长篇 // Changpian // Longform
Welcome to the 23nd edition of Changpian, a selection of feature and opinion writing in Chinese. Changpian includes any nonfiction writing, from stories and investigations to interviews and blog posts, that I found worth my time — and that you might like as well. It aims to be relevant to an understanding of Chinese society today, covering topics in and outside the news cycle.
The selection is put together by me, Tabitha Speelman, a Dutch researcher currently based in Shanghai. Feedback is very welcome (tabitha.speelman@gmail.com or @tabithaspeelman). Back issues can be found here.
Hi all, I hope this finds you well. In this Changpian, which I’m excited to get back to, some Chinese-language stories and debates to read, watch or listen to wherever you are during this pandemic. As mentioned below, the non-fiction publishing trend that first inspired this newsletter has slowed down. But some of the platforms founded at its height are still around — one, 真实故事计划, recently celebrated its 4th anniversary and currently has a non-fiction writing contest going on. The jury is impressive and the deadline is end of August.
干货// Ganhuo // Dry Goods
In this section I highlight any themes that stood out in my recent reading.
Podcast society
2019 was described as the “爆发之年” for podcast making in mainland China at a podcast festival I attended in Shanghai last November. The number of new shows had exploded, although participants agreed that the podcast still occupies a niche in the Chinese content market and that it is difficult to earn money making them. A low-budget talk show format is the norm. (For more on the market, see this report and an interview with two former journalists who started influential podcasting company JustPod.)
These shows arrived at a moment in which written media obviously face increasing difficulties. As former 正午故事 editor Guo Yujie explains in this lecture, this includes the non-fiction platforms that saw a boom starting about five years ago. Guo’s excellent team got cut from Jiemian’s operations in March (although the 正午 brand continues to exist in some form). In a response to a recent Politico article on some of these new Chinese-language podcasts, media expert Fang Kecheng tweeted that their voices form “the last oasis on the Chinese internet”.
I’ve been most attracted by a couple of shows that routinely talk through and reflect on societal issues, such as gaokao fraud, the future of studying abroad, MeToo two years on, climate change activism, how and whether to have children, online violence and fake news, or the publishing climate in China and Taiwan (from 25:00 and 50:00 onwards). As the Politico story by the Chinese Storytellers’ Shen Lu points out, many of the new shows have a transnational outlook. A recent focus on issues of racism includes this 纽约文化沙龙 online lecture series on ethnic exclusion in the U.S, in-depth takes on political correctness by political philosopher Yao Lin and 随机波动 (see 澎湃思想市场 for more related content), conversations on how to understand and address racism within China’s borders by 不合时宜 and 有点田园, and discussions of cultural products from Gone with the Wind and Black Panther to If Beale Street Could Talk on 小声喧哗 and 文化土豆.
See also the archives of the shows linked to above for their coronavirus epidemic coverage earlier this year, including that of 剩余价值 whose smart hosts moved on to start 随机波动 after they were censored during that period.
多灾
Since mid-June, tens of millions in central and southeast China have been hit by severe flooding (see here for a timeline). At first, on the ground reporting was all but absent, even as journalists shared Caixin reporter Zhang Jin’s archived disaster reporting guidelines. Space for coverage seemed to increase early July, followed by quality reporting on affected gaokao students, disaster shelters for the displaced, mudslides making deadly victims, reconstruction efforts without insurance, and the sacrifice of those living by breached dykes or in the 蓄洪区 of dam reservoirs. Anhui farmer 王玉敏 had first been excited by the rain after a very dry Spring. But when the notice to evacuate came, he could not save his 500 pear trees: “来不及了，太累了”. (More on this and last year’s droughts.)
First-person accounts like this one from Jiangxi are deleted on WeChat, and, as some point out, with only limited “systematic, authoritative, and informative reporting” it remains difficult to gauge the full impact of the disaster, coming so shortly after the epidemic.
其他好故事 // Gushi // More stories
Some other interesting stories.
- 疫情下，打工子弟的网课、辍学与返乡 – 财新 – Feature on migrant children education during Covid-19, one of many important epidemic impact stories, reported among a community over 90% of whom don’t know what’s next according to one survey cited.
据民间公益机构“新公民计划”追踪统计，至2018年8月，北京约有100所打工子弟学校，约有47261名学生就读。“新公民计划”是长期专注于流动儿童教育问题的公益组织，负责人魏佳羽介绍，虽然每年就学的打工弟子都在减少，但今年疫情下，他们了解到的打工子弟学校至少流失百分之二十的学生。其中一部分回了老家，另一部分留在北京，但没有上网课，属于事实性辍学。
- 疫情下全球百万海员海上漂泊：有人崩溃自杀，有人打算转行–界面新闻 – Story on the international sailors stranded at sea due to coronavirus, many of whom are Chinese.
24岁的三副小史，现在从墨西哥湾驶往韩国港口的一艘超大型油轮（VLCC）上，船上服务时间已经超过13个月。早在4月初，他曾给公司提交了休假申请，但没得到回复。此后他又开始了新一轮洲际航线，航程近两个月，至今还没有明确的休假日期。小史告诉界面新闻记者，在船上久了，水果和蔬菜供应不足，每天只能吃洋葱，已经出现了口腔溃疡、长痘痘的症状。
- 我成了美国所有排外政策的交集点 – 世界说 – A Chinese graduate in the US on OPT reflects on returning to China. (See also accounts of a law professor’s journey back to China and a Chinese worker stranded in a Singapore migrant dorm.)
种种压力下，我开始准备对自己的职业生涯乃至个人生活做重新规划了。当天晚上我就做了噩梦，梦见自己坐飞机回国探亲，在国内转机的时候在候机大厅和旁边的本科生闲谈，他咨询我以后想到美国留学，哪个大学的天体物理比较好，我当场笑他，你学天体物理怎么可能进得了美国的门，我一个学土木的，就因为本科学校是国防七子，美国都不让我进呢。
- 历史的转折——美苏冷战起源的经济因素 – 澎湃思想市场 – Historian Shen Zhihua on the beginning of the Cold War, in which he argues that mutual misunderstanding and “diplomatic error” escalated solvable economic differences.
总的来说，我们发现经济是冷战的根本因素。从1945年战争结束到1947年冷战爆发，从我们的描述和史实的发展来看，主动的是美国，被动的是苏联。不论军事上还是经济上，苏联是较弱的，它不愿意跟美国发生对抗，也没这个必要、没这个能力去和美国对抗。而冷战的发生，不外乎这么几个原因，首先这是历史的惯性，是传统的意识形态的对立，导致了美苏双方战略互疑，频繁的误判和误解。美苏都朝坏的方向，朝带有浓厚的意识形态色彩的方向去解读对方的行为，结果就是看不清什么是真相，什么是表面现象，辨不清对方的目的。
- 项飙：空间、资本和社会分化中的“地摊经济” — 知识分子 — Good interview with anthropologist Xiang Biao on the history and economy of street vending in Chinese cities. See also this new volume of conversations between Xiang and《单读》editor Wu Yi in which they discuss a range of social science themes.
80年代地摊很能赚钱，从 “浙江村” 的例子来看，摊贩积累的第一桶金很快就投放到扩大生产上，然后他们就能够用高额的租金包租柜台，进入西单市场这些高档市场。它是上升的一个方式。今天的地摊显然是一个兜底方式了，不可能提供上升的途径。但究竟兜底能兜到什么程度还是有待观察。
- 《乘风破浪的姐姐》：真人秀是今天的现实主义 — 人物 – Inspired by a new reality show featuring established women artists author and editor Guo Yujie writes an essay on women portrayals in Chinese tv and film.
大量中年女演员正值最好的阶段，既有职业经验，又有生活经验，却无戏可演，只能演妈妈、婆婆这样的角色。妈妈、婆婆本身并不是问题，问题是，她们在剧中只是服务性的设置，扁平、单一，甚至是扭曲、刻板的形象，比如恶婆婆、慈母等，她们没有鲜活的人生，没有独特的灵魂。这样的现状非常畸形，正如张雨绮所说，有些过于泛滥，有些又过于缺失。考虑到娱乐业的权力机构极其分明，如果不是势不得已、市场又有了强烈的需求，这些女演员大概不会发出这样的声音。
- 我不是完美受害者，我想要一个调查结果 — 三联生活周刊 – Following one woman’s anonymous account of sexual harassment on a podcast, a group of women come together to sue their shared harasser.
如怡告诉我，她知道自己不是一个完美受害者，但她还是希望，自诩性别意识、权利意识超前的公益机构能够介入调查，“起码努力建构起一套标准和方法，最后告知我和公众，我的投诉能不能成立吧？”这种努力目前看起来是落空的，但她欣慰的是，她的确安慰到了更多的女孩。在确认自己不是唯一受害者的时候，白简终于不再感到孤独，并且还可以做一些事情，阻止更多的后来者成为受害人。
跟如怡一起，由依琳实名代理，投诉刘韬。
- 高考之后，放虎归山 — 十点公社 — Film director Jia Zhangke on the summer after he received a low gaokao score.
高考一过，校园里就人迹稀少。无论多少分，还是要去看一看的，好给家里一个交代。分数出来的那一天，我硬着头皮去了学校，看到自己的总成绩是307分，似乎离中专还有一点距离。虽然之前对高考毫不介意，但这的确是我人生中的第一次失败。它用一个数字，断绝了你的希望，也用一个数字，把你留在了原来的生活之中。原来的生活不好吗？我不知道。
- 黄灯：我的二本学生，毕业后都去哪儿了？– 正午故事 – Excerpt from non-fiction author Huang Deng’s book on her students at a Guangdong lower-tier college.
从大一到大四，班上一共选举产生了四任班长。让我惊讶的是，尽管人数不到三成，但选出来的班长竟然都是男生。曾刚是第一任班长，毕业以后就进入了一家银行；王国伟是第二任班长，在银行工作一年后，考上了公务员，现在四会监狱办公室当文员；吴志勇是第三任班长，没有考研、考公务员，也没有进入银行，辗转了很多单位，现和哥哥在天河区开了一家饮食店；石磊是最后一任班长，毕业以后，在广州居留多年，在诸多单位辗转后，最后决定考公务员，现在梅州国税局上班。回过头看，四位班长毕业以后的选择和现在的处境，实际上代表了十年前二本院校大学毕业生所面临的机遇和可能.
- 隔离在伊朗的日子 – 正午故事 – Pictures of quarantine life in Tehran by Chinese trader Sun Jianlong.
我是95后，毕业于绍兴一所大学的金融专业，在一家证券公司待了一段时间，之后就进了现在这家外贸公司。2018年，公司想在伊朗发展业务，当时我刚入职半年，便被派驻到德黑兰。伊朗在中东地区相对还是比较安全、对华人也比较友善的一个国家，所以我也没有太担心。
旧文// Jiuwen // Classic：
A piece of nonfiction that seems worth a read long after its initial publication.
In line with this issue’s multimedia theme, two documentaries about Wuhan, which entered lockdown a bit over half a year ago. In 好久不见，武汉, Nanjing-based Japanese video maker Takeuchi Ryo and his team present ten stories of Wuhan residents rebuilding their lives after the outbreak. For 澎湃新闻, Chinese director Fan Jian filmed “被遗忘的春天”, a more subdued but moving account of post-lockdown life in one heavily-hit Wuhan neighborhood that came out early July. Both 1-hour films are available for free on various platforms. And for a flashback to those winter weeks that turned out to be the start of this pandemic, listen to this interview with Gao Yu, the editor that led Caixin’s coverage of the outbreak in Wuhan (the Chinese audio at the top of the page is not paywalled).