F Donkey Friends: Travel, Voluntary Associations and the New Public
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Donkey Friends: Travel, Voluntary Associations and the New Public Sphere in Contemporary Urban China by Ning Zhang B.A. Renmin University,1999 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2008 f UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Ning Zhang It was defended on April 1, 2008 and approved by Dr. Joseph S. Alter, Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Andrew J. Strathern, Mellon Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Evelyn S. Rawski, Professor, Department of History Dr Nicole Constable, Professor, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Ning Zhang 2008 iii Donkey Friends: Travel, Voluntary Associations and the New Public Sphere in Contemporary Urban China Ning Zhang, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2008 This research examines the rise of voluntary associations of “donkey friends,” accompanied by the emergence of new types of cultural identities, interpersonal relationships, and social networks in contemporary urban China. At the end of the 1990s, the native term “donkey friend” (lüyou 驴 友 ) became a popular self-identifier for Chinese backpackers who formed voluntary communities to facilitate group travels and many collective activities. My research is based on three months of preliminary field research in 2003 and 2004, and a year of fieldwork in 2005 in Beijing, Yunnan Province and Inner Mongolia. I carried out participant observation in three voluntary donkey friend communities, and conducted anthropological interviews with donkey friends, journalists, tourist guides, professors, and publishers. My field research was multisited, including face-to-face interaction in different locations and Internet research. The Internet phase is important because backpacker travel has co-evolved with the Internet forums in China. Both online interaction and offline travel experience served to cultivate a sense of fellowship among travelers. Donkey friend communities have not only provided social and emotional support for their members, but also allowed individuals to engage in various voluntary projects based on free association, self regulation, and practices of many democratic values. By contextualizing this phenomenon with the retreat of the state from many public realms of Chinese society, I argue that donkey friend community demonstrates the rise of the new public sphere of middle class in iv post-socialist urban China. Participants in this sphere no longer pose a direct threat to the state, but aim to promote cultural change, challenge cultural values, and raise public consciousness. They seek to practice democratic values and resolve specific social problems. This research not only offers an ethnographically-based study of new cultural forms that accompany the development of backpacker tourism in China, but also contributes to the anthropology of China by providing a detailed analysis of the formation of new urban communities and public spheres in which neoliberal values of production and consumption can be challenged by the emergence of new forms of cultural identities, horizontal ties, and collective actions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................ XII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 “TRAVEL” IN THE PAST ................................................................................. 6 1.1.1 “Travel” in Imperial China.......................................................................... 6 1.1.2 Travel and the State .................................................................................... 14 1.1.3 Travel, Voluntary Associations and Counter-Hegemonic Practices ...... 17 1.1.3.1 Incense Association and Pilgrimage to Miao-feng Shan ................. 18 1.1.3.2 Students Associations and the Da Chuan-lian.................................. 22 1.2 DONKEY FRIEND TRAVEL AND VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS OF TRAVELERS ...................................................................................................................... 26 1.2.1 Rise of Donkey Friend Tourism................................................................. 29 1.2.1.1 The Promotion .................................................................................... 29 1.2.1.2 The Internet ......................................................................................... 30 1.2.1.3 The Community .................................................................................. 33 1.3 THE CHAPTERS .............................................................................................. 36 2.0 TRAVEL, CYBERSPACE AND VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHY .......................... 40 2.1 THE TRIP .......................................................................................................... 42 2.1.1 Preparation .................................................................................................. 43 vi 2.1.2 Sign up for the Trip .................................................................................... 47 2.1.3 On the Road ................................................................................................. 51 2.2 THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES .................................................................. 57 2.2.1.1 Are You a “New Donkey” .................................................................. 60 2.2.1.2 “It is All about Pouring Water” ........................................................ 62 2.2.1.3 “We are Lvye and we are different” ................................................. 66 2.3 VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHY .......................................................................... 69 2.3.1 Joining Communities .................................................................................. 72 2.3.1.1 The Cherokee Team ........................................................................... 73 2.3.1.2 The Travel and Photography Club ................................................... 75 2.3.1.3 Lvye ...................................................................................................... 75 2.4 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 76 3.0 MAKING DONKEY FRIENDS: RECONFIGURATIONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKS AND GUANXIXUE IN URBAN CHINA ......................................................... 78 3.1 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND GUANXIXUE IN CHINA: FROM CONFUCIUS TO THE STATE ........................................................................................ 78 3.2 THE “REDISCOVERY” OF GUANXIXUE IN THE REFORM ERA ....... 82 3.3 THE “ART” OF DONKEY FRIEND GUANXI RELATIONSHIPS ........... 88 3.3.1 Travel and Voluntary Associations ........................................................... 88 3.3.2 New Guanxi Bases: Make Friends with Strangers .................................. 93 3.3.3 Donkey Friend Guanxi Ethics.................................................................... 99 3.3.4 The Tactics and Etiquette of Making Donkey Friends.......................... 107 4.0 TELL YOUR STORY: TRAVEL NARRATIVES, SELF AND IDENTITY ..... 113 vii 4.1 NARRATIVES AND IDENTITIES OF TRAVELERS ............................... 114 4.2 NARRATIVES OF AUTHENTICITY .......................................................... 120 4.2.1 Personal Testimonies ................................................................................ 125 4.2.2 Gonglue / Lushu ........................................................................................ 128 4.3 NARRATIVES OF BODY .............................................................................. 131 4.4 NARRATIVES OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT ............................................... 138 4.5 CONCLUSION: TRAVEL AS SOCIAL DISTINCTION ........................... 141 5.0 WOMEN ON THE ROAD ...................................................................................... 144 5.1 PRINCESS ........................................................................................................ 145 5.2 GI ....................................................................................................................... 149 5.3 DING DANG .................................................................................................... 153 5.4 FEMALE DONKEY FRIEND, MM, AND NEOLOGISM ......................... 159 5.5 SPACE AND BODY POLITICS .................................................................... 164 5.6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 169 6.0 THE NEW PUBLIC SPHERE IN DONKEY FRIEND COMMUNITIES ........ 172 6.1 THE PUBLIC SPHERE AND CIVIL SOCIETY......................................... 172 6.2 THE PUBLIC SPHERE WITHIN A DONKEY FRIEND CLUB .............. 178 6.2.1 The Café ..................................................................................................... 178 6.3 THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW CHINESE URBAN PUBLIC SPHERE 185 6.3.1 The New Rich ............................................................................................ 186 6.3.2 Xiaozi .......................................................................................................... 188 6.3.3 The Internet ............................................................................................... 191 6.3.4 Order of New Chinese Urban Public Sphere ........................................