Consumer Culturo ond the Creotion of the Notion CHINA MADE CONSUMER CULTURE AND THE CREATION OF THE NATION Karl Gerth Published by the Harvard University Asia Center and Distributed by Harvard University Press Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London, zoo3 This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:50:46 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms O zoo3 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States ofAmerica The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and other faculties and institutes, administers research projects designed to further scholarly understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. The Center also sponsors projects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gerth, Karl, 1966- China made :consumer culture and the creation of the nation 1 Karl Gerth. p. cm. -- (Harvard East Asian monographs ; 224) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-674-01214-3 (alk. paper) I. Consumption (Economics)--China--History--aothcentury. 2. Nationalism--China--20th century. 3. Manufacturing industries--China--20th century. 4. Boycotts--China--History--20th century. I. Title. 11. Series. ~~430.~6~472003 33g.q~og51ogo4--dcz1 2003011610 Index by the author @ Printed on acid-free paper Last figure below indicates year of this printing 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:50:46 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Contents ., . Map, Table, and Figures Xlll Introduction I Tbe Elaboration ofthe Movement 51 "Chinese People Ought to Consume Chinese Products" 131 Overview 24 PART I CONTEXTS AND ,CASE STUDY I The Crisis over Commodities and the Origins of the Movement Foreign Exposure 331 Symbolizing Lost Sovereignty 401 New Commodities as Conduits ofNationalism 4.91 Tbe Ideological and Institutional Foundations ofthe Movement 57 2 Nationalizing the Appearance of Men AscribingMeaning to Men's Appearance During the Qing 741 Tbe Visual and Economic Significance ofChinese Clothing 801 Late Qing Interpretations of Appearance 831 Tbe Appearance ofRevolution, 1898-1911 881 NationalizingAppearance 931 Lobbyingfor National Clothing 1o5/ Tbe Legacy ofNationalistic Appearance Under the Republic 111 PART I1 CONSUMPTION AS RESISTANCE 3 The Movement and Anti-Imperialist Boycotts, 1905-1919 Institutionalization: Tbe Anti-American Boycott of1905 1271 Early Anti-Japanese Boycotts 1311 'National Humiliation" and Consumption in 1915 1331 Tbe Movement and Continuity Between Boycotts 1451 Tbe Boycott $1919 146 This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms xii Contents The Movement and Anti-Imperialist Boycotts, 1923-1937 Part I: Boycotts, 1923-37 1591 Boycott ofx9z5: Tbe May 30th Movement 1681 Part 11: Standardizing the Meaning of"National Products" 1851 Tbe Practical Problem ofDetermining Product "Purity" 1871 The Formulation ofNational Products Standards 1921 The National Products Standards of1928 194 PART I11 THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX Nationalistic Commodity Spectacles Remaking Commodity Spectaclesfor the Nation 205/ Components ofthe Exhibitionary Complex 208/ CreatingNationalized Exhibitions 2221 Expansion Under the Nationalist Government 231 Creating a Nationalistic Visuality in the Exhibition of 1928 Making the Mythical 2491 ProFtingfrom a National Polity 2521 The Preparations 2551 Creating a Nationalized Space 2581 Mass Mediated Spectacle 2661 People and Products on Display 2691 Communities of Commodities Within the Nation 2731 Conclusion: A Commodity Nation 281 PART IV NATION, GENDER, AND THE MARKET Nationalizing Female Consumers The Image ofthe Consuming Woman 2891 A Year in the Life ofa Patriotic Female Consumer 3091 Contesting Representations of Women as Treasonous Consumers 328 Manufacturing Patriotic Producers National Products Movement Biographies 3341 A Capitalist with Chinese Characteristics 3371 Tbe Limits ofPatriotic Production 345 Conclusion How Widely Elaborated Was the Movement? 3581 A Meta- Movement 360/ Nationalistic Consumerism Vi wedfrom North America 3631 Nationalistic Consumerism in 2ontemporary China 366 REFERENCE MATTER Bibliography Index This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Map, Table, and Figures MOP Treaty Ports as Showcases Table Chinese Foreign Trade Figures A Nation as Products What Is Chinese? Consumer and Consumed Worshipping the Foreign The Toothpaste Defense Coercion and rhe Queue Reinterpreting Qing Male Dress The New Male Orthodoxy? Antithetical Interpretations of the Queue The Clorhing Law of 191z New Uniforms for Diplomats The Sun Suit Compromise Western-Style Chinese-Made Clothing This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms xiv Map, Table, and Figures 3.1 Marketing Humiliation in 1915 3.2 Marketing Humiliation in I920 3.3 "National Humiliation Commemorative Poster" 4.1 "The Shamelessness of the Treasonous Merchant" 4,2 Publicizing the Latest National Humiliation 4.3 Boycott Banner, 1925 4.4 Fanning the Humiliation 4.5 The Myth of the Pure Product 4.6 National Product Certification, 1928 5.1 Nationalized Retail Space 5.2 The Chinese National Products Company 5.3 Nationalized Visual Spaces 5.4 Patriotic Smokers 5.5 Shanghai Commercial Products Display Hall 6.1 Chinese National Products Exhibition 6.2 Main Gate of the Exhibition 6.3 West Wing of the Exhibition 6.4 East Wing of the Exhibition 6.5 Textile and Beverage Displays 6.6 Nested Identities Within Pavilions 6*7 Microcosm of Nationalist Modernity 6.8 Mementos from the Exhibition 6.9 Students Visiting an Exhibition 6.10 Ceremonial Hall of the Exhibition 7.1 Women as National Saviors 7.2 "Practicing New Life" 7.3 Fashionable Traitors 7.4 Conduits of Imperialism 7.5 National Product Fashion Shows 7.6 Bashing Foreign Beer 7.7 Santa Selling Cigarettes This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Map, Table, and Figures 8.1 Commercial War 8.2 Patriotic Footwear 8.3 Domestic Status Earned Abroad 8.4 Heaven's Kitchen MSG Bomber 8.5 Packaging Nationalism This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Acknowledgments In the late ~g~os,the U.S. mass media sounded an alarm. A steady stream c reports suggested that Japanese foreign direct investment was "invading the United States. The acquisition of prominent symbols of American wealth and power, such as Rockefeller Center in Manhattan and Universal Pictures in Hollywood, was front-page news. Newsweek even published an issue with the Statue of Liberty draped in a kimono. The panic over "foreign" control of "our" economy made the consumption of Japanese imports controversial. I experienced the angst of that era. One summer day as I drove with friends through Detroit, I felt acutely conscious of the make of our car, a Nissan. I wondered whether locals would assault us for brazenly driving a Japanese car through the heart of the nation's automobile industry, Since that time, I have continued to note the ties between consumerism and nationalism in the United States. Recently television advertisements accused owners of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) of treason for indirectly funding those responsible for the September 11 tragedy. These feelings of fear and guilt were never enough to stop me (or most Americans) from buying Japanese products then or gasoline now. But I think there were other effects. Anxiety over imports is neither new nor exclusively American. This book charts the development of a similar social anxiety in China during the early twentieth century, a time when China faced a genuine threat to its sover- eignty and continued existence as an independent country. It was challeng- ing to link nationalism and consumption in a vast country where the levels of both were usually low to nonexistent. Naturally, the responses varied. Apa- This content downloaded from 132.239.59.222 on Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:50:46 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms .. vlll Acknowledgments thy abounded. Many felt an obligation but, like me in the United States many decades later, stopped short of direct action, Given the state of mass communications in China, millions never even heard the call to action. Yet a broad history of this anxiety uncovers a wide range of effects and manifesta- tions that collectively demonstrate how nationalism became a central part of consumer culture in China. The path that turned a nervous motorist into a published author began at Harvard. Since my first semester of graduate school, Philip A. Kuhn has generously shared his time and knowledge. I see this book as a combination of the social history I studied with him and the political and economic his- tory I explored through William C, Kirby's classes and scholarship. Their ongoing advice has been invaluable. Many friends, colleagues, and students assisted me. Frank Bechter, John Carroll, Ken Chase, Hyung Gu Lynn, Rana Mitter, and Allison Rottmann critiqued all or large parts of the entire manuscript. Others who helped in- clude Paul Frank, Chen Shiwei, Mary Buck, Caroline Reeves, Cheng Linsun, Anne Reinhardt, Eugenia Lean, Chang Li, Richard Belsky, Marc Busch, and Elaine Mossmann. Fellow scholars of China commented on various parts. Parks Coble, Sherman Cochran, Prasenjit Duara, Antonia Finanne, Akira Iriye, Peter Perdue, William Rowe, and Wen-hsin Yeh were particularly helpful, Several scholars of American consumerism also advised me: Susan Strasser, Lawrence Glickman, Katherine Grier, and Kathy Peiss.