Kam Louie (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789888083794
- eISBN:
- 9789882209060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888083794.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter focuses on “Love in a Fallen City” (1943) and “Red Rose, White Rose” (1944), stories that were produced at a time when China was in the midst of Japanese invasion and occupation, so that ...
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This chapter focuses on “Love in a Fallen City” (1943) and “Red Rose, White Rose” (1944), stories that were produced at a time when China was in the midst of Japanese invasion and occupation, so that the standard cultural norms did not operate totally under the usual social constraints. The central male characters in these stories, Liuyuan and Zhenbao, were considered “ideal modern Chinese men”. However, Eileen Chang reveals that despite the social acclaim they both receive from their good social positions and university educations, their gentlemanly image is only a veneer. Their self-seeking behaviour is no different from those of other men who have never been abroad.Less
This chapter focuses on “Love in a Fallen City” (1943) and “Red Rose, White Rose” (1944), stories that were produced at a time when China was in the midst of Japanese invasion and occupation, so that the standard cultural norms did not operate totally under the usual social constraints. The central male characters in these stories, Liuyuan and Zhenbao, were considered “ideal modern Chinese men”. However, Eileen Chang reveals that despite the social acclaim they both receive from their good social positions and university educations, their gentlemanly image is only a veneer. Their self-seeking behaviour is no different from those of other men who have never been abroad.
Mark Stevenson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208562
- eISBN:
- 9789888313716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208562.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
With historians’ recognition of the growth in influence of the mercantile class in the Ming dynasty it is common to identify the appearance of contrasting and competing forms of cultural power along ...
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With historians’ recognition of the growth in influence of the mercantile class in the Ming dynasty it is common to identify the appearance of contrasting and competing forms of cultural power along literati (shi) and mercantile (shang) lines. Examining how ancient spatial distinctions came to be reproduced in late-imperial textual strategies I argue that nineteenth century literati commentaries on attractive Beijing actors (huapu) represents a form of writing aimed at distinguishing the literati as a cultural group over and against merchants. The same process is found to reflect a historical prioritization of literary (wen) over martial (wu) masculinity in a manner that textually and spatially emasculates mercantile men. When considered along wen-wu lines, actors available for dating (xianggong) turn out to be better readers of wen masculinity and more effective in embodying that ideal than merchant theatergoers.Less
With historians’ recognition of the growth in influence of the mercantile class in the Ming dynasty it is common to identify the appearance of contrasting and competing forms of cultural power along literati (shi) and mercantile (shang) lines. Examining how ancient spatial distinctions came to be reproduced in late-imperial textual strategies I argue that nineteenth century literati commentaries on attractive Beijing actors (huapu) represents a form of writing aimed at distinguishing the literati as a cultural group over and against merchants. The same process is found to reflect a historical prioritization of literary (wen) over martial (wu) masculinity in a manner that textually and spatially emasculates mercantile men. When considered along wen-wu lines, actors available for dating (xianggong) turn out to be better readers of wen masculinity and more effective in embodying that ideal than merchant theatergoers.
