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Leisure, Lifestyle, and Youth Subcultures in China, 1949– 1987

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Leisure, Lifestyle, and Youth Subcultures in China, 1949– 1987 Leisure, Lifestyle, and Youth Subcultures in China, 1949– 1987 by Yifan Shi M.A., Peking University, 2016 B.A., Peking University, 2014 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Yifan Shi 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2021 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Yifan Shi Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title: Leisure, Lifestyle, and Youth Subcultures in China, 1949–1987 Examining Committee: Chair: Thomas Kuehn Associate Professor Jeremy Brown Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Timothy Cheek Senior Supervisor Professor Department of History University of British Columbia Janice Matsumura Supervisor Associate Professor Ilya Vinkovetsky Supervisor Associate Professor Yuezhi Zhao Internal Examiner Professor School of Communication Aminda Smith External Examiner Associate Professor Department of History Michigan State University Date Defended/Approved: July 26, 2021 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract This is a study of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) managed to achieve a totalitarian rule over the Chinese people through leisure regulation during and after the Mao Zedong period. I focus on tensions between the CCP’s regulations of leisure and subcultures among young people in Beijing from 1949 to the 1980s. From the perspective of the “participatory totalitarian model,” I argue that while the CCP established a totalitarian regime as it aimed to direct and dictate the most private sphere in people’s everyday life (i.e. leisure), it did not achieve this goal by mass terror, but by mass pleasure through organized leisure activities. This dissertation suggests that although elements of youth subcultures can be observed throughout the Mao era, we should not treat them as a way of passive resistance. Instead, we must position these subcultures between different layers of the Party’s leisure regulation to examine what the CCP actually achieved. Many people who engaged in subcultures defied the blatant politicization of their leisure, some might have defied the process of collectivization, but few defied the process of institutionalization during which people did not find state intervention contradictory to their own way of pleasure-seeking. This dissertation also suggests that instead of regarding the Deng Xiaoping era as a breakaway from Maoist totalitarian rule, we need to see the historical continuity as revealed by the Party’s uninterrupted policy of leisure regulation. Keywords: Chinese Communist Party; Beijing; Leisure; Youth Subcultures; Totalitarianism iv Acknowledgements It is always difficult to write the section of acknowledgements because I do not know what to start with. About five years ago I came to Burnaby to work with Professors Jeremy Brown and Timothy Cheek. During the years of uncertainty, their support and encouragement have never been absent. They are the best mentors and critics that I can imagine. They have also set up a model for thesis supervision that I can follow in my future career. I am grateful for the support from my comprehensive field advisors and dissertation committee members Luke Clossey, Janice Matsumura, Ilya Vinkovetsky, Yuezhi Zhao, and Aminda Smith. I thank Elise Chenier, whose graduate seminar on historiography brought South Asian subaltern studies to my attention. I owe gratitude to SFU History staff members Ruth Anderson, Judi Fraser, and Aali Mirjat, who greatly facilitated my study and work. I also thank SFU-UBC Chinese history cohorts for their comments and thoughts. My dissertation cannot be finished without help from other senior scholars. During my field research in Beijing, Chen Donglin, Wang Haiguang, and Yin Hongbiao offered me advice on my project and helped me find interviewees. At conference panels, Han Gang, Jan Kiely, Xin Yi, Yang Kuisong, and Zhang Jishun provided their comments and feedback on early drafts of my chapters. Joseph Esherick read the full draft of my dissertation and sent me his detailed suggestions through email correspondence. A lot of people, whose names were unknown to me, also helped me navigate my project. During my first field trip, a librarian at the Peking University Library, an archivist at the Peking University Archives, and a staff member at the Peking University Alumni Association kindly introduced to me their collections, which precipitated my decision to give up an immature project about the everyday life of Peking University students under Mao. I would also like to thank staff members at the Universities Service Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, archivists at the Beijing Municipal Archives, librarians at the National Library and the Capital Library, vendors at Panjiayuan Flea Market, and people who helped me digitize all materials. v I thank the institutions that provided financial support for my dissertation. The research was supported by a Simon Fraser University Graduate International Travel Award and an Esherick-Ye Family Foundation Fellowship. Writing during my final year at SFU was supported by a Simon Fraser University Community Trust Endowment Funds Graduate Fellowship, a Simon Fraser University President’s PhD Scholarship, and a Simon Fraser University Graduate Fellowship. vi Table of Contents Approval ............................................................................................................................. ii Ethics Statement ................................................................................................................. iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................... xi Introduction How to Make Totalitarianism Work? ............................................................ 1 Chapter 1 A Happy New World: The Communist Takeover of Leisure .......................... 29 Chapter 2 Temporal Politics in Beijing: The Collectivization of Leisure, 1949–1956 .... 70 Chapter 3 Creating Social Capital under State-Socialism: Youth Subcultures, Leisure Regulation, and Community Life, 1955–1962 ..................................................... 115 Chapter 4 Anxiety About Difference: Social Stratification and the Politicization of Leisure, 1962–1966 .............................................................................................. 161 Chapter 5 Exiting the Revolution: Alternative Ways of Life and the Institutionalization of Leisure, 1966–1976 .............................................................................................. 206 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 250 References ....................................................................................................................... 265 vii List of Tables Table 1. Private Ball Game Clubs in Beijing, 1950–1952 ................................................ 41 Table 2. Schedule for Dancing Club Activities in the Summer Vacation of 1951 ........... 52 Table 3. Schedule of Beijing People’s Radio Station No. 2, January 1952 ...................... 56 Table 4. Activities Planned by the Committee for Summer Vacation Life in June 1950 . 79 Table 5. Weekly Schedule of Leisure Activities in Beijing Knitting Mill (1956) ............ 96 viii List of Figures Figure 1. Cover page of American Way of Life ................................................................ 33 Figure 2. Back cover of American Way of Life ................................................................. 34 Figure 3. Cover page of Tan Youshi’s How to Ballroom Dance (1951) .......................... 47 Figure 4. Cover page of How to Learn Ballroom Dancing (1953) ................................... 48 Figure 5. “Balance Movement”. ....................................................................................... 49 Figure 6. Instructions of “Wind from the Northeast” ....................................................... 52 Figure 7. Promoting Officials, New Society Version ....................................................... 59 Figure 8. “Resist America and Aid Korea” chess ............................................................. 60 Figure 9. Instruction of “Flying Hero” ............................................................................. 62 Figure 10. Xiao Li, “You Must Not Spend Your Summer Vacation Like This” ............. 82 Figure 11. “Members of the Soviet youth delegation danced vigorously with Chinese youth during the May 4 park festival” ...................................................... 85 Figure 12. Xiao Fang, “I am dancing the ‘quick three steps.’ You’d better deliver one step slower!” ....................................................................................................
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