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The Metamorphosis of Bodily Discourse in Olympic Coverage in China: the “Sick Man of East Asia” and Chinese Nationalism

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The Metamorphosis of Bodily Discourse in Olympic Coverage in China: the “Sick Man of East Asia” and Chinese Nationalism 早稲田大学審査学位論文 博士（スポーツ科学） The Metamorphosis of Bodily Discourse in Olympic Coverage in China: The “Sick Man of East Asia” and Chinese Nationalism 中国のオリンピック報道における身体ディスコースの変容 －「東亜病夫」と中国ナショナリズム－ ２０１６年１月 早稲田大学大学院 スポーツ科学研究科 丁 一吟 DING, Yiyin 研究指導教員： リー・トンプソン 教授 Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................. i List of Figures ...................................................................................................... v List of Tables .................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... ix Notes on Translation and Use of Terms ............................................................ xi Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Prelude: “Sick Man of East Asia” Phenomenon in Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Olympics in China: History and external politics ............................................... 5 1.3 Sporting Stereotype and National Identity ......................................................... 9 1.4 Sport and the Body in China ............................................................................... 11 1.5 Chapter Overview ................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 2. Methodology ................................................................................... 19 2.1 The Circuit of Culture ......................................................................................... 19 2.2 The Circuit of Culture in Chinese Sports .......................................................... 23 2.2.1 Data on Identity ........................................................................................... 23 i 2.2.2 Data on Representation .............................................................................. 24 2.2.3 Data on Production ..................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3. Mapping the Contemporary Chinese National Identity in the “Sick Man of East Asia”............................................................................................... 34 3.1 The Origin of the Term “Sick Man” and Its Application in Rhetoric Context in late 19th Century China ............................................................................................ 35 3.2 Arguments Regarding the Origin of “Sick Man of East Asia” .......................... 46 3.3 The Continuation of “Sick Man of East Asia” in 20th Century ........................... 51 3.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 4. The Metamorphosis of “Sick Man of East Asia”: Discourse of the Body in the Chinese Press Coverage of Foreign and Chinese Athletes at the Olympics, 1984-2012 .......................................................................................... 72 4.1 Metamorphosis of the Body? Locating Modern Chinese Elite Olympian’s Body in the World Constellation ...................................................................................... 72 4.1.1 Representation of the Body from 1984 to 2012 ............................................ 73 4.1.2 Results of the Interviews on Representation .............................................. 86 4.2 Distinctions and Compensation in Chinese Olympic Sports ........................... 91 4.3 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 101 ii 4.3.1 The Construction of the Body and Its Nationalistic Reflections .............. 101 4.3.2 Sino-U.S. Sports Combat: The Rising Asian Tiger .................................... 108 4.3.3 Sino-Japanese: An Ongoing Rivalry ........................................................... 111 Chapter 5. Mapping the Modern Chinese National Identity through the Celebrity Body: The Rise and Fall of the Sports Hero Liu Xiang .................. 117 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 117 5.1.1 From “Petite Chinese” to the “Flying Man”: The stories of Liu Changchun and Liu Xiang ...................................................................................................... 118 5.1.2 Fallen Sports Heroes and Celebrity Culture in East Asia .......................... 124 5.2 Result and Analysis ........................................................................................... 127 5.2.1 General Result: Representing China, Liu Xiang in the media .................. 127 5.2.2 2004 Athens Olympics: “Flying man” breaking the Asian body norms ... 128 5.2.3 2008 Beijing Olympics: Cognitive dissonance in representation ............. 134 5.2.4 2012 London Olympics: Confusion, disappointment and doubt ............. 139 5.3 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 148 Chapter 6. Epilogue: The “Sick/Strong Man of East Asia” in the Contemporary Chinese Olympic Discourse ........................................................................... 154 Appendix ......................................................................................................... 163 iii Bibliography.................................................................................................... 189 iv List of Figures Figure 1. The circuit of culture ...................................................................... 20 Figure 2. The adaption of the circuit of culture in this dissertation ................ 22 Figure 3 Timeline of 1978-2008 Sport and Society in China ........................... 29 Figure 4. Timeline of the warfare and unequal treaties signed with China in the 19th and early 20th Centuries .......................................................... 37 Figure 5. First page of Chapter 5 of Nie Hai Hua written by Zeng Pu under the alias “sick man of East Asia” ................................................................... 54 Figure 6. “Diary of Sick Man” written by Zeng Pu under the alias “sick man of East Asia” .............................................................................................. 55 Figure 7. The number of instances containing “sick man of East Asia" in Xinmin Evening News ........................................................................................ 57 Figure 8. The number of instances containing “sick man of East Asia" in Wenhui Newspaper ................................................................................ 58 Figure 9 Liang, Y. Cartoon “Long-term treatment for the sick man of East Asia” ............................................................................................................. 62 Figure 10. “Wash away the humiliation of sick man of East Asia” Page 1 ......... 64 Figure 11. “Wash away the humiliation of sick man of East Asia” Page 2 ......... 65 v Figure 12. “Sick man of East Asia” and “Shina women” ................................... 69 Figure 13. China’s Olympic medal achievements from 1984-2012 ................... 81 Figure 14. Combined results of bodily comparisons in People’s Daily and Titan Sports by year and type ......................................................................... 82 Figure 15. Ratio of cases of F>C and C>F to total number of cases ................. 83 Figure 16. Number of cases of C>A and A>C ................................................. 85 Figure 17. “Dreamy 200 Gold medals” 2012.08.11 A08 Titan Sports ................. 94 Figure 18. Titan Sports special issue on the China-US gold medal race (web version) .............................................................................................. 109 Figure 19. Upper: 45+:38 US Dominates, 2012.08.12, A02, Titan Sports ......... 110 Figure 20. LIU Changchun (1909-1983) ....................................................... 119 Figure 21 Original Photo of Liu Changchun Competing in the heats of 200m at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics ............................................................ 121 Figure 22. Title “Xiang [Fly] 12.91, Titian Sports, Cover, 2004/08/28 ............ 131 Figure 23. People’s Daily, Cover, 2004/08/29 ............................................... 132 Figure 24 Title: Li Sao (On departure), Titan Sports, Cover, 2008/08/19 ...... 136 Figure 25. Title: Li Sao (On departure), Titan Sports, Feature, 2008/08/19 .. 137 Figure 26. Title: 8 Questions for Xiang, Titan Sports, Cover, 2012/08/08 ..... 140 vi Figure 27 Feature Titan Sports on August 8th, 2012 Title: Xiang 8 Questions Page 1 .................................................................................................. 144 Figure 28. Feature Titan Sports on August 8th, 2012 Title: Xiang 8 Questions Page 2 ................................................................................................. 145 Figure 29 Title: Imperfect smile? Unintentional kick on the hurdle? Titan Sports, A5, 2012/08/08 ......................................................................... 146 vii List of Tables Table 1. Interviewees’ demographics ............................................................. 33 Table 2. The Usage of “sick man of East Asia” in 1920s-1938 ..........................
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