Bonnie S. McDOUGALL

Discourse on Privacy by Women Writers in Late Twentieth-Century China

There is a common belief in China and the West that “the Chinese” have no concept of privacy, although there is a well-established tradition of private property and privacy values in China. In the twentieth century, especially in the PRC, rhetoric on the public good prevailed over individualism and subjectivity, but both privacy and private property have been reevaluated in the post-Mao era. In the 1990s, writing about private life became associated with fiction and journalism by women, and privacy became publishers’ shorthand for sexual revelations. By the end of the century, interest in the public at large showed a wider appreciation of the values and functions of privacy. At the same time, the status of private property in the constitution and in law was restored to precommunist respectability. This article analyzes the meanings and function of privacy in writing by women in the 1990s and comments on gender aspects of privacy as well as the relationships between authors, publishers, and readers in the late twentieth century.

Book review: Tales of Futures Past: Anticipation and the Ends of Literature in Contemporary China

are usually controlled by wealthy Chinese elites who have little affinity with democratic aspirations, the poor and less educated, and their museums ‘seldom reflect the interests and concerns of the ordinary people’ (p. 214). Lu ends the book on a sad note, ironically at a time when ever more museums are built with state and private sponsorship. The century-long development of museums in China, so well articulated and systematically presented in this volume, apparently demonstrates stasis rather than dynamism in the museum sector with the ever-tightening grip of the state and social elites. Lu has not attempted to analyse the critique on the current elitist practices concerning museums in China. There is little effort to explore alternative movements nor attempt to bring in new thinking and models with regard to people-centred museums. Attention should be given to the way forward: how museums in China today can play a role that is socially inclusive.

Love-Letters and Privacy in Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping

This book opens up three new topics in modern Chinese literary history: the intimate lives of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping as a couple; real and imagined love-letters in modern Chinese literature; and concepts of privacy in China. The scandalous affair between modern Chinas greatest writer and his former student is revealed in their letters to each other between 1925 and 1929. Publication of the letters in a heavily edited version in 1933 was intended partly to profit from a current trend for literary couples to publish their private letters, but another reason was to assert control over their love story, taking it away from the gossip-mongers. The biographies in Part I, based on the unedited letters, reveal such hitherto neglected information as Xu Guangpings early tendencies towards lesbianism; her gender reversal games and Lu Xuns willing participation in them; Xu Guangpings two early attempts at suicide; and Lu Xuns attempts to play down Xu Guangpings political activism and to impress readers with his own militancy. Part II shows how Lu Xun chose to publish their edited letters in the context of current Chinese epistolary fiction and love-letters published by their authors. Part III provides unique evidence on the nature of privacy in modern China through a comparison between the unedited and edited correspondence. Textual evidence shows their intimate secrets about their affairs, their bodies, and their domestic lives; their fear of gossip; their longing for a secluded life together; and their ambivalent attitudes towards the traditional conflict between public service and private or selfish interests. Although it has sometimes been claimed that Chinese culture lacks a sense of privacy, this study reveals the contents, functions, and values of privacy in the early twentieth century.