Identity, Architecture, and Film: Mapping the impact of modernization on contemporary Chinese culture Eve Gabereau BA., McGilI University, 1992 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the School of Communication 0 Eve Gabereau SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY August 1998 Ail rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. National Library Bibliothëque nationale 1+1 of,", du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KI A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your (iie Votre relérence Our iire NoIr8 refdrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or selI reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantid extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othemise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Culture in contemporary China is being redefined through its changing landscape, ideology, economic syaem, and cultural production: post-Mao modemization and the development of the globalAocal nexus have meant more than political reform and economic liberalization. They have also meant cultural redefinition and reafignment that involve bot h the differentiation and assimilation of China fiomhith other nations. The emergent pluralisrn in the cultural sphere brought about by rnodemization has given rise to hybrid identities that can be mapped through visions, representations, and realities in intercultural production, architecture, and film. Within these three categories that each interpret the relationship between place and identity, specific areas best reveal the impact of modernization on contemporary Chinese culture and everyday life. First, the intercomection of the local and global spheres and the intemationalization of cultural production can be linked to how cultural identity is expressed and has become eagmented. Second, the changing vernacular of recent urban architecture that is altering the landscape of the traditional Chinese city is the result of modemization and greatly impacts on cultural definition and identity. And finally, the impetus of Fifth Generation filmmakers to make films that reflect on the ideological complexity of China's post-Mao transitional period reconcile the country's new cultural and political situation by using the private sphere to shed light on how culture and ideology manifest themselves in daily life. The Iiterary 'post-new-era' with the Wang Shophenornenon and the production of A Beijing Native in New York exemplify the first area; while the presence of three eras and regimes in the Beijing landscape (with the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Wangfbjing district) exemplifies the second. And, the deliberately biurred lines between the public and private spheres, the traditional and the modern, as well as the rural and the urban in me Stmy of Qiu k project the third. By mapping post-Mao modemization, and ultimately globalization, through contemporary cultural identity, architecture, and film, a new spatial dialectic emerges from the inherent tensions in the globalllocal nexus of how to maintain a distinct cultural identity in an increasingly global environment. The cornmon bond of these three cultural representations, among others, is their qiiest to develop notions ofdemocracy andor civil society. The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 may have silenced the people momentarily, but now, alrnost a decade tater, they are talking, advocating, taking action, and making progress on this nont more than ever. Long-term planning, discussion, and international communication will be findamental to China's further growth and development in the 2 la century-that's a given. But, on a more humane and persona1 level, finding its place in the 'new global cultural space' is key to identity formation and cultural definition that ultimately reveal who people are as a nation and how they want to participate beyond national borindaries. Table of Contents CFIAPTERONE Identity in the New Global Cultural Space 1. Introduction.. .. - - .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1O II. Personal identity and the lifeworld.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 12 III. Hybrid identities and cultural production ......... .. .. .. .. 17 N. National identity beyond the era of refom. .. .. ... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 V. Postnationalism in the 'posî-new-era'.. .. .. .. .. ... ... .. .. ... 25 VI. Words in closing.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 1 CWAPTER mo Beijing's Changing Landscape: Built Environment and Redefined Culture 1. Introduction. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .33 II. History for sale: a sign of the times?. .. .. .. ... .. .. 38 1. The Forbidden City.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .40 .* il. Tiananmen Square.. .... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... .. .. .. ... .. ... ... .... 45 .S. III. Wangfijing.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 47 m. Consuming SpaceCà Spaces of Consumption: New places as definition of culture.. .. .. .. .. -49 N. Postmodemism in Beijing?.m.. .. 54 V. Conclusion: defining the Chinese city today.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. -60 CHAPTERTHREE Projecting Modernization: Spatial consciousness in contemporary Chinese film through The Story of Qiu Ju I . Preamble: the post-Mao film industry in context................................ 66 XI . Mapping Modernization by Balancing Yin and Yang: Spatial Consciousness in neStory of Qiu Ju .................................... 72 I. SpatiaVSocial Change....................................................... 75 .. 11 . Political, Social, and Persona1 Space .....................................79 ... ru . Landscape Changes......................................................... 82 III . Conclusion ............................................................................ 88 Cmmx~FOUR The Notion of Civil Society and The New Global Cultural Space 1. Introduction .......................................................................... -91 II . Notion($ of Civil Society in China today: finaions and limitations........ -93 III . Refom, Culture, and Identity ...................................................... -97 ... N . Bnnging it al1 together ............................................................... 103 IDENTITY, ARCHITECTURE, AND FILM: MAPPING THE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION ON CONTEMPORARY CHINESE CULTURE The geopolitics of global cdtural formations and local sites are shifting under the pressures of this new 'spatial dialectic' obtained between mobile processes of trm~~'oi~aZimtio~~and strategies of localinftionor regional coalition. Rob Wilson and Wimal Dissanayake GZobaLXocaI The 'spatial dialectic' to which Wilson and Dissanayake refer concems the tensions between local and global forces in an increasingly 'global world.' The central predicament in the global/local nexus is how can a nation maintain its distinct cultural identity within a global environment. This calls to mind the two central questions of UNESCO's cultural sector mandate: How cmwe preserve mr heri~age?And. how cm oirr mzdtiple ct~hvs[ive together in an interacfive world? To answer these questions in the context of contemporary China, I will analyze how culture is defined and redefined in both time and space through a niItural mapping of Deng Xiaoping's modernization and open-door policies that began in the late 1970s' marking the beginning of his career as Mao Zedong's successor and the second leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC). By mapping how the first era of reforrn in poçt-Mao China (1979-89) and beyond (1989-today) have simultaneously globalized and localized Chinese culture by way of the movement of capital, the creation of new spaces, and the projection of images, I will interweave the local and global processes that have transpired in the post-Mao, and now post-Deng, era. The emergent pluralisrn in the cultural sphere brought about by rnodemization has given rise to hybrid identities in contemporary China that can be mapped through visions, representations, and realities in (inter)cultural production, urban architecture, and (Fifth Generation) film. Mapping China' s modernization(s), through examples of (local) literary movements, television programs, film production and cinematic expression, and architectural development, is best done by looking at the new (modem) landscape and the new (global) forms of consumption that are redefining China's national culture- beginning with an analysis of identity formation (personal, national, and international) in Chapter One, and finishing in Chapter Four with the notion of civil society in China today. The other two chapters of this thesis are about China's changing landscape @oth physical and abstract) through modemizatiorz-affectednew and old Beijing architecture (Chapter Two) and the spatio-temporal journey of one woman fiom the countryside to the city, and fiom the private sphere to the public sphere, in the film neStory of Qin