Women Through the Lens Chinese cinema (Continued from front flap) Cui Gender and nation have often served as narrative “Shuqin Cui’s book is the first ofits kind:a study ofthe complex discursive interaction between subjects and visual tropes in Chinese cinema.The Filmmakers became keenly aware ofvisuality as a gender and nation in Chinese film.Arguing forcefully and with careful attention to the films as intersections between the two that occur in cine- language system as they experimented with modes Gender and Nation in a Century matic representation,however,have received little films,she contends that images ofwomen have been appropriated by Chinese filmmakers not only of representation. Cui documents and discusses critical attention.Women Through the Lensraises the cinematic spectacle of woman as essential to for the nation-building project and class struggle,but for intellectual ends such as cultural critique of Chinese Cinema the question ofhow gender,especially the image of such widely popular films as Chen Kaige’s Farewell and national allegory.From leftist films ofthe 1930s to the Hong Kong postmodern cinema ofthe woman,acts as a visual and discursive sign in the My Concubineand Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou.In these present,Cui shows how Chinese filmmakers,with the exception ofa handful ofrecent female creation of the nation-state in twentieth-century films,the screen image of the Chinese woman is directors,have all but silenced female subjectivity even as they draw attention to women’s oppres- China. Tracing the history of Chinese cinema both nationalized and sexualized,and for interna- through the last hundred years from the perspec- tional audiences she is the exotic and erotic other, sion.This is a feminist study,but one that takes a wisely skeptical attitude toward the application tive oftransnational feminism,Shuqin Cui reveals the image of China. Finally, the author brings a ofWestern feminist assumptions to the Chinese cultural context.Women Through the Lens is a how women have been granted a “privileged visi- feminist perspective to the issues of gender and book that all scholars ofgender representation in film will want to read.”—Kirk Denton,Ohio bility” on-screen while being denied discursive nation by turning her attention to women directors State University W positions as subjects.In addition,her careful atten- and their self-representations. She reveals a con- tion to the visual language system ofcinema shows o cealed female identity at the margins where m how “woman”has served as the site for the narra- women directors attempt to inject female con- “Women Through the Lensbreaks new ground by tracing the relationship between women and tion of nation in the context of China’s changing e sciousness and perspective even as they submit to Chinese cinema from transnational feminist perspectives.While offering meticulous textual analy- n social and political climate. the conventions necessary to get their films pro- ses ofselective key films,the book covers the entire history oftwentieth-century Chinese cinema T duced.She concludes that ifChinese women con- h Placing gender and nation in a historical frame- tinue to count on the promises of nationalist and examines important periods and topics such as early film production,socialist cinema,the r work,the book first shows how early productions discourse for their emancipation,they may fail to o new wave,and women’s films.The author adroitly unpacks and navigates a series ofkey questions u had their roots in shadow-plays,a popular form of realize that the need to free feminism from nation- and issues in Chinese film history:nation and narration,image and representation,identity and g public entertainment.These films were soon sup- alist narratives is a prerequisite for freeing oneself. h planted by cinematic narratives meant to further difference,gender and feminism,socialism and capitalism.This is an insightful major study in t the causes ofsocial reform and strident national- h Well conceived and intelligently written, Women both scope and depth,and should be consulted by students interested in film studies,gender stud- e ism. As leftist filmmaking turned to the female Through the Lenswill appeal to scholars and stu- ies,and modern China.”—Sheldon H.Lu,University ofCalifornia at Davis L image to signify a motherland suffering foreign dents in the fields offilm,gender,and Asian stud- e invasions as well as domestic afflictions, gender ies, and to general readers interested in Chinese n and nation became inextricably intertwined in the Jacket illustrations (clockwise from top left):Farewell My Concubine,1993;Ruan Lingyu,1992; s cinema. cinematic representation of China.In examining Sacrificed Youth,1985;Lovers’Griefover the Yellow River,1999.Illustrations reprinted by permis- the “Red Classics”ofsocialist cinema as a mass cul- sion ofthe China Film Archive,Beijing. tural form,the book shows how the utopian vision of emancipating the entire proletariat, women included, produced a collective ideology that Shuqin Cui is assistant professor at Southern Jacket design:Argosy declared an end to gender difference. Sex and Methodist University. desire cannot be eradicated,however,and one of University ofHawai‘i Press the most valuable contributions ofthis work is its Honolulu,Hawai‘i 96822-1888 consideration ofthe fate ofgender difference in a milieu ofofficial suppression. www.uhpress.hawaii.edu Shuqin Cui The emergence ofNew Wave films brought height- ened international attention to Chinese cinema. (Continued on back flap) Women Through the Lens Women Through the Lens GENDER AND NATION IN A CENTURY OF CHINESE CINEMA Shuqin Cui UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I PRESS HONOLULU © 2003 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 08 07 06 05 04 03 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cui,Shuqin. Women through the lens :gender and nation in a century of Chinese cinema / Shuqin Cui. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8248-2532-2 (hardcover :alk.paper) 1.Motion pictures—China—History. 2.Women in motion pictures. 3.Sex role in motion pictures. I.Title. PN1993.5.C4 C85 2003 791.43'0951—dc21 2002010919 Chapters 2 and 6 of the present work appeared in slightly different versions as noted below. “Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage: The (Im)possible Engagement between Feminism and Postmodernism,” by Shuqin Cui, from Cinema Journal39:4, pp. 60–80, copyright ©2000 by the University of Texas Press, all rights reserved; and “Gendered Perspective: The Construction and Representation of Subjectivity and Sexuality in Ju Dou,” by Shuqin Cui, in Transnational Chinese Cinemas: Identity, Nationhood, Gender, ed. Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu, pp. 303–329, copyright ©1997 by the University of Hawai‘i Press, all rights reserved. Illustrations reprinted by permission of the China Film Archive, Beijing. University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by Argosy Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group (cid:1)(cid:2) !"#$%&'()* To my parents and daughter Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi PARTONE:EARLYPRODUCTION 1 1 From Shadow-Play to a National Cinema 3 2 Reconstructing History: The (Im)possible Engagement between Feminism and Postmodernism in Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage 30 PARTTWO:SOCIALISTCINEMA 49 3 Constructing and Consuming the Revolutionary Narratives 51 4 Gender Politics and Socialist Discourse in Xie Jin’s The Red Detachment of Women 79 PARTTHREE: THENEWWAVE 97 5 Screening China:National Allegories and International Receptions 99 6 The Search for Male Masculinity and Sexuality in Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou 127 7 Subjected Body and Gendered Identity: Female Impersonation in Chen Kaige’s FarewellMy Concubine 150 CONTENTS viii PARTFOUR:WOMEN’SFILMS 169 8 Feminism with Chinese Characteristics? 171 9 Desire in Difference:Female Voice and Point of View in Hu Mei’s Army Nurse 200 10 Transgender Masquerading in Huang Shuqin’s Human,Woman,Demon 219 Postscript 239 Filmography 249 Notes 269 Works Cited 287 Index 299 Acknowledgments My academic interest in and passion for the subjects of gender and cinema studies began during my graduate years at the University of Michigan. Now, when years of research have finally reached printed form, my heart- felt thanks go first to Frank E. Beaver and Yi-tsi Feurwerker. Professor Beaver’s film classes drew me to the visual art form that I soon fell in love with. Professor Feurwerker’s seminar on women and writing inspired me to explore gender issues in China from a cross-cultural perspective. The writing project could not have evolved without generous institu- tional support. Research and travel grants from the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at Southern Methodist University (S.M.U.) in 1997 and 2000 enabled me to visit China to meet with film directors and scholars and to collect visual and written materials. In addition, a semester of sabbatical leave in 1999 allowed me to concentrate on writing. I also received crucial support and encouragement from colleagues and friends during the writing process. The book would not have been com- pleted without the assistance of my two dear friends David Black and Richard Cogley. Each of them read both the draft and the final versions of the entire manuscript. Their thoughtful responses were invaluable. I’m also fortunate to have other close friends at S.M.U., Lisa Ahnert, Marie-Luise Gaettens, and Zoe Urbanek, whose hearts and homes have always been open to me. In addition, William Beauchamp and Gordon Birrell, the for- mer and the current department chair of Foreign Languages & Literatures, have provided me with professional guidance and administrative support. Also important in my life are my two dear cats, Mimi and Nemo, whose presence gave me peace of mind in so many stressful moments. Working with the editors of the University of Hawai‘i Press has been a wonderful experience. Senior editor Patricia Crosby ensured my commit- ment to the Press by promptly evaluating my manuscript and deciding to support it for publication. Thereafter, managing editor Cheri Dunn guided the editing and publication process with utmost efficiency, and copy editor Bojana Ristich handled the manuscript with amazing thoroughness. I am also indebted to the anonymous readers whose comments helped me to strengthen the manuscript. Finally, I’m dedicating this book to my parents, so far away from the States yet so close to my heart, and to my daughter Lulu, now a college stu- dent, for understanding why writing consumed so much of my time.