MCLC: Chinese Aspirations in the 1980s--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Shih-Wen Sue Chen <shih-wen.chen at anu.edu.au>
Subject: Chinese Aspirations in the 1980s--cfp
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Call for Papers

“I want to fly high”: Chinese Aspirations in the 1980s
18-19 February 2013
Australian Centre on China in the World
The Australian National University

In 1980, Zhang Meitong 张枚同 wrote a poem entitled “New Eighties
Generation” [bashiniandai de xinyibei 八十年代的新一辈] proclaiming that
“glory” belonged to this new generation. His poem was adapted into the
lyrics of a popular song “Young Friends Come Together” [nianqing de
pengyou lai xianghui 年轻的朋友来相会] which encapsulated the optimism
of the Chinese people during the 1980s, a period of dynamic
transformation. With fewer restrictions on personal behaviour and a
gradual betterment of livelihood, many people explored new possibilities
in their everyday lives with enthusiasm. As eighties heartthrob Fei
Xiang 费翔 sang: “I want to fly high” [wo yao gaofei 我要高飞].

The history of everyday life, according to German historian Alf Lüdtke,
aims to describe “… people’s loves and hates, their quarrels and
cooperation, memories, anxieties, [and] their hopes for the future”
(1995: 3). This workshop examines the fascinating evolutions in Chinese
life as people navigated a new, post-Maoist world, and seeks to
understand the varied hopes and aspirations of a diverse Chinese society
in the decade of the 1980s. For many, the post-Maoist decade meant more
access to material goods and services, more opportunities to acquire
knowledge of the outside world, and more leisure time. New ideas from
different cultures and intellectual traditions jostled against each
other on bookshop stands, allowing new horizons of imagination not only
to intellectuals but to the public at large.

This workshop will examine the aspirations of various groups of the
Chinese public throughout the 1980s, revealing vitality, diversity,
contradictions, evolutions, regressions, and ambivalences. Proposals for
papers concerned with changing aesthetic sensibilities, new
relationships with the divine, imaginings at the dawn of the Chinese
space age, the fascination with personal development, sports and body
training, and the world of fashion have already been received. We extend
an invitation to scholars who wish to share their research on all
aspects of the culture of the 1980s, especially those who problematize
existing narratives and reveal hidden experiences and aspirations.

Please email your paper title and abstract to Sue Chen at
shih-wen.chen at anu.edu.au by 1 November 2012. Some funding for travel and
accommodation may be available.

--
Dr Shih-Wen Sue Chen 陳詩雯
Post-doctoral Fellow
Australian Centre on China in the World
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
H.C. Coombs Building #9
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia

T: +61 2 6125 7025
F: +61 2 6125 5525
E: shih-wen.chen at anu.edu.au