Desire and Fantasy On-line: a Sociological and Psychoanalytical Approach to the Prosumption of Chinese Internet Fiction A Thesis Submitted to the University of Manchester for the Degree of PhD in the Faculty of Humanities 2012 SHIH-CHEN CHAO SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES, AND CULTURES Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 7 Declaration ................................................................................................................... 8 Copyright Statement ................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................ 9 Chapter One: Introduction ....................................................................................... 10 1.1: Internet Literature – Definition and Development………………………...10 1.2: Research Motivation and Questions……………………………………...…18 1.3: Literature Review…………………………………………………………..19 1.3.1: Modern Chinese Literature and Popular Fiction……...………………19 1.3.2: Fan Culture in the Popular Media………...……………………….. 20 1.3.3: Literature and the Internet…………...……………………………….21 1.3.4: Popular Fiction and Internet in China………………...………………23 1.4: Theoretical Frameworks…………………………………….……………..28 1.5: Data and Methodology……………………………………………………. 30 1.5.1: The Primary Sources of Literary Commodities – Four Nets and One Channel on Qidian….……………………………………………….. 30 1.5.2: Empirical Data for the Production Rate……………………………. 34 1.5.3: Empirical Data for the Consumption Rate…………………………. 34 1.5.4: The Interval of Empirical Data Collection………………………….. 43 1.5.5: The Comparison between Production Rate and Consumption Rate….46 1.6: Structure…………………………………………….……………………….49 Chapter Two: Mapping Internet Fiction ................................................................. 52 2.1: Introduction.…………………………………………………………………52 2.2: A Genealogy of Chinese Popular Fiction......................................................53 2.2.1: Vernacular Fiction – From Ming Fiction to Tongsu Xiaoshuo......…53 2.2.2: The Texts of Tongsu Xiaoshuo – Bridging the Gap between an Old Traditional Time and a New Era…………55 2.2.3: The Re-institutionalisation of Tongsu Xiaoshuo – The Expansion from Printing to Cinema…………...................................………………..57 2.2.4: The Similarities of Texts between Tongsu Xiaoshuo and Internet Fiction………………………………………………………………..59 2.2.5: The Similarities of Re-institutionalisation between Tongsu Xiaoshuo and Internet Fiction……………………………………………..….61 2.3: The New Feature of Internet Fiction from a Spatial Perspective – A Reconfiguration of Institution for Massive Participation………………….63 2.3.1: Promoting Popular Reception of Fiction – From Newspaper to the Internet………………………………………………………………..63 2.3.2: Mass/Social Media Fandom, Participatory Culture, and Prosumerism in Post-Mao China..............................................................................65 2.4: Prosumerism and Individualisation in China – From Subjugation to 2 Accentuation?...................................………………………………………72 2.4.1: Toward an Individualised Chinese Society………………………72 2.4.2: State ‘Strategies’ versus Individualised ‘Tactics’ in Contemporary China………………………………………………………………...78 2.4.3: Resolving to Inward Goodness as a Safe Way to Co-exist with Social Harmony?............................................................................................80 2.5: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..82 Chapter Three: The Macrostructure of Internet Fiction in China – Re- institutionalising a Digital Literary Field ............................................................... 84 3.1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………84 3.2: From Commercial Printing to Commercial Websites – A Brief History of Commercial Publishing in China……………………………………………84 3.3: Attention Economy and Prosumerism – A New Model of Desire Production and Consumption…………………………………………………………....88 3.3.1: Prosumerism, Attention and Profit…………………………………...88 3.3.2: Prosumerism – Towards Desire Generating?.......................................90 3.4: Qidian – A New Chinese Model of Production and Consumption………….92 3.4.1: Agents and Institutions Re-positioned in a Digital Literary Field – Centralised Prosumers and De-centralised Mediators………………..93 3.4.1.1: Readership in Prosumers…………………………………….93 3.4.1.2: Authorship in Prosumers…………………………………….98 3.4.2: The De-centralisation of Mediators of Agents/Institutions – Publishers (Publishing Companies), Printers (Printing Houses), Editors, and Booksellers (Bookstores)…………………………………………102 3.4.2.1: Publishers…………………………………………………..103 3.4.2.2: Editors, Printers (Printing Houses) and Booksellers (Bookstores)……………………..……………………...109 3.5: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………111 Chapter Four: Male Fantasy of Feeling Good – The Pattern of the Golden Triangle underneath Fiction Genres on Qidian Chinese Net ................. 113 4.1: Introduction……………...…………………………………………………113 4.2: Tier One – Most Popular Produced/Consumed Fiction Genres on Qidian Chinese Net ..................……………………………………………………114 4.2.1: Xuanhuan 玄幻 (Eastern Fantasy).……………….……..………...114 4.2.1.1: The Chinese Counterpart of Western Fantasy Fiction……...114 4.2.2: Dushi 都市 (Urban)………………………………………………..118 4.2.2.1: Traditional Urban Narratives – A Path to Literary Realism..118 4.2.2.2: Cyber Urban Narratives – Transforming Literary Realism to Literary Fantasy…………………………………………...121 4.2.2.3: The Strategies of Urban Fantasy – Its Characters and Patterns……………………………………………………...123 4.2.2.4: Urban Fantasy – A Pseudo Realism to Justify Fantasy…..126 4.2.3: Xianxia 仙俠 (Chinese Immortal Swordsman)……………………127 3 4.2.3.1: Beyond an Earthly Boundary……….………………………128 4.2.4: Wangyou 網遊 (On-line Game)…………………………………..133 4.2.4.1: Between a Physical World and a Virtual Secondary World..133 4.2.4.2: From On-line Game to On-line Game Fiction……………135 4.2.4.3: The Golden Triangle in On-line Game Narratives…............136 4.3: Tier Two – The More Consumed but Relatively Less Produced Genre…...139 4.3.1: Lishi 歷史 (History)..……………………………………………139 4.3.1.1: Historical Fiction – A Pending Controversy………………..139 4.3.1.2: The Popular Tendency of Fictionalising History – Factual Fabrication versus Unfactural Fabrication…………………140 4.3.1.3: Personal Fabrication as the Key to History Fiction………...141 4.3.1.4: Fabrication, Time-slip and Individualisation..……………..144 4.4: Tier Three – The Less Produced/Consumed Genres……………………..145 4.4.1: Qihuan 奇幻 (Western Fantasy)…………………………………..145 4.4.1.1: Warcraft in Neverland……………………………………...145 4.4.2: Kehuan 科幻 (Science Fiction)……………………………………148 4.4.2.1: From Saving the Nation to Fantasising Chinese Individualisation………………………………………….148 4.5: Tier Four – The Least Produced/Consumed Genres……………………….150 4.6: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………153 Chapter Five: Female Fantasy – The Golden Triangle in Romance on Qidian Female Net ................................................................................................................ 155 5.1: Introduction………………………………………………………………155 5.2: The Mass-production of Popular Romance Narratives in the West…….…155 5.3: A Romance Tradition in Chinese Popular Literature……………………...157 5.3.1: From Caizi Jiaren 才子佳人(the Genius and the Beauty) to the Modern-day Cyber Romance…………..……………………………157 5.3.2: The Popularity of Romance in China since the Economic Reforms..159 5.4: Romance – The Female Version of the Golden Triangle...........…………160 5.4.1: From ‘Unconditional Love’ to ‘Conditional Love’…………………160 5.4.2: One Genre, Two Politics of Sex and Love………………………….162 5.5: Cunai Danmei 純愛耽美 (Pure Love and Absolute Aesthetic) – Towards Female Voyeurism through Homoerotic Romance to Project Physical Desire………………………………………………………………………164 5.5.1: Homoerotic Romance – A Brief History in the US and Japan…….164 5.5.2: Homoeroticism in Chinese Cyberspace……………………………..166 5.5.3: Homoerotic Romance and its Sex Politics – Grotesque Eroticism….168 5.5.4: Homoerotic Romance and the Golden Triangle..................……….171 5.5.5: Between Patriarchy and Female Voyeurism – A Confirmation of the Golden Triangle ................………………………………………..172 5.6: Yanqing Xiaoshuo 言情小說 (Heterosexual Romance) – The Cinderella Complex……………………………………………………………………175 5.6.1: ‘Conformance’ and ‘Resistance’ – One Sub-genre, Two Approaches…………………………………………………………175 4 5.6.2: The Heterosexual Romance and its Sex Politics – A Return to Patriarchy……………………………………………………………178 5.6.3: Heterosexual Romance and the Golden Triangle..................……...180 5.7: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………181 Chapter Six: Desire, Fantasy, and Internet Fiction in China .............................. 183 6.1: Introduction………………………………………………………………183 6.2: Genre – A Recurrent Social Implication…………………………………184 6.3: The Diversification of Fiction Genres, Sub-genres and the Intertextual Internet Literary Mélange………………………………..……………….185 6.4: Deep Structure, Surface Structure – The Recurrence of Desire and Fantasy..........................................................................................................187 6.5: Desire, Fantasy, and the Real – A Psychoanalytical Approach…………..189 6.5.1: The Notion of Desire – Lack, Loss and Hollowness………………..189 6.5.2: Fantasy – Its Multiple Roles in Realising Desire…………………...191 6.5.3: Postponement and Repetition – Reaching Desire’s Satisfaction…....194 6.5.4: Che Voglio? Che Vuoi! – Whose Desire is it?...................................196