Signifying the Local China Studies Edited by Glen Dudbridge Frank Pieke VOLUME 25 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/CHS Signifying the Local Media Productions Rendered in Local Languages in Mainland China in the New Millennium By Jin Liu LEIDEN • bOSTON 2013 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Liu, Jin Signifying the local : media productions rendered in local languages in mainland China in the new millennium / by Jin Liu. pages cm. — (China studies ; v. 25) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25901-0 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25902-7 (e-book) 1. Mass media and language—China. 2. Local mass media—China. 3. Mass media and minori- ties—China. 4. Communication and culture—China. 5. China—Languages. 6. Chinese language—Dialects. I. Title. P96.L342.C4325 2013 302.23’0951—dc23 2013026601 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1570-1344 ISBN 978-90-04-25901-0 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25902-7 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. 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CONTENTS Acknowledgments ....................................................................................... ix Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One A Historical Review of the Discourse of the Local in Twentieth-Century China ............................................................... 19 .Introduction ............................................................................................. 19 Late Qing: Lao Naixuan’s Simplified Script and Zhang Taiyan’s New Dialect ........................................................................................... 22 Advocating Dialect and Dialect Literature during the May Fourth Period ...................................................................................... 31 .The Ambiguous Attitude towards Dialect in the Mass Language Discussion and the Latinxua New Writing Movement ............................................................................................ 40 .The Transcendence of the Local and the Reform of Dialect during and after the “National Forms” Debate ......................... 48 Chapter Two An Overview of Television Series Productions in the 2000s .............................................................................................. 59 Beijing ......................................................................................................... 60 Shanghai .................................................................................................... 66 Chongqing and Chengdu ...................................................................... 71 Guangzhou ................................................................................................ 76 Chapter Three Alternative Translation: Performativity in Dubbing Films in Local Languages ................................................... 83 .Introduction ............................................................................................. 83 Dubbing as an Alternative Translation ............................................ 85 Local-Language Dubbing as a Reaction to the Putonghua Dubbing Tradition ............................................................................. 87 Laughter and Local Community ........................................................ 89 Power Reversals in Local-Language Versions of Tom and Jerry 93 .The Issue of Child Audiences .............................................................. 101 vi contents Chapter Four Empowering Local Community: TV News Talk Shows in Local Languages .......................................................... 105 Aliutou Talks News and the News Entertainmentization ........... 105 News Talks Shows and the Traditional Performing Arts ............ 109 News Talk Shows and Local Community Building ...................... 113 .The Emergence of the Lanmuju Genre and News Dramatization 118 Chapter Five Ambivalent Laughter: Comic Sketches in CCTV’s Spring Festival Eve Gala ....................................................................... 121 .Bakhtin’s Theory of Folk Humor ........................................................ 122 Evolution of Xiaopin in CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala .................. 126 Zhao Benshan’s Comic Sketches and Northwest Errenzhuan ... 132 Chapter Six Popular Music and Local Youth Identity in the Age of the Internet ................................................................................. 143 Xue Cun’s Breakthrough and the Wave of Internet Songs in Local Languages ................................................................................. 148 An Alternative Cultural Space ............................................................ 151 .The Use of Local Languages in Rock Music in the Late 1990s 163 Locality, Youth Identity, and the Internet ...................................... 172 A Case Study of Shanghai Rap and the SHN Website ................. 176 Chapter Seven The Rhetoric of Local Languages as the Marginal: Chinese Underground and Independent Films by Jia Zhangke and Others ........................................................................ 187 Jia’s Documentary Filmmaking Style ................................................ 190 Private Space versus Public Space in Xiao Wu .............................. 192 .The Tension between Diegesis and Mimesis in Platform .......... 196 Gendered Language Use in Unknown Pleasures ............................ 201 .Intellectuals’ Representation of the Subaltern in Underground Films in Local Languages ................................................................ 204 Chapter Eight Multiplicity in Mainstream Studio Films in Local Languages ...................................................................................... 215 Subjectivity in the Use of Language and Voice in Missing Gun ......................................................................................... 220 .The Language of the “Little Characters” .......................................... 227 Grotesque Realism in Crazy Stone and the New Development of the Comedy Genre ............................................ 236 contents vii Chapter Nine The Unassimilated Voice in Recent Fiction in Local Languages ...................................................................................... 251 Rural Local Languages in Nativist Fiction ...................................... 253 Local Languages in Zhiqing Fiction and Their Film Adaptations .......................................................................................... 265 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 277 Film, Video, and Audio Sources .............................................................. 287 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 291 Index ................................................................................................................ 311 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book developed from my Ph.D. dissertation and my research in the past ten years. First of all, I am grateful to my advisor at Cornell, Profes- sor Edward Gunn. It was his book on this topic that sparked my interest and inspired me to undertake this interdisciplinary research, “a unique and challenging project” in his words. My deep gratitude goes to him for his unfailing interest in and continued encouragement and support to my research, even in the years after I graduated from Cornell. He scrupulously and critically read my entire manuscript in many different drafts. To a large degree, without his help, guidance, and super-vision, I would not be able to find my true calling in scholarship, integrating my former training in linguistics and my obsession with language and sound into my current research bridging language and culture. Professor Gunn has played a key role in defining my research areas and nurturing my academic interests. I am deeply indebted to him. I would also like to express my gratitude to the many scholars who have read various versions of the chapter drafts and gave me valuable and thought-provoking comments for revisions: Andrew Jones, Perry