Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-18T20:24:38.764Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Third Sister Liu and the Making of the Intellectual in Socialist China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2010

Get access

Abstract

Through an analysis of Third Sister Liu, a popular musical of the early 1960s, this article illustrates how the Chinese Communist Party mobilized state and society to express disparaging ideas about the intellectual during the Great Leap Forward. The Chinese intellectual was not any specific social type, group, or individual, but a substrate upon which the party organized and promoted its vision and division of society. Official representations, organization, and the threat of punishment underpinned the party's efforts and produced local resistance toward the party's understanding of the intellectual. The author's analytical approach stresses the social work of construction that reproduced the intellectual as a major political subject, an official classification, and an embodied identity in socialist China. The analysis illuminates heretofore obscured dimensions of Communist Party rule and experiences of those affected by the classification.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Bernstein, Thomas. 2006. “Mao Zedong and the Famine of 1959–60: A Study in Willfulness.” China Quarterly, no. 186: 421–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, C. Fred. 1979. “Love Songs and the Great Leap Forward: The Role of a Youth Culture in the Revolutionary Phase of China's Economic Development.” American Ethnologist 6 (1): 4154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1998. Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Wacquant, Loïc J. D.. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Buju xiaojie de ren 不拘小节的人 [The Man Unconcerned with Details]. 1956. Feature Film. Director Lü Ban 吕班. Changchun dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
Chan, Alfred. 2001. Mao's Crusade: Politics and Policy Implementation in China's Great Leap Forward. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duxiu, Chen 陈独秀. [1915] 1993. Chen Duxiu zhuzuo xuan 陈独秀著作选 [Selected writings of Chen Duxiu]. Vol. 1. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Chen, S. H. 1960. “Multiplicity in Uniformity: Poetry and the Great Leap Forward.” China Quarterly, no. 3: 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Paul. 1987. Chinese Cinema: Culture and Politics since 1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zhixian, Dai 戴知贤. 2004. “Liushi niandai qianqi yishi xingtai lingyu de da pipan” 六十年代前期意识形态领域的大批判. In Zhonghua renmin gongheguo zhuanti shigao 1949–1956 中华人民共和国专题史稿, ed. Dehong, Guo 郭德宏 et al. , 602–32. Sichuan: Sichuan renmin chubanshe 四川人民出版社.Google Scholar
Fokkema, D. W. 1965. Literary Doctrine in China and Soviet Influence, 1956–1960. The Hague: Morton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, Huamin. 2001. Gonghe nuo nianlun 共和国年轮 1955 [The year 1955 in the annals of the People's Republic of China]. Hebei: Hebei renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhenhe, Gao 高振河. 1962. “Yao cong teding de ticai he renwu chufa” 要从特定的题材和人物出发 [We need to respect already specified themes and historical characters]. Dazhong dianying 大众电影 3: 1920.Google Scholar
Goldman, Merle. 1967. Literary Dissent in Communist China. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, Merle. 1981. China's Intellectuals: Advise and Dissent. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Peisong, He 何培嵩. 1986. “Liu Sanjie yu Huang wanqiu” 刘三姐与黄婉秋 [Third Sister Liu and Huang Wanqiu]. In Liu Sanjie yu Huang wanqiu: nanguo renwu zhuanji 刘三姐与黄婉秋—南国人物传记 [Third Sister Liu and Huang Wanqiu—Notable people in southern China], ed. shengqing, Kang 康圣清 and Yifan, Wei 韦一凡, 149. Guilin: Lijiang chubanshe 漓江出版社.Google Scholar
Qifang, He 何其芳. 1960. “Youmei de geju Liu Sanjie” 优美的歌剧刘三姐 [Third Sister Liu: An elegant song and drama]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji 刘三姐专集 Zhongguo dangdai wenxue yanjiu ziliao 中国当代文学研究资料, 2944. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Hushi riji 护士日记 [The Diary of a Nurse]. 1957. Feature Film. Director Tao Jin 陶金. Jiangnan dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
Ji, Jia 贾霁. 1962a. “Guanyu yingpian Liu Sanjie taolun zagan” 关于影片刘三姐讨论杂感 [Some thoughts on the discussion of the movie Third Sister Liu]. Dazhong dianying 大众电影 8:22.Google Scholar
Ji, Jia. 1962b. “Zhenjia xushi zhijian” 真假虚实之间 [Between the real and the fictitious and the substantive and the lack of substance]. Wenhui bao 文汇报, May 30.Google Scholar
Zhi, Jia 贾芝. 1960. “Minjian chuanshuo Liu Sanjie de xin xingxiang” 民间传说刘三姐的新形象 [The new image of folk legend Third Sister Liu]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji, 96107. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Kagan, Alan. 1963. “Music and the Hundred Flowers Movement.” Music Quarterly 49 (4): 417–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenin, V. I. 1983. On the Intelligentsia. Moscow: Progress Publisher.Google Scholar
Duoyu, Li 李多钰, ed. 2005. Zhongguo dianying bainian 1905–1976 中国电影百年 [One hundred years of Chinese cinema]. Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe 中国广播电视出版社.Google Scholar
Huizhong, Li 李慧中. 1961. “Tan geju Liu Sanjie” 谈歌剧刘三姐 [My thoughts on the musical Third Sister Liu]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji, 4561. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Jialing, Liu 刘嘉陵. 2002. “Liu Sanjie” 刘三姐 [Third sister Liu]. In Liushi niandai jiyi 六十年代记忆 [Remembering the 1960s], ed. Yong, Zhu 祝勇, 144–50. Beijing: Zhongguo wenlian chubanshe 中国文联出版社.Google Scholar
Liu, Lydia H. 2003. “A Folksong Immortal and Official Popular Culture in Twentieth-Century China.” In Writing and Materiality in China: Essays in Honor of Patrick Hanan, ed. Zeitlin, Judith T. and Liu, Lydia H.553609. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu Sanjie 刘三姐 [Third sister Liu]. 1961. Feature Film. Director Su Li 苏里. Changchun dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
“Liu Sanjie shi shei de nü'er” 刘三姐是谁的‘女儿’ [Whose “daughter” is Third Sister Liu?]. 2005. http://www.ccqtv.com/20050420/75594.shtml [accessed October 6, 2009].Google Scholar
Liu Sanjie zhuanji 刘三姐专集 [Special volume on Third Sister Liu]. 1979. Zhongguo dangdai wenxue yanjiu ziliao 中国当代文学研究资料 [Research material on contemporary Chinese literature]. Publisher unknown.Google Scholar
Liu Sanjie zhengli xiaozu jiti chuangzuo 刘三姐整理小组集体创作. 1959. Liu Sanjie [Third Sister Liu]. Nanning: Guangxi zhuangzu zizhiqu renmin chubanshe 广西僮族自治区人民出版社.Google Scholar
Liu Sanjie ziliao huibian 刘三姐资料汇编 [A collection of material on Third Sister Liu]. 1960. Vol. 1. Nanning: Guangxi zhuangzu zizhiqu renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Loh, Wai-fong. 1984. “From Romantic Love to Class Struggle: Reflections on the Film Liu Sanjie.” In Popular Chinese Literature and Performing Arts in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979, ed. McDougall, Bonnie S.165–76. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
MacFarquhar, Roderick. 1974. The Hundred Flowers Campaign and the Chinese Intellectuals. New York: Octagon Books.Google Scholar
MacFarquhar, Roderick. 1983. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
MacFarquhar, Roderick. 1997. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 3. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackerras, Colin. 1992. “Integration and the Dramas of China's Minorities.” Asian Theatre Journal 9 (1): 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zedong, Mao 毛泽东. 1971. Selected Reading from the Works of Mao Tsetung. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.Google Scholar
McDougall, Bonnie S. 1984. “Writers and Performers, Their Works, and Their Audiences in the First Three Decades.” In Popular Chinese Literature and Performing Arts in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979, ed. McDougall, Bonnie S.269304. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Meisner, Maurice. 2007. Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Liye, Meng 孟犁野. 2003 Xin zhongguo dianying yishu shigao 1949–1959 新中国电影艺术史稿 [A history of cinema in new China]. Beijing: Zhougguo dianying chubanshe 中国电影出版社.Google Scholar
Minzhu qingnian jinxingqu 民主青年进行曲 [The March of Democratic Youth]. 1950. Feature Film, Director Wang Yi 王逸. Beijing dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
Pickowicz, Paul. 1985. “The Limits of Cultural Thaw: Chinese Cinema in the Early 1960s.” In Perspectives on Chinese Cinema, ed. Berry, Chris, 97148. Ithaca, NY: Cornell China-Japan Program.Google Scholar
Yu, Qiao 乔羽. 1960. “Ermu yixin—tan geju Liu Sanjie 耳目一新—谈歌剧刘三姐 [Truly an innovation: my opinion of the musical Third Sister Liu]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji, 6273. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Schram, Stuart. 1989. The Thought of Mao Tse-tung. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarcz, Vera. 1986. The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanghai Municipal Archives. 1958. “Shanghai shiyan gejuyuan fanyou qianhou de qingkuang bianhua” 上海实验歌剧院反右前后的情况变化 [Changes at the Shanghai Academy of Experimental Opera after the Anti-Rightist campaign]. File no. A21-2-619.Google Scholar
Shanghai Municipal Archives. 1964a. “Qingnian gong guanyu qingnian zai yishi xingtai douzheng zhong dui yixie pipan zuopin de qingkuang huibao ji zuotan jilu deng” 青年宫关于青年在意识形态斗争中对一些批判作品的情况汇报及座谈记录等 [Youth Palace's reports and symposium records on the ideological struggle among the youth in regards to their criticism of some recent works]. File no. C26-2-113.Google Scholar
Shanghai Municipal Archives. 1964b. “Yijiu liusi nian qingkuang tiaocha huibao” 一九六四 年情况调查汇报 [Reports on investigation on conditions in 1964]. File no. B3-2-216.Google Scholar
Changfeng, Tang, and Boyu, Pan. 1962. Liu Sanjie 刘三姐 [Third Sister Liu]. Illustrated storybook. Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Teiwes, Frederick C., and Sun, Warren. 1999. China's Road to Disaster: Mao, Central Politicians, and Provincial Leaders in the Unfolding of the Great Leap Forward, 1955–1959. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
U, Eddy. 2003. “The Making of Zhishifenzi: The Critical Impact of the Registration of Unemployed Intellectuals.” China Quarterly, no. 170: 100121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U, Eddy. 2007. “The Making of Chinese Intellectuals: Representation and Organization in the Thought Reform Campaign.” China Quarterly, no. 192: 971–89.Google Scholar
U, Eddy. 2009. “Reification of the Chinese Intellectual: On the Origins of the CCP Concept of Zhishifenzi.Modern China 35 (6): 601631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei wancheng de xiju 未完成的喜剧 [Unfinished Comedy]. 1957. Feature Film. Director Lü Ban 吕班. Changchun dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao 文汇报. 1961a. “Huanle de gesheng cong zheli xiangqi” 欢乐的歌声从这里响起 [The happy sound of singing begins here]. January 2.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961b. “Liu Sanjie lai Hu” 刘三姐来沪 [Third Sister Liu is coming to Shanghai]. January 25.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961c. “Duige” 对歌 [Singing competition]. January 27.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961d. “Ge Liu Sanjie” 歌刘三姐 [Applauding Third Sister Liu]. January 27.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961e. “Mingwan dianshi jiemu” 明晚电视节目 [Tomorrow evening's TV programs]. January 27.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961f. “Yinyue shudian kaimu hou sanzhou jian” 音乐书店开幕后三周间 [The first three weeks of the new Music Bookstore]. February 26.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961g. “Kewai xingqu huodong zhanlan” 课外兴趣活动展览 [An exhibition of art works from student extracurricular activities]. July 18.Google Scholar
Wenhui bao. 1961h. “Nongcun dianying faxing fangying gongzuo xunsu fazhan” 农村电影发行放映工作迅速发展 [Rapid development in the release of films in rural areas]. December 14.Google Scholar
Jinnan, Wu [伍晋南]. 1962. “Qunzhong yundong de shengli, Mao Zedong wenyi sixiang de shengli—chuangzuo he yanchu minjian gewuju Liu Sanjie de tihui” 群众运动的胜利,毛泽东文艺思想的胜利—创作和演出民间歌舞剧刘三姐的体会 [The success of mass movement and Mao Zedong thought on literature—my experience of the creation and performance of Third Sister Liu]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji, 412. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Gao, Xi 西高. 1962. “Shiqu guangze de mingzhu” 失去光泽的明珠 [The gem that has lost its luster]. Dazhong dianying 大众电影 3:20.Google Scholar
Xinmin wanbao 新民晚报. 1961. “Da zhuan xuesheng jinian wusi” 大专学生纪念五四 [Postsecondary students' commemoration of the May Fourth movement]. May 4.Google Scholar
Fengcheng, Yang 杨凤城. 2005. Zhongguo gongchandang de zhishifenzi lilun yu zhengce yanjiu 中国共产党的知识分子理论与政策研究 [The CCP's theory of and policies on intellectuals]. Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe 中国党史出版社.Google Scholar
Yeh, Wen-hsin. 1996. Provincial Passages: Culture, Space, and the Origins of Chinese Communism. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yen, Chun-chiang. 1967. “Folklore Research in China.” Asian Folklore Studies 26 (2): 162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, Yin, and Yan, Ning. 2002. Xin Zhongguo dianying shi 1949–2000 新中国电影史 [A history of Chinese cinema]. Hunan: Hunan meishu chubanshe 湖南美术出版社.Google Scholar
Zaochun eryue 早春二月 [Early Spring in February]. 1963. Feature Film. Director Xie Tieli 谢铁骊. Beijing dianying zhipian chang.Google Scholar
Zhang, Yingjin. 1997. “From ‘Minority Film’ to ‘Minority Discourse’”: Questions of Nationhood and Ethnicity in Chinese Cinema.” Cinema Journal 36 (3): 7390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tianjian, Zheng [郑天健]. n.d. “Guanyu Liu Sanjie de chuangzuo” 关于刘三姐的传说 [On the folktales of Third Sister Liu]. In Liu Sanjie zhuanji, 1327. Publisher unknown, 1979.Google Scholar
Zhu, Zheng. 1998. 1957 nian de xiaji 一九五七年的夏季 [The summer of 1957]. Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar