The Reception of the Works of Contemporary Chinese Glam-Writers in Mainland China Jia Liu PhD Women’s Studies June 2010 Abstract This thesis examines the reception of five contemporary Chinese glam-writers and their works in mainland China. It explores three different types of reception by three reading constituencies: literary critics, actual women readers, and participants on the glam-writers‟ personal blogs. Drawing in part on western reception theory and reader-response criticism, this thesis focuses on the role of the reader in reading and interpreting the glam-writers‟ works and makes an original empirical contribution to audience research in mainland China where such research is as yet not developed. By adopting a range of qualitative research methods, I investigate the ways in which contemporary Chinese readers understand and respond to a particular type of women‟s literature at the turn of the twenty-first century. I demonstrate that Chinese readers are not merely passive recipients of the literary works, or „cultural dupes‟ (Hall 1981), but both savage – in the sense of severe – and savant readers of popular culture. This also means that the negative influences of these works, as predicted by Chinese mainstream literary critics, are not evident in actual readers‟ responses to these texts. To My Parents and Haiyang Acknowledgements There are a number of people I would like to thank, who have generously offered their concerns, patience, and intelligence to me through various means during the course of my doctoral research. Without them this thesis would not have been possible. First of all, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Gabriele Griffin, whose wisdom, guidance, understanding, and insightful ideas and comments on my writing from the beginning to the end enabled me to complete this thesis. Thanks to her, I have been encouraged, supported, helped and challenged during the unforgettable three years or more in the UK. I owe my great thanks to Prof. Stevi Jackson and Dr. Ann Kaloski Naylor, who have been my Thesis Advisory Panel (TAP) members and offered invaluable suggestions and advice on my thesis during the course of my research at the Centre for Women‟s Studies, University of York. Wholehearted thanks to both of them, in particular Stevi‟s co-supervision in my first year and Ann‟s help with my bibliography and additional readings. I am most grateful to Harriet Badger, who helped me whenever and wherever I needed her, and Sue Cumberpatch, who gave me helpful advice on using the library searching system and facilities. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the people at the Centre who supported me during my time at the Centre: Amanda Hong, Amy Burge, Elif Gazioglu, Gitta Victoria Bruschke, Hiranmayee Mishra, Julia Carter, Pranati Mohanraj, Rosemary Hill, Wenchao Wei, to name just a few. I would also like to thank Cirihn Malpocher, Irene Perez-Fernandez, Petra Nordqvist, and Zita Farkas, who made available their kindness and encouragement in a number of ways before they left the Centre. I am indebted to all the respondents and people involved in my fieldwork in China. Without their generosity, patience and cooperation, I would not have been able to accomplish the project. Special thanks are extended to my friend Honghuan Niu, who helped me to find interviewees and received me in Shanghai. It is my pleasure to thank Jimmy Zhang for proof reading some chapters of my thesis at the final stage. I thank Haiyang Liu for his devotion and affection, and for taking good care of me and my puppy Yoyo during the past three years in the UK. Last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude to my parents, who have supported me mentally and financially at all times. Without their constant support and encouragement, I could not have completed my thesis. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 A Brief History of Women‟s Writing in Mainland China ........................................... 3 Self-Narration as a Type of Individualized Writing ................................................. 14 The Rise of the „Beauty Writers‟, and the Context of the Post-70s Glam-Writers‟ Works ............................................................................................................................ 17 Outlining the Five Glam-Writers‟ Works and Their Reception in Mainland China ....................................................................................................................................... 21 The Structure of the Thesis ....................................................................................... 37 Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................ 39 Major Theorists and Schools of Thought of Reader-Response Criticism .......... 42 Reception Theory as Methodology .......................................................................... 49 Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................... 54 Partial Objectivity and Situated Knowledges as Research Principles ................ 56 The Impact of My Own Positioning on the Research ............................................ 61 Research Process and Field Sites ........................................................................... 66 Researching the literary critics’ reception of the glam-writers’ works ........................... 67 Researching the women readers’ reception of the glam-writers’ works ....................... 71 Researching the online participants’ reception on the glam-writers’ blogs .................. 88 Chapter 4: The Reception of the Chinese Glam-Writers’ Works by Literary Critics ..................................................................................................................... 96 The Criticism of the Glam-Writers as Private Individuals ................................... 104 The Criticism of the Glam-Writers‟ Works as Literary Texts .............................. 111 The glam-writers’ texts as urban literature and an expression of consumer culture 118 The Criticism of the Glam-Writers‟ Emergence as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon ............................................................................................................. 122 Chapter 5: The Reception of the Chinese Glam-Writers’ Works by Women Readers ................................................................................................................ 131 Review of Reception Theory and Reader-Response Criticism ......................... 131 Researching Actual Women Readers‟ Responses .............................................. 135 Reading habits/history ....................................................................................................... 136 Author-reader relationship ................................................................................................. 138 Text-reader relationship ..................................................................................................... 142 Personal/real-life experience ............................................................................................ 158 Online interaction and blog participation ......................................................................... 161 Chapter 6: The Reception of the Chinese Glam-Writers’ Works on the Writers’ Blogs .................................................................................................................... 164 The Rise of Celebrities‟ Blogs in China ................................................................. 166 The Form and Content of the Glam-Writers‟ Blogs ............................................. 167 Readers‟ Engagement with the Glam-Writers‟ Blogs .......................................... 174 Readers’ responses to the glam-writers’ works in the Comment section .................. 177 The changing focus from the works to the personal ..................................................... 183 Readers’ engagement and interactions with the writers in the Message section ..... 199 Consequences and Implications of the Glam-Writers‟ Blogging Phenomenon ..................................................................................................................................... 211 Chapter 7: Conclusions ...................................................................................... 218 Feminism, Women‟s Writing and Modernity in Mainland China ........................ 235 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 241 Appendixes .......................................................................................................... 258 Appendix 1: Chinese Literary Developments: A Brief Chronology .................... 258 Appendix 2: The Mini-Biographies of the Chinese Glam-Writers ...................... 261 Appendix 3: The Interview Schedule ..................................................................... 266 Appendix 4: The Mini-Biographies of the Women Readers ............................... 271 Chapter 1: Introduction Although more and more contemporary Chinese writers and their works have been introduced to the west in translation, not much is known outside of sinology in western countries about Chinese literature written for a Chinese audience in mainland China (Wang Ning 2008). Even less is known about how contemporary