POLITICAL PROTEST & WRITING IN CHINA IN 1980S.   Term Paper ID:26274 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Examples & impact of literary & intellectual efforts on social unrest in decade. Paper Introduction: The 1989 Democracy Uprising in China, which was so brutally repressed in the Tiananmen Square massacres, followed patterns of civil protest that had been enacted several times before in the twentieth century. And, like previous protest movements, the Pro-Democracy Movement had its roots in imaginative literature and the discourse of intellectuals which drew on and, in turn, shaped popular feeling. But the 1980s were also different from other periods in which protest arose because the so-called Literature of the New Era was more easily disseminated (even being published in some newspapers), because the film and television media were employed, because artists of many kinds reflected the liberalizing trend of the decade in their work, and because growing popular subcultures such as rock music aided in spreading the general call for reform. In addition to the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Ed. The film, which received internationaldistribution, offered a critique of rural conditions while also remainingloyal to Chinese notions of the culture's resilience in the figures ofpeasants who were ignorant and crude, "yet also strong, patriotic, and ableto bear great hardship" (Li 234). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1991. That protest movement had begun as a demonstrationagainst the government's acquiescence in the terms of the Versailles treaty(which robbed China of territory) and expanded into "an encompassingcritique of the traditional values that underlay corrupt warlord politics"(Schwarcz 171). Democracy" and "Mr. The film Red Sorghum, for example, was setjust before World War II and focused on the brutality and superstition ofthe uneducated villagers and their primitive, but passionately patrioticresponse to the Japanese invaders. The desire for change had been expressed by popular demonstrations aslong ago as April 1976 when crowds gathered in Tiananmen Square,"ostensibly to pay homage to Zhou Enlai" who had recently died (Barmй andMinford n. Inconsistencies in official policy throughout the198 s led to occasional windows of opportunity that were seized by theartists, students, intellectuals, and others involved in the growing demandfor a more open China. The story's literary merit was limited but interest was high andthe Literary Gazette, a Shanghai newspaper, was emboldened to print it--andreceived nearly a thousand approving letters in response. But with the death of Mao and the arrest ofChiang Qing and her Gang of Four a few months later the Party then"declared the demonstration to have been an expression of popular will, andits leaders became heroes and martyrs" (Barmй and Minford n. Another aspect of this looseningof restrictions was the importing of popular music from Taiwan and HongKong, a revolution in a huge country that had, essentially, possessed nopopular music for nearly 3 years--except for the officially sanctioned"mass music" that was the result of the "marriage of the CCP's ideologicalimperatives with its bureaucratic control of the mass media" (Jones 149).But the new freedom surrounding experiments with rock music soon appeareddangerous as it became "one component of the intellectual ferment ofcollege life" and the writers began to go too far for the CCP (Jones 152).The result was another crackdown, the so-called Spiritual Pollutioncampaign begun by Deng in late 1983 when he accused "literary critics andcultural workers of purveying . Liumang culture, like that of the intellectuals, expressed itsdissatisfaction with Chinese culture through "an almost identical rhetoric;one that takes as its focus the critique of [the] feudalism" thatpersisted, they argued, in the corruption of the socialist state (Jones153). Ed. pag.Jones, Andrew F. Ironically, the government's eventual answer to themovement was also conveyed via mass media as television cameras from aroundthe world witnessed much of the violence at Tiananmen Square. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994. The protesters of 1989 were, in many respects, repeating the basicsituation of the students and intellectuals who had fomented the May Fourthprotests of 1919. Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. . pag.). His work implied that the Chinese people"had been deprived of their right to love and happiness because theirmorality had been politicized" (Li 23 ). The period 1985-1987 was the height of the Literature of the New Era,the growth of rock music as a cultural force, and the emergence offilmmakers whose vision was as radically critical of Chinese culture asany. "Memory and Commemoration: The Chinese Search for a Livable Past." Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China. 225-42.Schwarcz, Vera. Thus, for example, in 1978, following the elevation of the 1976protesters to hero status, Deng Xiaoping permitted the continuation of the"Democracy Wall," created when thousands of posters were erected on a wallin central Beijing. Writers thenbegan to take on "moral and long-range historical reflection," abandoningthe recent past in favor of developing ideas about Chinese culture'straditional problems and the difficulties raised by socialist society.Zhang Jie's story "Love Is Not To Be Forgotten" was typical of literarycritical approaches around 198 . The 1989 Democracy Uprising in China, which was so brutally repressedin the Tiananmen Square massacres, followed patterns of civil protest thathad been enacted several times before in the twentieth century. And ineach period of increased liberality filmmakers, artists, novelists,musicians, poets, and playwrights were quick to surge into the opening withwhatever critical or protest-oriented art they felt could get through. 2nd ed. And, likeprevious protest movements, the Pro-Democracy Movement had its roots inimaginative literature and the discourse of intellectuals which drew onand, in turn, shaped popular feeling. Geremie Barmй and John Minford. . "Introduction." Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience. The protesters of 1919 had employed two symbols,the figures of "Mr. Sharpe, 199 . In the198 s the relaxation of many cultural restrictions, especially on popmusic, also contributed to the development of the so-called "liumang" or"hoodlum" culture of "China's urban, Bohemian fringe [of] artists,unemployed youth, private entrepreneurs, [and] rebellious students" (Jones163). 3-24. Ed. 17 -83.Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. Ed. "The Politics of Popular Music in Post-Tiananmen China." Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China. 'all kinds of corrupt and decadentideas of the bourgeoisie and other exploiting classes'" (quoted in Barmйand Minford 345). Thus, after an initialeffort in which numerous intellectuals and artists were arrested, the Partychanged course and, as of 1985 Hu Qili stated at the Fourth All-ChinaWriters' and Artists' Congress "that creative freedom is to be permitted"(Barmй and Minford 346). The posters contained "poem and stories (which wereoften recited to the crowds gathered before the wall), as well as politicalmanifestoes" (Barmй and Minford n. Li. "Student Protests and the Chinese Tradition, 1919- 1989." The Chinese People's Movement: Perspectives on Spring 1989. 2nd ed. Perry. Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. "Social Malaise as Reflected in the Literature of the 198 s." Culture and Politics in China: An Anatomy of Tiananmen Square. Other works of the early 198 s continued this thread and writers werenot persecuted because the CCP wished to build its image of "opening to theoutside world"--an image that was essential, for example, to the growth ofexternal investment in China (Jones 149). N. This combination of critique of societyand praise of national character received it most important expression,however, in the television documentary The Yellow River Elegy, a six-part1988 series in which Su Xiaokang boldly argued that the old Chinesecivilization, formed in the yellow earth of China, "cannot give rise toscientific knowledge and the democratic spirit" and for this "China mustturn to the West" (Barmй and Minford 114). Jeffrey N. Works CitedBarmй, Geremie, and John Minford. The Spiritual Pollution campaign was well on its way to being anotherCultural Revolution, with its national purge "not only of ideologicalaberrations, but also of innovative and popular literature, cinema, popmusic, and even western-style dress" (Barmй and Minford 345). Instead the death ofHu Yaobang, "the former general secretary of the CCP [Chinese CommunistParty] who had been dismissed from office two years before for his lenienthandling of an earlier wave of prodemocracy protests," set off the fataluprising (Wasserstrom 6). As happened throughout this century, thecritique of the failures of the ancient past and the socialist present hadproduced the conclusion that the true openness of democracy was essentialto overcoming China's problems. Many of the 1976 protesters were killed or wounded and otherswere arrested and executed. Tony Saich. The people demonstrated instead against the Party'soppressive rule and the horrors of the preceding ten years of CulturalRevolution. The important role played by Hu's death pointsout the essential role of the vacillations of the CCP throughout the 198 sthat had allowed protest and criticism to wax and wane. But Deng, having used the 1976protests to demonstrate the lack of popular support for the CulturalRevolution, turned on the so-called Democracy Movement of the late 197 sand the authors of the Wall's poems and political tracts were arrested. Throughout the Eighties struggleswithin the Party leadership led to violent swings in official attitudestoward increased openness in the arts and intellectual discourse. Writers and filmmakers undertook a "search for cultural roots" inthis period as they shifted their attention from the flourishing cities ofthe southeast coast to the "more backward, primitive conditions in theheartland of China" (Li 233). Armonk, NY: M. Peter Li, Steven Mark, Marjorie H. Perry. In totalitarian states criticism and protest go only a little fartherthan the state allows and then, as in 1989, they are suppressed. pag.). 148-65.Li, Peter. In addition to the broaderrange of artists involved in influencing public feeling and perceptions,these artists also took advantage of whatever chances presented themselvesfor the exploitation of mass media such as newspapers, film, electronicmusic, and television. And, as in the past, the Party came downhard on the purveyors of such notions as soon as their ideas began to reachcritical mass. But the 198 s were also differentfrom other periods in which protest arose because the so-called Literatureof the New Era was more easily disseminated (even being published in somenewspapers), because the film and television media were employed, becauseartists of many kinds reflected the liberalizing trend of the decade intheir work, and because growing popular subcultures such as rock musicaided in spreading the general call for reform. Becausethe 198 s was a period in which Deng Xiaoping and the CCP leadership wereinterested in allowing a degree of economic liberalization (e.g., thecreation of the special economic zones and the loosening of rules onentrepreneurial activities), the Party was intent on establishing a balancebetween its own absolute authority and the liberal implications of thesevery significant economic changes. pag.). In the final words of thedocumentary, "the isolated Yellow River that has been alone for thousandsof years finally sees the deep blue sea" (quoted in Li 237). E. Fortunatelythe CCP was alarmed at the possible return of Maoist extremism that wouldend economic reform, especially foreign investment. Jeffrey N. The role of literature and, to a lesser degree, other arts is moreinfluential in China than in most Western societies. Artists and intellectuals in 1919 "claimed they had aspecial role and duty as intellectuals to lead the nation's citizens in afight to 'save the nation'" and the protesters of 1989 had originallyplanned their demonstration to coincide with the anniversary of the 1919events (Wasserstrom 5). New York: Hill and Wang, 1988. Science," as tokens of their desireto see China open itself to some outside influence while remainingessentially Chinese. Thisapparent waffling over the meaning, and permissibility, of protest set apattern of liberality-repression-rehabilitation followed by more protestand then more repression that was to recur several times during the 198 s. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994. One of the most important writers of the "Wall" era was a youngteacher named Lu Xinhua whose story "The Wound" not only reintroducedtragedy, "taboo because theoretically it could not exist in a socialistsociety," and love, similarly banned as "bourgeois," but pointedlycriticized the cultural and familial disruptions of the Cultural Revolution(Li 229). These themes were repeated in the 1989 protests andhad formed the major themes of protest in the arts during the 198 s.Significantly, however, the Democracy Uprising of 1989 did not take placeat the exact time when it might have been expected. Clearly forceswithin the Party bureaucracy were now abetting the emergent Pro-democracyMovement's calls for greater openness and the Party's new repressivecampaign, the Anti-Bourgeois Liberalism initiative begun in 1987 when Dengforced the resignation of Hu Yaobang, stepped up its efforts. Writing of all sortsis generally "a political barometer of society" since writers "play a dualrole both as artist and intellectual," with the former implying "creativityand freedom" and the latter signifying "a moral responsibility and anobligation to help educate the people and serve society" (Li 227). But by thispoint the authorities had underestimated the effect of so much openness onthe people and, as Wuer Kaixi, one of the principal organizers of theTiananmen protests, said of "the cultural background of the 1989 movement,"students had long been emphasizing "the individual, the self, and rebellingagainst all sorts of authority" and the most important influences were thewriters and "singers such as [rock musician] Cui Jian [whose] "I HaveNothing" [reflected] "the sense of loss and the disorientation of Chineseyouth" (quoted in Jones 153). 2nd ed. Though not universally seen as an attack on the Party the televisionprogram's call for increased openness generated enormous response and "inspite of the warning" issued by the Party a number of newspapers publishedextensive discussions of The Yellow River Elegy (Li 235). Ed. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.