Popnlar tbe

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Deliberations Between tbe Covers: An Andience-Centred Etbnograpby of Cbinese Popnlar Fiction Readers

by Seana Kozar

A thesis submittedtothe School of GraduateStudies

inpartialfulfilmentof the requirementsforthedegreeof

Doctorof Philosophy

Departmentnf Folklore MemorialUniversity of Newfoundlan d

1998

St.John' s Newfoundland

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Abstract

This thesis is an ethnography of Chinese popular fiction readership which presents an integrated exploration of contemporary readers'tastes and patterns of reading behaviour.

However, in order to understand the genres and particular texts that contemporary readers designate as"popular:' especially within the context of Chinese popular culturewhich has long been the site of an active exchange between writtenand oral traditions.it is necessary

[0examinethe historical audiences and generic antecedents.the traditions of texts and contexts, that provide modem readers with reference points of continuityand changewithin the largerlandscape of Chinese popularliterature.

To thisend,this study suggests that reading patterns.like otherkinds of expressive behaviourineveryday life.can be thought of in termsof repertoires of aesthetic discrimination which may have inactive as well as active dimensions. Theinacti ve facets of areade r's repertoire,it isargued.may still exert important influences on the shapingand articulation of preferences and associations.

Relatedtoissuesof methodological design.including the use of printed and electronic Chinese and English language questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and e-mail correspondence.the readership sampleis comprised primarily of men and womenwho have achieved or arepursuing some level of post-secondary or postgraduateeducation.

Trends in readers' affinities and/oraversions to particular genres.as well as their usesof fiction -whether theyread for escape or instruction.for example- are considered.asare suchconceptsas fan culture,readeridentification with characters or other aspects of the narrative and tbe phenomenon of addictive readingstyles. This patternof consumption is exploredwith particular reference to Chinese martial arts fiction. which as a genre isgiven

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the mostdetailedtreatment.followedbyromance and detectivefiction. Inaddition to readers'conceptions ofthe processof reading itself and theirperceptionsofthevarious traditions which inform their favou rite contemporarynovels, thiswork also looks atthe importance ofconversationin readers'experiences,aswellas some of theinteractions between genderandgenre. especial lywithregardto tbe intentional transgression and renegotiationof theboundaries of traditionall y'tmasculine''or"feminine"fiction.

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Acknowledgements

First.Iwould like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada for the Doctoral Fellowship which funded this research. as well as the School of Graduate Studies at Memorial University for the award of an A.G. Hatcher Memorial Scholarship which greatly assisted my studies in Britain -as did the laudable efforts of various members of staff at Graduate Studies who made sure that my experiences of international banking were as painless as possible during my sojourn"acro ss the Pond."l would also like to thank the British Federation of Women Graduates for their award of an emergency grant which helped defray some of the costs of dictation software when it became apparent that I would have to produce my thesis with markedly restricted dexterity in my only functioning band.

Secondly.I would like to thank my supervisor.Peter Narvaez. for his unwavering confidence.as well as the other members of my committeeon both sides of the Atlantic.

Drs.Neil Rosenberg and Gerald Pocius at the Department of Folklore at Memorial.and especiallyDr.Tommy McClellan at the Department of East Asian Studies.Universityof Edinburgh.I also wish to tbank the Chair of the East Asian Studies Department.Professor Bonnie S.McDougall.as well as postgraduate students David Ellis .Chung Huiyuan.He Yubin and Dai Show-fen. and language instructor Fang Jing. In both faculties.I felt I was received among friendswithin a community of scholarswith which I felt privileged to be associated. At Memorial. I received my formative training as a folklorist.and in Scotland l was granted the intellectual freedom to begin to refinethoseskill s asan independent scholar. Both academic communities were indispensable to my development.

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Iwouldalso like tothankall of the readerswho sharedtheiropinionsandenthusiasm forreadingwith me.Althoughthis seems aninadequaterecognitionoftheir ge nerosi ty.

there are manyexpre ssion sof human ity which I feel are noteasil y expresse d. Paradoxi call yperhaps.Iam ofthe opinion that themomentof willingnesstoenter into comm unicationisoneofthese.

Thereareman yindivid ualswho have direc tlyand indirectlyguided mypath.In particu lar . Iwo uldlike tothankProfessorMcDo ugall andDr. McClellan fortheir enth usiasticreceptionandencourage me ntof mywork.and Dr.Pauline Gree nhillfor guiding me toa numberofrecentworks of feminist scho larshipwhich proved inva luable to myunderstanding of women'stalkarid the waysin whichwordssociallyscriptgender.

Otherprofessors ,asmentors bye-mailand friendsif notactual instructors.provided much needed supportandsensibility.

AsIwrite thesewords.at least oneocean,or the entire country,separatesme from some of the people I wishtomention-c-Pippa,Lizanne .Donna.myaunt Jeanand uncle Mike.andmyWelshfamily.especially Barb ara andColin.Thisthesis isforRanald and Katherineandthestorytelling eveningsin St.John's thathelped mefind mytales.and ever and alwaysforGrum,who helped mefind my strength.

Finally.this work is dedicated toDr.NorahBrowne.

forwhosededicationtome there willneverbewords enough.

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3. 1Introducti on. . .... . ... . . .. . . • ... . .•.•.... . . ... . .. 73 3.1.1Reader Satisfactionas aDiscou rse of Pla usib ilit y 71 3.1.2Identif yingFandom and FanIdentifica tion... .. ... 84 3.2Sbadesof Tradition inConte mpo rary Relief 96 3.21 TheInte rplay ofInve ntion andConve ntio n Re visited 96 33Chinese Popular Literature andSom eFunction sof Folkl ore .• ...•. .. (00 33.1 Amusement:EscapeReadersand"Fiction Addiction s- 103 33 .2 EducationandInstruction . . . . ... ..•.•... .. III

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333Redressin gaDiffe rentBalance: Compensationin Tradition... 113

3.4Conclusion .... . . . ....•... ... . . . ... . 117

Chapter Four. ChineseMartialArtsFiction . . ... .... .. ... •. ... 118

4.1Introduction... . . .. . ...•. ... . . . ... ... .. 118

4.2The Roots of Contemporary MartialArts Fiction ....•... . ... 124

4.2.1Chivalric Themesin EarlyPopular Fiction ...•... 126

4.2.2Placing the Tradition:A Look at Story and History .... . .. • 132

43TheChivalricHe ro:AComparative Exploration East and West ... 139

4.4The Chinese "Greenwood" :Landscapesof Escape and Possib ility 155 4.5 Conclusion 161 Chapter Five: Romance and Detective Fiction 162 5.1Introducti on . ... . ... ... .... . ... ... .. ... . .. . ... 162

5.2RomanceFiction:ADialecticof"Exceptional Feelings" . .. . ... 165 5.2.1Scholars and Beauties.Symmetry and Qing 167

5.2.2ANoteon Language 176

5.23 ButterflyFiction and"Bodice-Rippe rs" :Divergen ce s of the

Romantic Route 177

53 Deep.Dark.Bright:Mysteryand Justicein Detective Fiction 183

5.4Conclusion 188

ChapterSix:Gender.Genre and Chat .

6.1 Introduction .

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190 190

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6.2Cbatting Eastand West:SomeTbou gh ts on Style and Powe r... ... 195

6.2.1 VariorumVe rbal Texts:Readi ng"Ch at" 20 1 63Within andWitho ut Ro mance andChivalry:Mixed Readings 2fY7 6.4Impossibil ityand Potential in Women's "World UpsideDown" 222 6..5 Conclus ion ... .. ... ... . .. . . . .• ... •.. •. ..•. .•.... . . .. 229

Conc lusion 231 Contri butio nsof the PresentStudy ...•.... ... ....•. .. . .• 232

Co ncl uding Thoughtson this Ethnographyof Reading .• .... . . ..•. 234

Directions for Future Research... .. .... ... .•.. . ... 238

References ... ... . ..•. .. .. . ... .. .. . . .•.. . . ... 241

AppendixA:Participato ryCulture and theInternet ... .. .. .•... . . ... 262

Introduction 262 RhetoricalCharacters:Communitiesand Texts 265 OfRhetoricalCo mm unities andFolk Groups 265 TextualPalimpses ts:ASCII.Chinese-Styl e 269 Sitesof Chivalry:Texts. We bpa ges an d Games... .. . . ... .. ... . . 275

TextualPerfo rma nces and Perfo nnative Te xtsI: lnrertexualityon the Web •.••... ... . . • . . • . .• •• •. . . ... . 276 TextualPerformancesand Perfonnat ive TextsII:Role-playing

Wo rlds

ElectronicEphemera:Greetings.Jokes,Nam ing and Serials .

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278 289

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SpringFestivalMeets theSimpsons:ElectronicGreetings... •..•. 289 New sgroups:AWorld of"Face" andIde ntity Turned Upside-down

Leavesfromthe"Web inHeaven" :ElectronicMagazines . Conclusion ... . ....•. • . ...•.•. •.. .... . ... ... .• ...

298 305 310

AppendixB-1:ChineseCompu tingResources 312

ANote onCo mpatibility and Encoding Protoco ls .. . .•. . ... .. ... ... 312

Appendix8-2:ChineseTextResources . . . .••... . . ... . . . . ... 313 A Note ConcerningtheElectro nic Excerpts ofTbe Deer andthe Cauldron.

and TheSmiling. Proud Wanderer<ChapterFour): 313 ChineseFictionLinks... • ..•... .... .. .. .. . . ... 314 ChineseE-zines ... . .•..•. ... .. . . .•. . . •... ... .. 314

AppendixB-3:Rol e-PlayingResources ChineseMUD and RelatedSites

315 315

Other RPG Resources 315

AppendixC-l:Pilot Questionnaire 316

Appendix.C-2:TranslationofPilot Questionna ire. . . . ... . . . ... ... 319

AppendixC-3:Revised Questionnaire ... . . . .•... ... .. .. ... 321

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AppendixC-4:Translation of Revised Questionnaire ...•.. .. .. .. . •. . . .. 325

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List of Figures

Fig.1.NewYearlante rns fro m1992greetingscollec tion. .•... 290

Fig.2.Cursiverenditio nofchara cte r meaning "fortune." 292

Fig3.Designfrom1994electronicChristmascard. •.•.. .• . .. . . ... . .•. 294

Fig.4.New Yearbanner... ...•. .... . . ... ... .... ... .... 296

Fig5.Largecharacte relectronicgreeting. .. . . ... ...•... . . .. .... ... 'N7

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Brief Chronology of Major Dynasties and Periods

(So urce:A Chinese -Enoli shDictionary. « 3i;€tiiJft» .1988. Beijing:Forei gn LanguageInstitute.DynastiesspecificaJly relevantto thisthesisappearin italics.)

Xia(R>Dynasty:Approximately2[00-1600yearsago Shang(jlijlDynasty:Approxim ate ly1600-1100yearsago Zhou(/~IlDynasty:

WestemZhou(i!!iMl):ApproximatelyllOO-771 B.C.

Eastern Zhou(!l!:Ml):770-236 B.C.

Spring and Autumn Period(fit!:):770-476 B.C.

Warring Stales(lilU!l):475-221B.C.

Qin Dynasty(J\>l:221-207B.C.

HanDynas ty (81):

WesternHan<iffiP.Xi):206 to approxim atel y24 B.C.

Eastern HancW-iJi):25B.C.-22 0C&QJ ThreeKingdo ms(=~):

Wei(l!l):220-265 ShuHan(!lliill!):221-263 Wu(*):222-280 WesternJinDynasty (EQif):26>316 EasternlinDynastyc!l!:'if):317-420

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Northe rnand SouthernDynasties(m:ltWll:

Southern Dynasties(ffl'Wll:

Song0>1<):420479 Qi(1'\'):479-502 Uang(~):502-557 Chen(Itil!):557-589 NorthernDynasties(:ltWll:

NorthernWei(:Ita):386- 534 EasternWei(JI! a):534-550 Northern Qi(:It!!\'):550-577 Weslern Wei(ii!ia):535-556 NorthernZhou(:ltl\ll):557-581 SuiDynast y(m):581-618

Tang Dynasty(f.!f):61S-907 FiveDynastiesCli t\';):

LaterLiang{ 1.t ~):907-923 Later -Tang(l$i:Il!f ):923-936 LaterJin(~"ifI:936-946 LaterHan(l$i:~):947-950 Later Zhou(l$i:/liJ):951-960

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SongDynasty(51'):

NorthernSong(:It5I'):960-1127 SouthernSong(Ill*):1127-1279 Liao Dynasty(i!!):916-1125 Jin Dynasty(~):1115-1234 YuanDynasty<;Cl:1271-1368 MingDynasty('!Il):1368-1644 QingDynasty(i1I):1644-191 1

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A Note on Romanization

This thesis uses thepinyinsystemof romanization.Forreaders unfamiliar withChinese.

some ofthe more problematic sounds represe ntedin this system as follows:

Cispronounced is as in"C3 lS"butappearsasaninitial consonant (asincal.

rhymingwitb"my.")

Qispronouncedch(asinqing.which sounds likedzir.o•rhymingwith"wing.") X ispronouncedsy, asin a palatalized"sb."(E g.•xisounds a littlelikea drawn out"she"withaslight stress ontheinitial"s"beforeit becomes"sh",)

Zislikeds in"rods."

Zhis similar to the "]"in"James,"but diff ers from thesound representedbY"r in pinyin. Zh bas3slightly"rolled"quality.(Zhi.chi. shi sound likezher,char.sher,all rhymingwith "be r." The"i"sound is likeashwa,but the lips are slightlyclosed .) However.BeijingisBei-j ing. notBei-zhing,

Other romanizationsappearon('v·ifusedby a particularauthororspeaker ina quotation.

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Partial List of Readers

The followin gis a listofreaderswho participatedinface-to-faceinterviewsandwho also signed release fonns.Allquestionnai re responseswere anonymous.andthereforethis list representsonly a smal lportionofthetotalnum ber ofreade rs surveyed.See Chapter Two forfurtherinfo rmation.

CHANG Huiching 0iENMeifang CHENYuyuan CHUNG Huiyuan FANGJing HEYubin

"J iangLingyuo"(pseud.) LI Baocheng LIN Meixin(Me;-hsing) L1ULi

LUZhengq i NINGChanglong WANG Yon gji

WA NG Zhon gning XUYinong YANG Meng YINXiangzhe ZHUPeihong

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Introduction

IfIcan"read. Imayfee/chat somethin gismissinginmylife ...ir-tf·'N ltliHl<Il'J$.

.•.that wouldbe likely.Novelsare mydestiny.

·.·i!iil3iiJM'l1r01ii!!l;~.

...my looks are bateful,and my words'tas teless.

...1t7ff'i1'lJlIift.

...too littlenourishmen t.

...

~mz:~

.

... [like('m'''be ggingfor a tasteoflan guage." !

A book bolds athousand stories.and the wa y in whichareader respondstoatext is as individualas taste preferences forfood.Althoughthe metaphorof consumptionasa wayof exploring people ' s experiences ofpopular culturebas many limitatio ns(Re dway (996.

244),Ifounditinte resti ng thatthemostfrequentlyemployedand descriptiv ephrase used bythe Chi nese read ers who part icipated in this st udyto descri beinte nse readin g experiences was".yikouqiduwan " (-O:iimi7'e)."toread allinonebreathor mou thful." Ireturn to this phrase and thepract ic esit signifiesthroughoutthis wor k becausel thinkitsuccinctly capturestbe esse nceofreadingas a sourceofbothprofoun d pleasureandsuste nance.

To put this ano the r way.in popularculture andcult ura lstudiesschola rship . consumptio nand (re jproducti on are twocom monlyemployedme taphorsusedtodisc uss audie nce respon se stopopularentertainments.'InPostmodemismandPopularCultur e.

AngelaMcRobbi earguesthat attentionmustbegivento the ethnog raphicana lysis of

IResponsesfromfourreade rs(QP-OI. QRH-02.QRH-I5 andQRH-16respe cti ve ly) totbe finalquesti on on both thepilot (Q P-xx) an d revisedhandwritten (Q RH - xx) readershipsurvey s.SeeChapterTwoforfurther discussion of quest ionn airetypesand analysi s.

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consumption as necessary reproduction,that is.as work.rather than -or in additionto- leisure (1994. 32).In this thesis.Iinterviewed maleand femaleChinese readers and concentrated primarily on readers'experienceswith and aesthetic attitudes toward popular fiction.generallyreferred toaslongsuxiaoshuo (ii{i'J\1¢t). AsI discu ss laterin this Introductionand particularlyin ChapterTwo.mostof the nearlyeighty readerssurveyed in thisworkare highlyeducated individuals whoare insome way associated with universities and whoconsume andoften produce awiderangeof texts in their everydaylives.Some of thesereaders couldbecall ed "passi ve traditionbearer s"orreaders with an"inactive repertoire"(Goldstein1971 )because , astheyreadilyand rather wistfull y admit, the texts theynow"work with"often demandtheir undividedattention to theexclusionofthose textsthattheyformerlyassociat ed withrelaxationor play,which ofte n took the fonnof popularnovels.However. such novels.even if notactivel yread . still triggermemories.

associations and, moreoften than not,topicsfor current discussionand debate.

Aswith myexperiences ofthe incisive-and undeniably ecnvec- analytical abilitiesof so-ca lled"passivetraditionbearers"inother contextsof narrativeresearch.( was struck by thedepth of readers' insights. recollections andevenemotionalattachments to stories they had notreadforlon g periods.sometimesseveralyears. Justas those who canteUstories may ofte n prefertolet thetalespeak for itself while those who are notrecognized performersmaybeanxiousto explainhow a taleeitherspeakstothemor evenspeaks for thelargercommunity.lsuggest that sometimes thereflective reade rwho deliberates on past experiences has insights that are just asvalidforethnographic inves tigatio nastheavid reader who is activelyengaged withtexts. Certainly.consumption may ormaynotproceed in rapidlyexperience d mo men ts- inbreaths or mouthfuls of text s and meanin gs.

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Nevertheless.production and reproduction. as the inclusiveinscription or reconstitutionof the self in relation to what was read,may take considerably longer.

Furthermore,not iofrequentIy,lthink that the realizationof theseprocessesoccurs in conversation,bothin the evanescent dialoguesbetween friends and associates. aswellas in responsesto the deliberatequeries of the researcher.Thiswork. then.represents readers' storie saboutthebookstheyread.toldagain.asall ethnographiesare to a greateror lesser extent,throughthe observationsof one whoasked and listened and constructeda reading comprised ofothers'readings which inevitablyshaped andguided her own.In this Introduction,[outline the questionsIinitiallybad,thoseIcame to ask,who responded, and how those answers and the additionalquestionsthey ofteninspired were organizedinto the various chapters whichfollow.

Prelimin a ry Thou gh ts ou an Ethnography of Reading

AsI explain in alater chapter,I happened upon the ethnographicimport of thissubject almostby accident:I wasrecording Chinesefolktales,and I knocked over a bag containing the cherishedfinds ofa student's recentforayintothe Chinese languagesectionof thelocal library.He had cometotelt me the stories he thoughtI wantedtohear . and Ileft feeling a greatdesire to know more about the taleshelovedtoread. There wereother incidentsby whichthis topic workeditswayinto my bones -most memorably perhapsa collisionwith a studentinabusyhallway.hisnoseburied in a bookadorned with a paintingofa mountedswordsma n sweeping acrossthecovers.Thebooksthat werethe object of these intense momentsof concentra tion,l later learned.belongedto the genre known asmartial arts fiction.orwuxia xiaoshuo (~£;l~/J"a;t) .and the contemporarynovelssharedalong thematictradition in Chinese literatur e,folklore. as well as the performing arts. But. before

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[ could comprehend these influences and interactions, I had to understand the place of

"popular" entertainments in relation to elite and folk:practices of written and oral traditions in China.l also had to understand the ways in which I approached books.whether as reader or researcher.Clearly.the ways in which my scholarly training had equipped me to approach and understand myself and others as readers would require further refinement and critical reflection when applied to Chinese audiences.

Essentially,this thesis addresses three broad questions:l)how western theories and methodologies can be used to explore reading in Chinese contexts. 2) what the multi- faceted experience of reading means to Chinese readers as a mode of active engagement, that is.what purpose they thinkreading presently serves in theirlives,and 3) bow they feel past reading experiences signified in theirlives,evenif their once regular reading patterns have become sporadicor their tastes radically altered.At the outset. thisworkis an ethnography of non-western reading publicswhich is of necessity partially grounded in traditions of western ethnographic and textual popular culture scholarship.To my knowledge.no comprehensive study of Chinese readership which attempts a cohesive discussion of readers.texts.and contexts existsin English.Itis in this discursive space that my work finds both its greatest challenge and potential contribution.

Because I cannot assume that the kinds of theoretical models which canbeemployed as frames for western readers' uses and aesthetics also hold for Chinesereaders -a point to which I have already alluded.and to which I return to discuss in more detail later- I have had tolook at the various ways Chinese readers themselves conceive of the activity of reading.andthe meaningsand pleasures they associate with it.Where possible.I have tried to linkreading, though a frequently solitary activity in itself. to larger context sof Chinese communication. such as the importance of chat or gossip and speech play within the

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culture. This is especially importantbecause readers ' informal andcandid conversations about books represent colla borative processesthatareat leastas importanttoreade rs' aestheticdevelopment and the shapingof personal read ingrepertoiresas indiv id ual deliberations andreflections over time.

In essence,thisthes is isanethnographyof Chinesereadershipwhichalsolooks at conversation as animportan tsource ofwhat hasbeen call ed"oralliterarycriticis m- (Dundes 1966;Narayan 1995)asculturallyconceivedand expressed as chat (/iaolian[rl.

-I'x, OxJL).2.Ireadilyackno wledge the importan tcontributio nsmadebyHymes' ethnographyofspeaking(1972, 1986,1989),aswellasother studieswhich bring the concernsoffolklore andsociolinguistics to bear on theanalysisof literacy (Szwed1981) and writing (Basso 1989).

However,lhavenot as yet determinedallofthecomplexinteractionswhichmustbe considered in a comprehensive sociolinguisticanalysis of Chinese verbal art. although I suggestthatthiswou ld constitutean extre mely worth while avenueoffutureinquiry, particularly iffocusedona cohesivecommunityofspeakers.AsIdescribe inthe firsttwo chapters,the groupof readers Isurveyed do notconstitutean"audience"in the senseof.

for example.a group of fanswhoregularly come together[0talk about their experiences with particularpopular texts. or to constructnew experiencestogetherthrough collective viewingorreading.

Thoughthisissuewill bediscussedmorethor ou ghl y inthesecondchapter,

r

must acknowledge that thisthesisnegotiates anotherdifficult methodological challenge: except in a few instances.I did notcapture readers'spontaneous conversationswitheach other about books or the processof reading.Even inthose raremoments whenmy ethnog ra phic

2See Link(1985) and Cbapter Sixforfurther discussion.

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prese nce or the formal "purpose"ofthedisc ussion-asroughly"scripted"by readers' attempts tospeaktothevari ousissuesoutlinedon the questionnaires. for example,because they saw this as awell-structured waytoproceedthrou ghthe explicati on ofa complex experience-was ecli psed bythe shee renjoyme ntofcha ttin g about much-lovedbooks. I was observingtheunfoldin g ofacommunica tivecontextinitiallyframed and motivatedby myinquiries.

However , as Ivespoints out,some times...theartificialcontext maybe theonlyone in which youcan gatheryourdata,"andattem pts torecordunfor getta ble butunfor esee n ethnographic momen ts,parti cu larl ythosethat may be shared bymembersof agroup, prese nt myriad techni cal .notto mention ethical .dile mmasforthe researcher(1987 , 56-57.

81).Also,althou ghmanyreaders'comments aboutreadin grefer toa time whentheyread far more extensivelythan theyare now able to ,inmanyrespects theirresponsesexh ibit partic ularnarrativepatt ern s that,thou ghno longe rrepresentative ofpresen t habits,do reveal familiarpast experie ncesoftexts and reading whicb left lastingimpression s.

Toillustra tefurther.Gree nhi ll note dtwo distinc t type s ofna rrat ivesinherstudy of Engl ish immigrantstories,thosethatwere recognizedaspe rsonal experience narrative s, andothe rs sbecalledgeneralizations.Shestated that generalizationnarrati ves:...represent theteller'sperceptionsinsto ried terms,whic hsuggest an extensiverathe rthan a specific application....arec ognizedmode of communica tion.partic ular lyaboutthepast" (1994. 34- 35).In the resea rchI cond ucted,both quest ionna irerespondents and read ers who wer e interv iewed face- to-facemade statements or toldstories aboutsingularlyme morable books orexperiencesthey had,and made moregeneralassertionsdiscussingreading as an activity. orconsideri ng the placeoffictionin Chinese society.However,mostreaders emphas ized theimportant.if somewhatdiscontinuous.role readin gforpleasurehasplayed

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in their lives.and as such I feel that these accounts of past behaviours and attitudes are an importantsource of ethnographicinsightinto presentlyheldbeliefs and aesthetic perceptions.As one woman reader remarked.although she no longerreads once-favo urite authors and genres as intens ively as sheusedto. these experiences influencednotonlythe person she was at that time.but also had.inher opinion.a profound effecton her later personal developm ent .

Readers, Words and the Construct ion ofSto ries About Reading

Asl discu ss inCha p ter Two.seventy-nine readerscontribu teddirectly tothe ethno grap hic data which infonns thisthesis.SomeIintervi ewed face-to-face.others 1 nevermet directlyexce pt throughelec tronic orwritte n correspondence.Themenand womenrange in age from fifteento seventy.and mostare eithe rstudents of higher ed ucatio n.or areemployedasteachersandresearchers. This studyisanethnograph y whichencompasses the com binedinfl uencesofclass.expatriateculture) and the effectsof electroni cmediaon folkloreresearch.

First and foremost.the word s of readers which appearthroughoutthisworkare my bas icethnographic docume nts. They are the oral historie s of readin ginconte mpo rary OverseasChineseculturewhich I havebeen able togather.In many insta nces.readersdid not provide me with a great dealof background inform ationaboutthemselves.even though Ialwaysbegantapedinterviews with theinvitation to doso. Name s.birthplaces.academic maj ors.embarrassedlaughter and sile ncecharacterizethebeginnin gsofmany ofmytapes.

)See Li(1988)and Chan(19831 for discus sionsofChineseexpatriate cultureina Canadian context. Oral historical acco unts include Huangand Jeffe ry(1992)and The Women'sBook Committee(1992).

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As interviews proceed,Ilearn other things:howfor this reader the onlyprivacyinher family wasbetweenthepages of a novel. how forthatone romances makeupin some small,quiet way forthelovehe couldnot experienceas a "re-educated youth."These things are in my thesis.butinevitably.some ofthe silencesremain.

My choiceto incorporate questionnaires into my methodology requires someadditional explanation,especiallysince I collecteddata froma greaterpercentageof respondents by this method than bythe face-to-face interviewmost commonlyemployedbyfolklorists.

The use ofquestionnaires oreven moregeneral"calls for participants"asa precursor to interviews,oras ameans of determiningasampleof respondents whowouldbe willingto beinterviewed at a laterdate.hasbeen used successfullyin studiesof readership(Radway 1987 ; Bird1992).I also agreethat interviews.particularly recordedones,represent ...the besttechnique we have ever had forreaching outintothe greatsilences and makingthem articulate"(lves1987,42),however, thereis also a cross-culturaldimensioninherent in mydecision.Formany readers .thequestionnairefermat provided astructurethat they couldwork within which was perhapslessdaunting thantalking in person toaforeign female researcherabouttextsthat werehighly personally valued,althoughmostreaders were pleasedwiththe fact that I presentedmyselfas a student ofChinesepopularculture whowaswilling tobetaught aboutsuch things.Furthermore.Isuspect thatI was able to reachmore readersthrough the adoptionofa combinedmethodologicalapproach which allowed interestedreaders to choose howthey wantedtorespondthanifI hadrelied on a single technique.

Oftenwhilecollect in g oral narrativesfromChinese peopleaspan ofmy M.A.

fieldwork,Iwouldbetold,priorto theinterview: "Oh. fet me goand prepare,"a statement whichusuallymeantthey wantedtowritesome notes.Frustrate dbythisapparent

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formality,Iwouldrespond that they should just comeandtalkto me.Manydid,however.

some declined andothersfelt obviouslyuncomfortab le-until I"accidentally" provided onesmall group with penand paper duringaninterview whenone individual requesteda clean page in my notebook.Thegroup wrote excitedlyin Chineseover everyblank space on the page -andinall directions-e-turningthebookround androundandpassingthe pen as the co nversationshifted.Tbe resultwasan amazinglyillegibleweb ofmeaning.

punctuatedbythe triumphant scribbles of argumentwhenthe"right word"provedelusive.

and thetape recorded a cacophonyof joyandlaughter.( examined the"notes,"though I confessthat, forme,the event itselfcouldbereadmore clearlythanthe resultanttext,I cameto understand that I couldnothopeto study Chinese culturein away thathono ured thosepeoplewho choseto share it withme if Idid not first acknowledgethe great love these peoplehavefor theirwrittenLanguage,and the factthat,forsomeatleast.thislove and thepowerit hoLds inthe act ofread ingis inseparable fromreproducti onthrou gh writingaswell as conversation.

Question naireswere anonymous,~however.Iincludeda sectionwhere respondents wereaskedtoaprovideadditio nalinformationabout themselves ifthey wished.With printedand/or postedquestionnaires. some read ers wrotepersonal notes.but manywrote nothing.Somereaders'notes onlyapologi zed for not gett ing back tomesooner,as they were busy, thankedme for my interestin a subject theylo ved. orwishedmegoodLuck.

One ... roteatimelyandwell-meani ngadmonition.^.'iInthecaseof manyelectronicsurveys.

~SeeAppendices C-l througbC4forChinesequestionnaires and translations.

ss eeCbapterTwo.

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I had to e-mail peoplewho had returnedmeticulouslycom pleted questionnaires.reaching into theetherwith that timele ssquestion:"Thanks.but...whoareyou?"

Allofthe readerswhoparticipatedhad one thing in common;they all loved certain kindsof books.and many hadmemoriesandideas aboutreading tbattbey noton ly cherished assignifi can t for themselves.but alsowere excited to talk about.I learned tosee thesepeople through the windowsthat they opened for me. through the books and talk and experien ces through whic h they were constructingandreconstructingreadingsoftheirlives sofar.Sometimes.the wind ow sweredifficult to see throughat first."l idushanbojuehen 000, hen zhongyao!" (. (i!;!;/l wfaffl) I1Ur.ljt!liJlf !•)"Jesus-mounsaln -eari is verygood.veryim po rta nt!"one readersaid repeatedlyinatapedinte rview.fcouldnot figure outwhatbe meantuntilIrealizedthat TheCountof MonteCristowas probablythe first pieceof translatedficti onhe was able to read after theCulturalRevolution.At the time Icond ucted theinterview.bewould haveread that book almosttwenty years ago .

Also. akeyfeature of thisthesis.the impo rtanc e ofexami ning readers'repertoiresand habits ove r timeandpayingattentionto what reederssayabout past reading experiences.

requiredthat I broadenmy underst anding of context.Formanyreaders. the truly sign ifican t books were firstreadsomeyears ago .but the reflectionsdeepenedand clarified onlymuc b la ter.I returntothis ideain theConc lusio n. butthe lou dest andclearest thoughts arethoseinscribed upon a quiet beart.

Certainly.thereaders in thisthesisgenerallycome fromthe stratumof contemporary Chinese society wbicbhas a voice.I do not offerthisthesis asa reflectionofwide spread Chinese working-cla sscult ure.the popula r tradition s of mode m ruralpeasants.or thelas t word insubversive, unofficialliteracyof anyparticular Chinesecommunity.Basi cally,this studyreprese ntsthe bringingtogether of the opinionsofseve nty-nine intellectuals.allof

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whom are Chinese and all of whom have beenaway from their respectivehomelands for some time.However . as the contemporary disciplinehas movedwell beyondnarrow definitions of"'the folk."the samplecom positiondoes not detractfrom thepotential contribution of this ethno graphy.Although theseareseventy-ninepeoplewhocannotbe said toberepresentative ofall of Chinesesociety-orindeed.of allor anyof the very diverse Chinesesocieties throughoutthe world- they are.as farasIhavebeenableto conclusively discern .all people who Deverspoke to a westernerabout fiction either written and/ordiscussed in their ownlanguage before.

Secondly.I wantto say somethingaboutthe texts about whichreadersspeak. Through outthethes is.I referto certaingenres andsometi mesindivid ual work s as

"popular" or"vernac ular" fiction/literature.or as belongingto"popular" traditions.A certain degree ofclari ficationis required astowhat1 mean by thoseterms.Concerning

"popular." 1 referessentiallyto Williams' sconceptionof"the culture actuallymade by peopleforthemselves " (1983.237).Indeed.this ethnograph ydiffersfrom otherstudiesof popularaudiences(Redway1987.20-37;Link1985.1981.79-118)becauseIdo not deal with publishingorestimatedsales.Essentially.the people wbc participated in my study reliedon inform aldistribut ion channels whichare verydifficult to docume nt.Inthe majorityofinstances.reade rsstated thatthey obtained novelsfromthefollowing sources.

in descendi ng orde roffreque~cyandimpo rtance:friends.family. classmates or

colleagues.libraries.bookrentalshops (these appea r tobe more commonin Taiwan ).

onlinesitesandbookstores.

Furthermore.Isus pect thatthese channe lsare notrestricte dtothis group.but reproduce.tosomeextent.moregeneralpatternswithinChinese readership.WhileI would notsay thattheshari ngof books and magazinescarries the same connotations asthe

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sharing offood inChineseculture. I suggest thatit can be anotherwayfor peopleto reinforce relationships andshare points of mutualinterest.Theissueofborrowing.and the social connections andoppo rtunities fortalk:about novels thatthis practice implies. is addresse dlaterin thethesis.Paradoxi callyperhaps.man yofthe expat riateMainland Chinese readersdiscussed in thesechaptersprobablyhave a greater diversity of potential circulationchannelsforpopularfiction.as wellas greateraccess tothevarious meansof distributionthan their counterpartsin China.although readersin China would likely have more access toother types ofmaterialspublished in Chinese.

Thirdly ,myuse of theword"vernacular"followsHanan's(198L,5,15-16,20-21) assertion that the vernacu laraslanguageand modelforauthors offictionsubsumes a numberofstylesand mediatesbetweenClassical Chinese andoralstorytelling models, combiningandreworkingeleme ntsof elite andfolk cultureina newsynthesisof written fonn and content. Insomerespects."vernacularliterature"reflects someofthenuances attached to"popular" interms of composite styleswhichcan havewidespre ad audience appeal."Vernacularliterature"asa labelmaybeapplied totraditionalnovels suchasWater Margin(Shuihu zhuan,(*~1lJ».aswell as contemporary novels whichare written withsimilar attentiontosuch features as episodic,"chapter-driven" structureandthe useof everydayspeech stylesin character dialogue.Chinese vernacular fictionis discussedlater.

howev er.the essentialpointtoremember,accordingtoHananisthat"the Classical is conciseandthevernacularexpansive.specifying relationships thatare merely understood in the Classical"(16).

Aside from the definitionsusedinChinese literary studies.Ithink that tbe distinction put forward byNarvaez of vemacu larsongas"asectorof aestheticdevelopment and social practice"whichincorpo rates the conceptofa"cultureofplace"isalsouseful for this

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ethnography (1995.215).Although many of the novelsreaders discuss are so widely known they cannot be said to belong to any regional culture.people often find familiar landscapes which contribute not only to their personal enjoyment of abook. but also to the stories theylatertell about it,

Finally,Ishould outline the process by which I constructed readers'texts.First,these areliteral texts,either from questionnairesor transcribed from taped interviews.Chapter Two givesa more detaileddescriptionof the stages of analysis,but Ishould perhaps mention herethat mostreaders'responses wereinChinese.I therefore present excerpts in bothlanguages.Because mostOverseas Chineseexpatriatesare familiarwithat least oneof the two characterscriptsystems currently inuse in variouscountries.eIconsistently representwritten responsesinthe same script as the original.In keepingwithconvention.I render book titlesand propernamesin traditionalscript.

Speechexcerpts are mostoften presented insimplified text.a cho icewhichprimarily reflects certain technical itiesof thein-text Chineseword processingsystemI use. Ona related note. Chinese quotesand translationsessentiallycoverthesame spokenexcerpts, exceptin cases wherethispose s considera bletechnicaldifficultyin presentation. suc has displayand printingproblems whichare associatedwith multiplelan guage-fontchanges.

With somelongChinese quotes,Isummarize the content of elidedspeech in square bracketsand elaboratein theEnglish excerpt.Also, the transcript notation tingdun

«

~

~jf> )signifies a pauseinspeech.andbu qingchu« ~tR ~> )means simply "unclear,"

In the interestsof bothClari tyfor scholarsoutside Chinesestudies and concernfor the integrityofreaders'comments,1use underlinedtextin square brackets to indicate material

6Tb.ese are known as traditional andsimplified.Their featuresand distributionare explained more fullyinCbajxer Twcand AppeodixA.

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added to clarify a referent.or to marie placeswhereIasked questionswhich initiated a changeor elaboration oftheprecedingtopic. Underlinedletters notinbrackets aremyown insertions in order toclarifycertainorthographic errors which occur in Englishresponses on handwritten or electronicquestionnaires.1use this method over the options ofeither[he more intrusive[sic1or leaving suchoversights intactwhen they mightbe unnecessarily visua lly disconcertingforthereader.Finally. unlessrespondentsspecified aWesternized nam e as[heirpreference.Chinese readers'names acegive n withthelastnam efirst. in capitals.'

Chapter Overview

Thisthesis is concernedwitha hol istic synchronic and diachronic analysis of texts and peopleand thesocialand historicaltraditions in whichthey are located and throughwhich theymeaningfull y interact. Thatis.Iam con cernednot only with contemporarygenres -mart ialarts.romanceand dete ctive fiction . forexampl e - butalsowiththe earlier ge nericantecedents from suchsourcesas classical literatureand folklorewhich mayobtain inthesepopulartexts at aparticularpointin history. orin the mindofaparticu lar reader.

Also.Iaminterestedinthe wayspeople relate theactivityof readingand the associatio nsit prod uces atany given mo men ttotheir larger belief syste ms and repertoires ofexpressive behavio ur.

Itsho uldbeunderstood .however.thatexpressivebehav iour asIintendithere does not onlyrefertodemonstrabl e perfo rma nces.suchas when friends use textstheyconsume

Tfapes numbers used in thethesisrefer tomy own class ificati on syste m.My collectio n of tapes and question nair eswillbedepositedinthe Memorial Universityof Newfo undland Folklore and Langua geArch ivependingthesuccessfu l completionof thisthesis.Certai n access restrictionswillapply.

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as structural frames and subjectsfor conversationand play (Bacon-Smith1992, 152-57).It also signifies.like the sometimes discontinuousrelationshipbetweenconsumption and production.animpressiv e orinscriptive dimensionaswell.One malereader.talking about his early"'addicti on"to the experience of reading fictionasa youngboyduring the Cultura l Revolution (1966-1976)and theregret that he felt when he realizedtherewas muchin life he had not experienced.a loss he attributedin part to a beliefthat hehad not readas widelyas hesho uld have.orwould have liked.putit thisway:

HVB:Ithink. to appear[discover! thesoci ety.to begin withyou havetoread novels.just like you read history,readhistory.Ifeel any novel is partially true, there must besome truth.must be something useful.And mostimportant thing is:if you don'tfeel the Dovelis particularlygoodor helpful.that doesn'tmeanit isnot helpful.You mayfeelIater. you mayfeel later.a

Essentially,Ithink that for many of the Chinese readerswhotook partin this study, readingforpleasure ismorethana solita ry activityfrom which a few momentsof diversion are derived.Rather.it representsa co mplex .conrarual relationshipbetweenreaders. writte n andincip ientorpotentialverbal texts.bothspoken and unspoken.whichfonns an integralpart of eachreader' sreality.How that reality changesover time-e-whicbparts are shar ed,with whom , and in whatways- alsoinform sthescopeandintentofthiswork.

The specifictopicsadd ressedin each chapter arcoutlined in thedescriptionswhich follow.

Cha pte r Oneprese ntsadiscu ssionof Chi nesepopula r culture.with emphasis on Chinese popular literatu re and fiction.The long-standing,dynamicinterchange between oral and written.elite and folk traditionsisconsidered.asisthehistori cal importanceof the vernac ularlanguage as a mediumforpopularprintedtexts.Also.thischapter conside rs

"genre"asapotentiallyfluidconstruct whichsignifies notonly anide ntifiable fiction al

SHE Yubiu,interview.24 Aug 1995. Tape T95HYBa...()9.

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form which has a particular plot content"structureandrange of character-types,but also a medium that is capable ofborrowing fromother genres,aswell asresponding toreaders' usesand modes ofdistribution.Furthermore,justas anyhistorical.diachronic study of Chineseaudiencesmustconsidersuch factors as levelsofliteracy,sotoo any synchronic study of contemporaryreadershipmust considerindividual readers'levelsofexpertise with specific kindsof texts.Essentially,a concernwith oral and written forms.receptiveliteracy and reading repertoireandgenres -traditions. communities.individual readersand texts- providesa kind of broad paradigm which subsumesandstructures theremainingchapters.

Cha pter Twoprovidesa detailedreadership profile and deal swith the issuesof methodological constraints and researchdesign.Basic technical questionsdealing with online fieldresearcharealso addressed.s ChapterThree explores readers'uses and aesthetic discriminationsregardingtheir generic preferencesand aversions. One ofthe specific aesthetic concerns detailedin thischapter is readers'insistencethatgoodfiction, howeverfanciful,must maintainasolid connectiontoplausiblereality.This chapter also examin es such complexquestionsasfanidentity among Chinesereaders,readingfor escape andinstruction,the compensatory aspectsofpopularliteratureconsumption,aswell as the phenom enon of addictiv e readin gpattern s.Desp ite the shortcomin gs of functionalismas a theoreticalapproach (Oring 1976),I argue inthis cbapter thatBascom's functionsof folklorecanbeusedasaframeworkforunderstanding someof thecentral usesandoutcomes ofthereadingprocess.

ChaptersFourand Fiveconsiderthe specificgenresofmartialarts,romanceand detectivefiction.I must stressthat these analysesbasicallyreproduce the quantitative distributi onof reader preferencesdelineated in my survey, which showed a predominant

sseealso Appendi xA.

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emphasisOnmartial artsfiction.I do not intend that romance and detective fictionshouldbe seen as genres of lesserimportance to their respectiveaudiences.Myemphases reflect the proportionsofvario usgro ups ofreaders.For reasonswbichI discussinsubsequent chapte rs.myresearchdesignlikelyencouraged areadershipsamplewhich contain ed a predominance of martial^artsfiction enthusiasts. However.since I am unaware of any published ethnographie s of Cbi nese fiction readers inEnglish.Isuggest thattbis study begins torectify alarger imbalanceinpopularculture studies,even though Iacknowledge thatthere aremany issuesofrelevanceandinterest to cross-cultural audience studieswhich I cannotadequately addressin thissingle work.Some of thesekey areas,including [he need formorein-depth ethnographic studyofChineseromance and mystery readers.are discussed in the Conclusion.

Chapters Fourand five identify earlierpopulartext and performancetraditionswhich havecontributedto orsignificantlyinfluenced the themesandlorcharacter-typesfoundin the contempo rarygenres.In addition,Iexplore importantsimilaritiesand differences betweenChineseand westernchivalric.rom.anceand detective fiction.notingsuch things asthe waysin which differencesin worldvieware expressedinsuchareasasplot and the cultural constructionoftheprincipalheroor heroine. as wellas theimportance,particularly inmartial artsfiction.ofthe subculture andsetting-awo rld ofintrig ueand infamy beyond thebordersof ordinarysociety-c.DOlunlike the"greenwood"of the ballador Medievaltale(Keen 1987.1·2).

Chapter Six looks atthe phenomenonof"chat" or"gossip"asacommunica tivefonn among Chinesepopular fictionreadersthat.in a numberofimportant respects .cutsacross linesofgenderandgenre in theways readers useit to enhanceand extend the pleasures of thetext.Furthermore.I lookat how male and femalereaders approachand deliberately

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challenge and renegotiate the boundaries of traditiooally gendered notions of"mascul ine"

or "feminine"fiction.thatis. how male readersconstruct readingsof the"inner" world of romance no vel s, and how womentraversethe"outer,"orperhapsmore precisely. the overtlymasculine reversible worldofthe martialartsnovel which.as Liunotes.manifests its own distinctiveinternalor inward-focused logic (1967.130).

Finally.I wanttopoint out aseries of Appendicesat the endof the main bodyofthis work.Inparticular,Appendix Aexami nes electronicresourcesand Internet communities associated with popularculture in general.andmartialartsfictionin particular.including texts forreading,nicknamingand humour foundonnew sgro ups and fantasyrole-playing sites.Thisdiscu ssiondrawson some of my mostrecentworkin progresswhich was undertaken concurrentlywith this thesis.

Althoughsome oftheSUbtopicsin Appendix Aappe ar at first glance tangential to a discus sionof Chinese popular fiction. a number of importantcontributionsare madeto the thesis as a whole.Among otherthings.I expl orethe increasing num ber of martialarts fictionrole-playing sites whichare beingdeve loped by and forfans ofthis genre.lu additio n. Iexami neChinese electro nic magazi nes publishe dinCanada whose exist ence fu rth er hi ghligh tstheim portance ofserializati on to Chinesereading public s.and demonstrateshow thislongs tandingprocessof textual distribution hasbeen adaptedtothe electronicmedium.Mostimportantly.my researchintoaspects ofChinese Internet culture providedmewith context sthrough whichto address someof themethodolo gical challengesandsolutions foregroundedinathesis00this subj ect. Specifically.through my othe r fieldw ork Iwas abletodevelop and refin e onlineinterviewtechniquesaswell as Chi oeselang ua ge questionnaire distribution,twofacetsofmyfield research whichwere extre mel ysignifi cant tothecollectionof my field data.AdditionalAppendicescontain lists

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of useful Internet resources.as well as copies of my pilot and revised questionnaires. with translations.

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Chapte r One: Chinese Audiences and Popular Texts

1.1 Introduction

In thischapter. I examine some keyfacetsof the historical relationshipbetween Chinese audien ces and popular te xtsand performances.As Bennettbas observe d.thevery words"a udie nce" and"text"are themselvesrepletewithpro blematicnuances forcultural studies scholars.drawing as theydoon not ionsof hierarchicall y-orderedface-to-face communicatio nand a residual. but enduring.literarybias inscholarship(1996. 145-46).

Furthermore,he arguesthataudienc escanonly reallybeconfi gured fortheirparticular moments.andthatthestudy of"active audiences"must alsobeunderstoodasa formof pedagogicaland politicalrepresentationdesignedtode monstra te notsomuch real readers' acti vities asthe waysin which people.relati vetoliterary orsociologicalconstructionsof audience s"areto be.soto speak.activated"(148- 50.italics added).Along relatedlines.

Redwaymaintai~sthatwhiletbeycanbe powerful media in themselves.especiallyfer class roo mapplication. genre-basedstudies ofaudienc emay also presenta misleading pictureof a"sta blesubj ect" whoseactivitiesare reducedto a strai ghtfo rward engagement with med ia in a cycl eofproductio nand con sum ption whic hrisks overlysimplistic categoriza tion:"Tropedtoo crudelyasa kindof corporeal or physicalactivi ty.whetheras passiveingestionor creativelabor uponrawmaterials.mediauseisthere by simplified asa linearprocess of receptionand response" (1996. 244).

WhileIagreethat ..the audience"as a discursiveconstruction isnecessarily historica lly delimitedandsignifies acertain politics ofethnographic and/ortheoretical representation.

and thatthe proce ssesof productionand con sumpt ionareneitherlinearnor adequately

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portrayedbyphysiologicalmetaphors.I thinkthat topostulate"fragmentary," "nomadic"

or"shifting and unstable-subj ects is. insome ways.to confuse the peoplewe study with the perspectives we adoptand reject in ourevolving perception of them. andthe kindsof narratives we maycreateas a result.Thatis netto say thatpeople are static. or that they conveniently pose forthe ethnographicrecord. Rather.individuals'actions.beliefsand statements.ho wever seeminglycontradictory or transitory.createakindofrepertoireof everyday perfo rmances whose unity is supplied and reworkedby each personin response to changingneeds andcontexts . !o Forfolklorists.understandingthesepatternsand appreciatingthe historicaland social cooditionsunder which they changeis a critical focus ofourethnographicwork. and onethataddsan importantdimension to current researchin cultural studies and popularculture -a point towhichJ will return laterin thisthesis.

Forthe purposesof thisdiscussion. I present an overview of some ofthe central forces involved in thesha ping of Chinese popularentertainments.and particularlypopular literature and its diversecommunitiesof readership .Specificall y.l suggestthatan unde rstandingof contem poraryChinese populartextsand theirread ers requiresa historicallygro undedconsideration ofthreeinterrelatedissues.Thefirstofthese isthe iruerplayotoralandwritt entraditions inChinesepopularculture.The secondinvolves a corresponding appreciation oflevelsa/receptive literacyandsocialaccess10texts. notani)' forreading.butalsooftenforthe creationof writtenworksthrough variousformsof commentarywhichmaylikewiserepresent an elaborationof verbaltextsgenerated through formalandinformal discussion. Finally.becauseas Narvaezobserves:"texts..•always possess thepotentialof beingextricatedfromtheirsocialmatrice s"(1992.16).Isuggest

IOSee Green(1987),Press(1996 ) andAng(1996) forfurth er discussion of these ideas.

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that genres shouldbethoughtof asnot oolykindsorclasses of popular texts withcertain definingfeatures.but alsoadaptable textual masksor fonns which aresubj ect to transformation by audiences' uses and methodsof distribution.

The dynamic interrelationship betweenorality.literacy (asa featureof both textsand audiences)andgenres also extendsto the synchronicdimensionof thisinqui ry.More precisel y,the questionof exchange between oraland written cultures can be subsumed into an understanding of"vernacular."asbothlanguage(where appropriate )and dialectuse innovels,IJand in the conceptionofcertainaspects of popularliterature as a systemof narrativestrategies and formul aswhicb areemployed to createstructureswhichnot only mediate betweenelite and folktradition s.butwhichalsopresent original.workable solutions to particularneedsor questionswithina communityataspecific historical moment.tz

Secondly, "literacy" amo ng contemporary fiction readerscan beunders tood as individ uallevelsofexperie nceorexpertisein reading a parti culargenre,or acrossa samplingofseveral genres.dependingon reader preferences.Finally."genre"canbe thoughtof notonlyasthe predominan tsetofformulaswhichhistoricallydefineafictional form.forexam ple,Chinesechivalric fictionas an adventure genre.but alsoas thepoints at whichdefinitions blur.andbounda ries cross. that is."genre"as a netwo rkof interrelated

lilt shouldbenoredthatnot all popularflctioniswrittenin what hascometobeknown

as-the vernacular." orbaihua(8~)in the strictestsense.In fact. somepopularfiction.

such asromancespublished in the earlydecade s of thiscentury in urban centres suchas

Shanghaifavouredamoreallusiveliterarystyle in directreaction to the proposed reforms adv ocat ed byMay Fourth writers.See Link(1981) andChow (t99l) fo rfurther discussion.Also.some reade rsenjoy"departures"fromtheirown usualvernacular.in the forrn of representationsof Taiwanese or otherdialectsin characters'dialogue.forexample.

l2See alsoDeetz(1m?,92-93).

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fOnDS ofcomm unication whichcanshare.thoughnotnecessari lyduplicat ein arrangement oremphasis.thematicandlorstylistic content.Indeed.Harrissuggests thatthisflexibility ofoperatio nal defi nition has come toreflecttheprevailing viewofconce ptof"genre"as seenin contemporary folklore studies (1995.509 -10).

Itis certainly truethat a detailedconsiderationof thesefactorscouldnotbeprofita bly undertak en inanyserious attempt to recreate theexactfolkloricor literaryprovenance ofa given classoffiction or torender a precise historicalaccount ofthe composition.tastes and attitudesoftheforebearsof conte mporaryaudie nces.That provisonotwithstanding, howeve r.I amof the opinionthatresearchof thisnatureisusefulas ameans of placing textsand theirreaders withinalarg er traditionofstorycreationandtransmission.serial publication and, most importantly .audiencereceptionandparticipatory cultu reinChina.

1.2 PopularTradition: The Interplay ofOrality and Literacy

Because theyare frequentlybothinvolvedin transmission.manyfolkloristshave emphasizedthe need to consi der printed aswellas oralversionsinthe ana lysisof traditional texts.whether ballads (Duga w 1984 ) orbelief narratives (Danielson (979 ).The

study of Chinesepopulartraditionsforegroundsthis interaction(0aneven greater degree

becau se of thelongstand inginfluence of theoral andwrittendomainsonvernacular literature.Histo rically.the site ofexchangebetweenfolkandelite worldview sin China.as withcultureselsewhere.is popularculture.Popularmediamanifes ttheabilitytonegotiate thetwo spberesand to transcend.oftenwithconside rable though not completelymutua l

success.theconstraints ofliteracy.class. genderandgeo graphy whic hshap ethem.

Speakingofvernac ular fictionwhich developed frombianwen(~X).cyclesofheroic

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stories which had become establishedas a writtenpopular genre by the ninth and tenth centuriesA.D,.Johnsonstates:

...it wasnot typicall yintended foranarrow audience of sophisticate s.Moreover. it

combinedeliteandfolktraditions. justasthe pien -wenhad.and therefore it played a powerfulrolein bridgingthe gap between therulersand the ruled bybringing ideas andattitudesofeachgroupinto a newform whichcould appeal to both (1980. 505).

Similarly,in his"Notes⁰⁰ChineseStory-Tellers,"Eberhard illustrated thedifferent ways storytelle rsand puppet eersinTaiw anused and re-wo rked printed texts inthe ir performances,telling storiesdrawn from episodes from well-known classical and historical novels.elaborating orshortening them accordingtoskill level and aestheticpreferenc es.

perceptionsofaudience reactions.andother performance relatedfactors (1970), Fromasomewhat differentangle.thereisan enduri ngdebateamong literaryscholars astowhethercertain literary genresand particular classicalworks have theiroriginin some sortofancient"promptbook"storytelli ng tradition.For example. the provenance of both the vernacular shortstoryorhuaben(~*)and theearly novel orpinghua (3J!if&) representcontroversialSUbjects for contemporaryspecial istsstudying pre-twentieth centu ry Chinese literature,Specifically.theoristshave concerned themselves with the question of to what extent thesegenrescanbesaid tomanifestconn ectionsto Son g(960-1279A.D.) storytelling traditions and Yuan (1271-1368 A.D.)dram atic cycles. Scholars suchasLu

Xun(1976. 131-1.42)andCh'en Shou-Yi (1961. 466-67),support the hypothesisthat the

shortstory derive smuchof its structure and earlythematiccontentfromoral traditionand theuse of promptbooksby sto rytellers. ta althoughwriterslater deliberatelyexploited certainaspectsofstorytellingstyle in theirliteraryworks.

13Eberhardalso holdsthis viewofthehistorical functionandoriginof huaben(1970.

I).

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Conversely.C.T.Hsia 0968,. 7-9.11-12)suggests that afterthe publication oflate Mingwriter Feng Meoglong's<iI.&Jtft.1574-1646) principal col1ectionsofsho rtstories.

oral tradition -with its emphasis on didacticismand retributionand fateastheoverriding mechanisms of causalityand explanation in the narratives .likelystemm ingfrom an ancestryshared firstwithrecitersof Buddhistsermo ns and later withperformers of elaborated popular histori es(Ch'en 467:Hsia11)- had little lastinginfluenceon written literature.except perhaps as a distantformal traceor model(Hsia 9;Hanan1981. 5-6. 55).

Infact, somescholarsassert that..the storyteller's manner'lt-t emplcyedbycertain authors such as Feng Menglong,was a consciouslycultivatedliterary device almostfrom its adoption, or perhapsIshould sayinception.into written conven tion (Idema 1974,3. 35- 36) , and not proofof the oral and professional originsof theChinesevernacu larstory at all.butratherproofagainstsucha lineage.

Iderna further argue sthat althoughwrittenstories might borrowfromfolk cultural themes.just asthey mightborrow from other classicalor colloquialliteraryforms(xix ), thereis content and formal evidence -aswellashistoricalrecordsindicatin gthat most performers duringthe Songand Yuanperiods would havebeentrained orappre nticedin thestorytellingprofessio n because blindness would haveprecludedthem from other work, and illiteracyfromothereducationalopportunities.and alsotherefore, frompreparin gtheir performancesfrom a text-tosuggestthat earlyvernacularstories were not storyteller's scripts. Moreov er.he finds that the characterizationof early vernacularfictioninthese termsdetract edfromitsassessmentas a"serious genre"not bound bytheconstraintsof

t-tldemasummarizes the"storyteller'smanner"as a complexofliteraryconceitsusedin thewritin g of somevernac ular fictionwhichinclu dedsuch features as: chapter-driven structureandtheuse ofopening prefacesandsuspenseendings.presence of"oral"tenns suchasidioms and proverb ialphrase s,use ofsetdesc riptive piecesthat were generally poetic innature,and theinsertion of didacticcommentbytheautho r(1974.70).

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oral compositionand formula and worthyof Iiteraryattention(xii-xvi,77-78 ,87).Bythe same token, whilecolloquial fiction'sconnection tooral literaturemayoot beas strongas scholarsonce believed,Idemaacknowledgesthatitislikewise not true that thereisno relati o nshipbetween thetwo realms of communi cation,and tha twe reallyknow comparativelylittleabout thestorytellingprofessioninancient China(xiii-xiv),

As abrief asidetothediffering view s regardi ngthesourceoftheopen-ended storyteller's closing: "$ .l!• . . !l.PJfl'"@J~fIIIt· ("(n the final analysis...[u...!2 know what happened to so-a nd·soJ,you'll have tohearthenextchapter forthe expianationjlSanditsuseinwritten work. Chowcites its convenienceas astructuringand suspense-building deviceinserialized romancefictionpublished in newspapers inChinain the earlydecades of thiscentury. Regardless of exactly which sideofthe communicative fence it grew up on,oral orwritten, shecites its utilityasagambitto hook readers andsell papers:

Themostinterestingaspect ofsuchserializationisthat it happilycoincidedwitha

.traditional storytelling device which haditsoriginsinaformof Buddhist sermon

thatwaspopularin theTang Dynasty(AD618-907)and which manyButterfly writerstestill used.Thisdevicewasan expression that badbecome identifiedwith thetraditionalstoryteller'smannerisminthe 'Iiaked-chapter'form•.•:'Ifyouwish toknowwhat happens next.youarewelcometohear mynext exposition.'Thus a modemcommercial gimmi ck founditsprecursor fantasti cally,inan outmoded culturalpractice(1993,478-79).17

rsfbereare variations to thisformula,butbasicallyit reflectsthereader'sor audience's desire to"know whathappe ns next."and then directsattention tothe readingor"hearing"

of thenext section.

16Autbo rsof apopular fonn of romancefictionknown asthe "Mandari n Duck and ButterflyScbool."SeeChapter Five forfurther discussion.

rrl'heitalicized insertionin theabove quoteappearsin the author'soriginal text,

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How ever.even though the oral frameof the storyte ller 'scoda.whichresem bles what a stre etor market performer might say in orderto enticeaudiences to stickaround or rerum the nex tday (an dpay) foranotherinstall me ntof acompelli ng tale.is now gene rally acce ptedas one ofthe conventional markers of literarypracticeinverna cularnovels that favour a"chapter-driven"(:./umghui.:JJ:lm),episodi cformat.[ think that the assertion that FengMengl ongmarkedthe endofany sign ifican tinflue nceoforal traditions on written onescould bechalle nged by citing the subsequent workofcertainauthors .Specific ally.the seventeenth-centuryauthorPuSongling(mi~It).whoseStrangeTalesFrom a Make-Do Studio(LlaoZhaiZJriYi. (IMJiftS:Jt))contai ns not onlya numberoftales with motifs fromfolk rradition.tebutalso was cite d byseveralofthe readers in mystudy asa forerunnerof detectiveandmysteryfictiondue to the underscoringin many of the narratives ofsupernaturalor fantastic occurrencesor allusionsto real-worlddeceptionsand theirexplanation.as wellas a conce rnwithjusticeand theunjustnature of muchof daily life inhumansociety.

Additi onall y,despitethe observa tion thatPuSon glin g's suppose dly closeconnection to ..thefolk"whilecollectingand shapingthe stuffofhis storiesmayinde ed be"nothin gbut a legend"(Lu1976.256),Zeitlin obse rves thataJ thou gh as the"Historianof the Strange"Pu Songlingwassituating himselfwithina particularliterary and histori ogra phic tradition.his writingsdealtwithmatt ers of"unoffi cialorleft-ov er history,"subjects that wouldhave

18See thetranslationby Mair andMair(1989).Inparticular.the prevalen ce offox fairy storiesand their relationshipto folkbeliefand narrative(see also Eberha rd 1986. 117-18:

Jameso n 1984.413~14)is worthyofDote.Inaddition.as further evidencethat oral-literary borrowing couldgobothways.Jdernanote s thatstoriesfromPu Songlin g'scollectio n had beenworked in to the repert oires of nineteenth century storytellers,espe ciall y around Beijingand Tianjin (1974.xix).

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been narrative content notonlygermane to the folklore of his day.but alsoappropriateand topical material for suchgenres as travel-writing (1993 . 4, 46) .

Taken together.these issues,whilehistoricall ysignificant forliteraryscholars.are less important to folklorists thananappreciation of thedynamic natu reoftheexchange of elite andfolk cultural elements in popular literature,since"mo re oftenthannot, they [oral and writtentraditionsI influence and draw oneachother,"(Wang 1988. 839).Moreo ver.there isalsotextual evidence tosuggest that in certain instances.as Mclarenfoundwith the relationshipbetween earlycasuefables and theclassicalnovel,TheR011UUlce oftheThree Kingdoms (Sanguo:hiyanyi,(=~;siiirii» ,the earliest written versions of some narratives mayhave incorporatedconsiderable materialfromoral tradition.These werelater edited...to conformwiththeconventions of historiography"(1985,162).Itshould be noted,however. thatMclarenalso suggests thatin genericform.thesefifteenth century printedcanJefables probably boreaclose r resembl ancetobroadsidesthanstorytelling scripts(170 ).Also,althoughthefirstprintedexample s may haveemergedin thefifteenth century. certainaspectsofthe storyanditsprincipalcharacterswouldhave circulated in oral traditionmuch earlier.

In sum,Chinesepopularculture'senduringand apparently limitlesscapacityto bridge seemingly dispara teworlds andborrow fromeach in the creationof new textsand entertainmen ts alsoaccords withsc holars ' de scriptions of thetransmi ssion and developmen t of such varied narratives inwestern culturesand periodsascontemporary legends about fami liarconsumerproducts (Smith 1991). and theintertextualreprod uction andsubversionofmedievalhierarchiesin the competitivespeecbplay and festive spectacle ofChaucer'sCante rbury Tal es(Lindahl1987).Sometimes . however,the wide appealof the popular couldbe seen assubversive tosocialhiera rchiesbeyondthetext aswell.as

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Levinefound in his analysisof Shakespeare in America. Once the populardomain·of

"low"1 working-class audie nces(though someperiod commentatorsdescribed in Levine's study seemedjustbarely incli nedto admit this designationintheir descriptions of the deportment of the general public),Shakespeareandrama,like opera. becamea vehicle of bourgeoisvaluesand sensibili tie saroundwhich the working-classaudience could be reconstituted.cultured and ultimatelyexcluded from both the middle-class patron'sview -and eventual ly- from the experience of viewingShakespeare altogether(1988,3~33, 78-79).

Inasimi lar vein,asresearchinto popularpracticesfrom religiousbeliefs and expre ssivebehavioursin pre-industrialEurope(Burke 1978;Brandes 1990,(86-87).to the disseminationof literaryandprintmaterialsinMingChina(Johnson 1985,37-39) shows.I want tostress that the processesof exchange between the"Great" and"little"

traditions which infonned Chinese popular culture - though vigorous-werebynomeans entirelyand equallyreciprocal throughout China'slongwritten and oral history.In the next sectio n,Iexamine theissuesof receptive literacy and accessmore closely.in orderto develop a clearer idea of who historicallyhad accessto what texts,what form theytook, and howtheywereused.

1.3 Reception , Literacy and Access

Priortotheemergence of earlymass-publishingof newspapers and otherserialsin China,a phenomenon which seems to havegathered momentumin the lastquarter of the lSOOsandespeciallyjustbefore the tumof the centuryin respon seto rapidly changing politicalandeconomic realities(Lee and Nathan1985.36 1-66).there were a Dumberof popularprinttraditionswhich significantly predated the establ ishmentof the serialpressas

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