Surviving in between Neoliberalism and “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”: Chinese Women in Negotiation with the Nation and Public Culture A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Xiaomeng Li August 2020 © 2020 Xiaomeng Li. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled Surviving in between Neoliberalism and “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”: Chinese Women in Negotiation with the Nation and Public Culture by XIAOMENG LI has been approved for the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Scripps College of Communication by Eve Ng Associate Professor of Media Arts and Studies Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract LI, XIAOMENG, Ph.D., August 2020, Media Arts and Studies Surviving in between Neoliberalism and “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”: Chinese Women in Negotiation with the Nation and Public Culture Director of Dissertation: Eve Ng People’s Republic of China under President Xi Jinping’s administration has demonstrated an intense agenda of nation-building, observable through the country’s ardent participation in the global economy on the one hand, and domestic propagation of national and cultural pride on the other. While new ideologies such as “Core Socialist Values” and “Chinese Dream” are prevailing in almost every aspect of Chinese people’s daily lives, women are largely overlooked as part of the “citizens” in the official discourses even though they undertake more pressure than their male counterparts due to China’s enduring patriarchal culture and gender norms. Moreover, the mass media in China, known as the “mouthpiece” of the Communist party-state, play a crucial role in promoting both the authorities’ guiding ideologies and sustaining the stereotypes of women in the name of preserving “Chineseness.” With this observation and realization, this dissertation regards China, a country that implements “Socialism with Chinese characteristics,” as in a “postsocialist” stage, and delves into the mass media’s representations of women in the political, social, and cultural aspects to find out women’s specific positionality in today’s China. Through case studies ranging from the media coverage of China’s “first lady” and the general working-class women, to the representations of the unmarried female PhDs iii and women with heightened economic power, this dissertation tries to be as inclusive as possible to address the heterogeneity of Chinese women while probing two questions: first, what is the manifestation and interplay between Chinese women’s heightened agency in a postsocialist China and the mass media’s hegemonic representations of them? Second, what is the relationship between Chinese women and the Communist party- state’s construction of nationalism? It argues that although today’s Chinese women have attained a certain degree of empowerment due to the country’s development, the media and public culture have also revealed that women are continuously constrained by a regime that has a long tradition of patriarchy and gender inequalities. Thus, Chinese women are experiencing a conundrum with a partial and contradictory “postsocialist empowerment” while endeavoring to create their unconventional femininity. iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to myself, and to all women of China who deserve better. v Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support from my committee members. Dr. Eve Ng, my advisor, thank you for not only being a knowledgeable academic role model but also a kind and empathetic mentor throughout my Ph.D. journey. I am so grateful and proud to be your advisee. Dr. Karen Riggs, I could not ask for a better academic “cheerleader” who has always been there encouraging me and caring for me from the very beginning. Dr. Bernhard Debatin, I admire your knowledge and temperament, and thanks for thoroughly introducing me to the qualitative research methods which have helped me find the best ways to express my voices. Dr. Yeong-Hyun Kim, thanks for inspiring me to be passionate about what I choose to do and sharing with me your experience to give me strengths as an international student. In addition, I sincerely feel grateful for every faculty member and staff at the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University. I will forever remember the day when most of the attendees from our department showed up at the award ceremony at BEA 2018, where I received the Diversity & Inclusion Outstanding Research Award. I considered myself a very reserved and quiet person in the department, but at that time when I saw Dr. McDaniel, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Newton, as well as many of my colleagues such as Steffi, Nune, and Jamie in the crowd, I realized that I was not unseen and my presence in the department really mattered. Also, I want to thank Dr. Wolfgang Sutzl for teaching such awesome theory classes that have truly made me realize the beauty of critical thinking. Moreover, thanks Judy, for always showing me a warm smile whenever vi I entered the department door. And thanks to Paula for patiently making phone calls and writing emails to help me with my fellowship and registration questions. I would also like to thank my parents in China. Thank you, mom and dad, for trusting me and sending me to the U.S. when I was 18, for letting me quit that prestigious job in 2015 and pursue a Ph.D. degree, and for staying healthy and strong during this very difficult time in Wuhan. Without your support from home, I would not have the foundation to complete this difficult academic journey. Also, a very special thanks to my grandparents on both sides. I know you all are watching me from heaven, so thanks for always having faith in me when I did not even have any for myself. I miss you all so much. Finally, I want to thank myself for making the best decision of my life to quit that job and reenter the U.S. for a Ph.D. degree in mass communication. vii Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Background and Rationale ............................................................................................ 2 Overview of the “Chinese Dream” ............................................................................... 6 Overview of China’s Mass Media Regulation System ............................................... 10 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................ 17 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 18 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 21 Nation-State and Nationalism in China ...................................................................... 22 Women in National Imaginaries ................................................................................. 27 Postsocialist China and Neoliberalism ........................................................................ 38 Chinese Women in the Era of Postsocialism .............................................................. 44 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 59 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) ............................................................................ 60 Three-Dimensional Model of CDA ...................................................................... 65 Social Semiotic Analysis (SSA) ........................................................................... 67 Case Study .................................................................................................................. 70 The Rationale for Case Study ............................................................................... 70 Selection of Cases ................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 4: The Chinese Party-State’s Representation of Women .................................... 79 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 79 The “First Lady” Represented by Chinese State Media ............................................. 79 Women Represented by the All-China Women’s Federation ................................... 104 Conclusion of the Chapter ........................................................................................ 137 Chapter 5: Female PhDs in Chinese Media and in China’s Nation-Building ................. 141 viii Introduction ..............................................................................................................