scholar she meets in a peony pavilion, Du Liniang suddenly falls ill. Before dying, she leaves a self-portrait of herself and a poem with her maid, with orders to hide these under a stone by the plum tree at Taihu Lake. </p>
<p>Three years later, a scholar named Liu Mengmei dreams of Du Liniang. In his dream, he and Du Liniang fall madly in love. It is the strength of this love that helps Liu Mengmei to revive Du Liniang from the grave. After confronting Du Liniang’s father, the couple marry and live a long and happy life.</p>
<p>The distinctive aspect of The Peony Pavilion is Du Liniang’s life and death. The fact that a female heroine in a society dominated by moral obligations and a strict hierarchical order can pursue and accomplish her true love – defying even death – is no small matter. Echoing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with its theme of forbidden and endangered love, instead Tang’s play does not end in tragedy but with a message of hope that celebrates true love over death and the constraints imposed by society. </p>
<p>In Tang’s championing of <em>qing</em> (emotion) over discipline, and humanity over hierarchy and authority, we find common ground with Shakespeare. As is found in Shakespeare’s iconic characters such as Hamlet, Tang’s Du Lingnian is heroine of a great story in which she not only surmounts the challenges of her time, but in doing so creates a tale to survive the test of time. </p>
<h2>An eastern renaissance</h2>
<p>Tang lived towards the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and, similarly to Shakespeare, his success rode the wave of a renaissance in theatre as an artistic practice. As in Shakespeare’s England, it became hugely popular in China, too. </p>
<p>Mainstream theatrical audiences started to populate open public spaces, and theatre as a popular form of entertainment found its place outside palaces and the gentrified circles of the literati. However, unlike in Shakespeare’s times, there was hardly any mixing of the gentry and rich with commoners at theatrical events.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1253&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1253&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130694/original/image-20160715-2122-1w3bnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1253&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Believed to be the only portrait of playwright Tang Xianzu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E6%B9%AF%E9%A1%AF%E7%A5%96.jpg">Deqing People's Collection/Symane</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During this time, the way in which play-texts were enjoyed, circulated and performed changed. Initially, Chinese drama had an emphasis on poetic language and a refined literary style, and were circulated as manuscripts to be read as if they were novels. They were <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/5753304/peony_pavilion_onstage">seldom, if ever, performed</a>. However, from the mid-16th century, <em>kunqu</em> opera, a form of musical drama, spread from southern China to become a symbol of Chinese culture. </p>
<p>While comparable to Western opera in terms of narrative and structure, <em>kunqu</em> differs in its physicality. Drawing from the Kunshan (near Suzhou, in modern Jiangsu Province) musical tradition combining northern tunes and southern music, <em>kunqu</em> opera encompassed poetic language, music, dance movements and precisely coded gestures. </p>
<p>Tang’s work arrived in the midst of this tension between formal poetic refinement and operatic, musical forms of theatre, and was at the centre of these theatrical debates. By the arrival of the Qing dynasty, a play-text was considered as <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/5753304/peony_pavilion_onstage">a structure for music and singing</a>, but Tang maintained that poetry and emotion were at the heart of his drama, and he was very critical when his work was adapted in order to suit the operatic style of the day. However, differences aside, Tang’s work benefitted greatly from the popularity of adaptations, and his play-texts are considered <em>kunqu</em> classics.</p>
<p>While Tang and Shakespeare lived a world away from each other, they share in common the humanity of their drama, their iconic, heroic figures, their love for language and poetic lyricism, a lasting popularity – and the anniversary during which we still celebrate them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Mazzilli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Shakespeare was not the only famous dramatist to die in 1616. On the other side of the world, in China, another theatrical legend was laid to rest.Mary Mazzilli, Lecturer in Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/491312015-10-22T19:08:44Z2015-10-22T19:08:44ZQiu Xiaolong’s Detective Chen novels give clues to unravel the mysteries of China<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98476/original/image-20151015-19337-1eb63y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C67%2C3464%2C2177&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Qiu Xiaolong's nine novels give excellent insights into China from the time of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution to the present.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/David Gray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the words of the stereotype, China is big, complex and has a long history. In addition, the current political leadership is both authoritarian and secretive. So how can a non-specialist learn about China without reading hundreds of research papers and without learning Mandarin?</p>
<p>Such questions face even academic specialists on China. What readings does one assign to students or suggest to non-specialist friends? In the past, recommended books might include Nien Chung’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/cheng-shanghai.html">Life and Death in Shanghai</a> (1987) or Jung Chang’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/may/26/biography.china">Wild Swans</a> (1991). Fortunately, we now have a set of detective novels which provide an excellent entrée to understanding China.</p>
<p>Since 2000, <a href="http://www.qiuxiaolong.com/">Qiu Xiaolong</a> has published nine novels that give excellent insights into China from the time of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution to the present. Qiu has created as his main character Detective Chen Cao, a man born in Shanghai during the early the 1950s to a university academic and his wife. </p>
<p>Despite this “poor” political background, Chen passes the university entrance exams and is one of China’s first university graduates after the Cultural Revolution. Although he has majored in English with a strong interest in poetry, Chen is assigned to work in the Shanghai Police Bureau.</p>
<p>Chen’s career in the Shanghai Police Bureau progresses smoothly. The Chinese Communist Party’s emphasis on formal education means that he moves ahead of older, career police officers. By the end of the eighth novel, he is also Deputy Party Secretary of the Shanghai Police Bureau.</p>
<p>Each of the cases in the novels has a political tinge. A model worker, a dissident writer, a factory manager, or a corrupt official mysteriously dies or is murdered. Several investigative organisations become involved, including the police force itself, Internal Security (which investigates the police but also tries to take over key political cases) as well as key party offices. </p>
<p>Because of politics, the party often tries to create an apparent solution to the cases which will satisfy the public, but which will not hurt the party’s image, interests and leadership.</p>
<p>Through his detective novels, Qiu raises many key issues of contemporary China. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the terror and the waste of the Cultural Revolution</p></li>
<li><p>the creation of a “caste” system by Mao Zedong that meant a person’s status in life was determined by the status of their parents</p></li>
<li><p>competing bureaucracies in China</p></li>
<li><p>corruption</p></li>
<li><p>the ecological costs of making economic growth the key measure for judging political leaders</p></li>
<li><p>attempts to limit the interactions of Chinese with foreigners as well as to control the content of the messages given to the foreigners</p></li>
<li><p>the growth of the internet and its consequences in China during the late 1990s.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Chen Cao is a reasonably attractive character. He loves poetry, which he often uses, especially when talking to potential girlfriends and with older, literate people. In some ways, Chen resembles Qiu Xiaolong himself. Qiu was born in 1953 in Shanghai and clearly has based his academic career in the US around poetry and translation.</p>
<p>Chen’s main offsider is Detective Yu, an older policeman whose father is “Old Hunter”, an excellent policeman who retired in order to give his son his job. Detective Yu’s wife, Peiqin, a restaurant accountant, loves literature. Detective Yu and Peiqin were educated youth sent down to the countryside together during the Cultural Revolution and now have a good marriage. Despite initially resenting Chen’s rise, they have come to respect Chen’s abilities and the couple and Chen have become close friends.</p>
<p>Chen also has some Big Bucks friends, including Mr Gu and Overseas Chinese Lu, who have helped Chen solve cases. On occasion they tempt Chen financially, but Chen seems to remain reasonably honest. He does accept help getting his mother into a good hospital, but he gives a gift certificate for a large amount of money to the poor widow of a policeman killed during an investigation.</p>
<p>Despite his mother and Peiqin frequently telling Chen that he must have children (in accord with the words of Mencius), Chen never seems to get a permanent girlfriend, though he does meet some very interesting women and on occasion they even have sex.</p>
<p>Through the nine novels, however, Chen does not meet a woman who is both suitable and available. At the end of the eighth novel, which does not resolve the case, he could even end up with Lianping, a gorgeous journalist who has become engaged to a younger Mr Big Buck.</p>
<p>The recently published ninth volume is somewhat different. Chen is clearly under attack. Without giving too much away, the powerful new mayor emphasises old Maoist red songs and has a powerful wife who is an international lawyer. An American dies mysteriously as well. </p>
<p>China specialists will immediately see parallels to the recent case of <a href="http://stream.wsj.com/story/bo-xilai/SS-2-42626/">Bo Xilai</a>, who was mayor of Chongqing and challenged for the top leadership until ousted in 2012. Qiu clearly portrays the terror in the city under this radical rule.</p>
<p>The first novel begins in 1990 and the characters as well as the settings develop over time. I spent considerable time in Shanghai and the surrounding cities throughout the 1990s and can testify that the descriptions ring true. </p>
<p>In the novels, the changes as China leaves the “planned” economy and enters the “market” economy, the privatisation of the housing market, the great corruption, and the continuing leadership of the party reflect what was happening in Shanghai and elsewhere in China at the time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Jacobs has received funding from the Australian Research Council, Monash University, and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. </span></em></p>Struggling to get a handle on modern-day China and all its complexities? Looking to have fun while doing so? The Detective Chen novels could be just the ticket.Bruce Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192542013-10-18T15:57:33Z2013-10-18T15:57:33ZBooker Prize reform heralds a cultural revolution for 2014<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33268/original/zms4fw4v-1382108758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dragon rising: detail from Nine Dragons by Chen Rong</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Song Dynasty</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Clustering around this week’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/youngest-author-longest-book-final-commonwealth-booker-19224">Man Booker Prize</a> was a bustling array of captions: “the longest book”; “the youngest winner”; “the second New Zealander”; “the last Commonwealth Booker” and, over and again “next year, the Americans”. </p>
<p>For all the world it sounded as if the Booker committee had decided to create some kind of special relationship extending membership of this previously proudly Commonwealth select group to the Americans alone. More than that, commentators seem to be expecting <a href="http://quintendo64.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/the-man-booker-prize-open-to-american-authors-now-what-happens/">a stampede of US authors</a>, coming over here and taking our prizes. The poor Commonwealth writers would be overwhelmed, like Harrods assistants opening the doors on the first day of the Christmas Sale.</p>
<p>But wait. The way is <a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/man-booker-prize-reveals-criteria-changes.html">open to all writers</a>, writing in English and published in the UK. This offers far wider and far more diverse opportunity than the pundits would have us believe, and much of that diversity may come from places we have hitherto met mainly through fiction written by second-generation emigrants, presenting the pasts their parent’s generation suppressed. Think of <a href="http://www.sonshi.com/kingston.html">Maxine Hong Kingston</a> (The Woman Warrior) <a href="http://www.julieotsuka.com/">Julie Otsuka</a> (The Buddah in the Attic) or <a href="http://www.andrealevy.co.uk/">Andrea Levy</a> (Small Island).</p>
<p>Such novels are, one way and another, explaining the author’s cultural background not only to the reader but also, one suspects, to the writer themselves. The authors are now based in the UK or America and so they write as outsider-insiders, unpicking and reweaving that very identity. However, it’s not their plots which stand out, so much as their style, their mood. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33271/original/bzsw47xs-1382109435.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diversity: Maxine Hong Kingston.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each of these books is reflective, interwoven, multilayered – qualities much praised in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/books/review/eleanor-cattons-booker-prize-winning-luminaries.html">Eleanor Catton’s Luminaries</a>. But they are also compact. Hong Kingston, Otsuka and Levy have given us concise, compressed, understated and evocative books which are a far cry from the all-enveloping, historical narratives of Luminaries and Wolf Hall.</p>
<h2>Insular possession?</h2>
<p>Now, though, the Man Booker opens the way to writers who choose to write in English, but are based - or partly based - in countries where English is not the official language, and whose relation to Britain is complex to say the least. Prime among such places must be Hong Kong whose unique position as an island bundled from one nation to another gave rise to a flourishing of literature written in English by writers of Chinese ethnic origin. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33269/original/ggm9t7cz-1382108880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hong Kong identity: Xu-Xi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City University of Hong Kong</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.xuxiwriter.com/">Xu Xi</a> is a prime example here. Author of <a href="http://akindleinhongkong.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/hong-kong-rose-by-xu-xi.html">Hong Kong Rose</a>, Xu Xi triangulates between New York, Hong Kong and New Zealand and was shortlisted for the <a href="http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/">Man Asian Literary Award</a> in 2007, the award’s inaugural year. And yes, that is the same Man as the one currently sponsoring the Booker.</p>
<p>Xu Xi champions the concept of a specific Hong Kong literary identity, and so may not have welcomed the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hong-Kong-Rose-Xu-Xi/dp/9889706059/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382104510&sr=8-1&keywords=hong+kong+rose">slightly problematic accolade</a> that she “does not write like the typical Hong Kong writer and speaks with more authority because of it.” </p>
<p>That response may give us a clue to the anxiety surrounding the Man Booker’s shift in qualifying criteria. Up to now the books considered could be drawn from any part of the Commonwealth, and with that remit came the notion (if not the fact) of a diversity in styles and voice. We can hear that in the contrast between the prose rhythms of Noviolet Bulawayo, Ruth Ozeki and Colm Tóibín, which are nevertheless united by some sub-textual apprehension of a common bond to Britain – or do we just imagine all that? </p>
<p>Regardless, the fear seems to be that - once we admit the Americans - any such variety of tone, as well as any such community, will be subsumed into some kind of mid-Atlantic drawl.</p>
<h2>Cultural meditation</h2>
<p>There is a counter to this, though, which may well come from Asia - and not from its novelists, but from its poets and short-story writers. Poetry and short stories have no place at the Booker table, but novels from cultures steeped more thoroughly in these literary forms than the British and Commonwealth hefty inheritance of Victorian realism may prove to be lighter on their feet, slighter in their covers, but just as far-reaching in their imaginative scope. </p>
<p>Perhaps we saw a precursor to this influence this year, not in Ozeki’s Japan-orientated plot, but in the elusive and allusive fiction of the only British finalist, <a href="http://www.jim-crace.com/">Jim Crace</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33270/original/mr45fr6f-1382109332.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New form: Yu Qiuyu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liu Tao</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We might speculate further. Consider the mode of <a href="http://paper-republic.org/authors/yu-qiuyu/">Yu Qiuyu</a>, a Chinese intellectual, not novelist or even short story writer (although I suspect in some ways very much a poet) whose “reflections on Chinese culture and emotional writing style” have given rise to what <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/191599.htm">is described as</a> a style called “cultural meditation essay”. This meditational style is already found in Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Otsuka’s blended narrative persona of The Buddha in the Attic. Imagine if these authors had been eligible for consideration by the Booker panel.</p>
<p>And if the form of the novel is open to such influence, surely so is the language. Writers writing in English, but from within non-Commonwealth literary worlds may well deploy an English that toys with the relation between the language of the page in front of us and those at play within the author’s mind. The Hong Kongers have a word for it, “<a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TVNUa-LLjcoC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=geeleegulu+literature&source=bl&ots=l5pQ9mkVYF&sig=fTWhLEstCoRY4bKr0O9yomNnFY8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aUphUur_IPOn0wWA84Eg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=geeleegulu%20literature&f=false">geeleegulu</a>” – linguistic confusion. They also have a poet, Louise Ho, who has wryly commented upon using English at all:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bacon didn’t trust it much<br>
But Churchill thought it rather grand<br>
On these our very own shores<br>
Let us make our very own<br>
geeleegulu </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whatever may be the outcome of the Booker’s new breadth, one thing remains certain: As Xu Xi herself put it when in conversation with <a href="http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.502240">Catherine Wong</a>: “society can emphasise whatever it wants, but it is the individual who writes”.</p>
<p>So only the final question remains – who will be the judges?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Rudd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Clustering around this week’s Man Booker Prize was a bustling array of captions: “the longest book”; “the youngest winner”; “the second New Zealander”; “the last Commonwealth Booker” and, over and again…Gillian Rudd, Lecturer in English Literature, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.