{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/325111"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/325111","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Obscene Publications and ‘Immoral’ Modernities in Shanghai and Colonial Singapore, 1920s–1930s","abstract":"This dissertation examines the development and the regulation of Chinese ‘obscene’ prints in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, two important Chinese publishing hubs in the early twentieth century. Using archives in London, Singapore and Shanghai, it first analyses the intellectual debates over the definition of yin (obscenity) in the Sinophone world, highlighting how these debates were underpinned by the attempt to define a morally sound modernity for China as Chinese intellectuals had to cope with the tensions brought by a scientistic, Western-derived modernity. Secondly, it discusses the censorship mechanisms in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, as well as the failures of both states to effectively suppress the circulation of ‘obscene’ prints. The difficulties to erase ‘obscene’ prints revealed its popularity among the urban readers and further suggested the emergence of an entertainment-oriented reading public that was more interested in entertainment than enlightenment. Broadly, it argues that yin was not a trans-historical and universalizable category defined by sexually explicit content, but an inherently unstable concept defined more profoundly by the variegated efforts to regulate it. The regulation of obscene prints was never simply a conflict between state authorities and ‘liberal’ intellectuals and artists. A diverse range of historical actors, motivated differently by religious, commercial and feminist interests, participated in the cultural battle to distinguish the decent from the indecent. By exploring the different telos of Chinese modernity that has been marginalized by the May Fourth intellectuals’ interpretation of Chinese modernity, this dissertation is a further attempt to move beyond the May Fourth paradigm. Treating both yin (obscenity) and modernity as unstable categories, it shows how yin was constructed as ‘unmodern’, when in fact such pulp/popular culture could be just as ‘modern’.","abstract_html":"This dissertation examines the development and the regulation of Chinese ‘obscene’ prints in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, two important Chinese publishing hubs in the early twentieth century. Using archives in London, Singapore and Shanghai, it first analyses the intellectual debates over the definition of yin (obscenity) in the Sinophone world, highlighting how these debates were underpinned by the attempt to define a morally sound modernity for China as Chinese intellectuals had to cope with the tensions brought by a scientistic, Western-derived modernity. Secondly, it discusses the censorship mechanisms in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, as well as the failures of both states to effectively suppress the circulation of ‘obscene’ prints. The difficulties to erase ‘obscene’ prints revealed its popularity among the urban readers and further suggested the emergence of an entertainment-oriented reading public that was more interested in entertainment than enlightenment. Broadly, it argues that yin was not a trans-historical and universalizable category defined by sexually explicit content, but an inherently unstable concept defined more profoundly by the variegated efforts to regulate it. The regulation of obscene prints was never simply a conflict between state authorities and ‘liberal’ intellectuals and artists. A diverse range of historical actors, motivated differently by religious, commercial and feminist interests, participated in the cultural battle to distinguish the decent from the indecent. By exploring the different telos of Chinese modernity that has been marginalized by the May Fourth intellectuals’ interpretation of Chinese modernity, this dissertation is a further attempt to move beyond the May Fourth paradigm. Treating both yin (obscenity) and modernity as unstable categories, it shows how yin was constructed as ‘unmodern’, when in fact such pulp/popular culture could be just as ‘modern’.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Geng, Yushu"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Leow, ChaiYi"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-01-31","date_published":"2021-01-31","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:05Z","subjects":["Obscenity","Modern Chinese History","Republican Shanghai","Colonial Singapore","Chinese Diaspora","Print Culture","Modernity","Morality","Pornography","Censorship"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/8e7277c6-6469-4dbb-8ed2-1289286c9376/download","https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.72566","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Leow, ChaiYi"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Geng, Yushu"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-01-31"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/325111"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Obscenity","Modern Chinese History","Republican Shanghai","Colonial Singapore","Chinese Diaspora","Print Culture","Modernity","Morality","Pornography","Censorship"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/8e7277c6-6469-4dbb-8ed2-1289286c9376/download","https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargotype","label":"Dc Rights Embargotype","values":["controlled.access"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.17863/CAM.72566"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/d4e6496b-93b4-4c27-bced-c8a216f1ca5c/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation examines the development and the regulation of Chinese ‘obscene’ prints in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, two important Chinese publishing hubs in the early twentieth century. 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Broadly, it argues that yin was not a trans-historical and universalizable category defined by sexually explicit content, but an inherently unstable concept defined more profoundly by the variegated efforts to regulate it. The regulation of obscene prints was never simply a conflict between state authorities and ‘liberal’ intellectuals and artists. A diverse range of historical actors, motivated differently by religious, commercial and feminist interests, participated in the cultural battle to distinguish the decent from the indecent. By exploring the different telos of Chinese modernity that has been marginalized by the May Fourth intellectuals’ interpretation of Chinese modernity, this dissertation is a further attempt to move beyond the May Fourth paradigm. Treating both yin (obscenity) and modernity as unstable categories, it shows how yin was constructed as ‘unmodern’, when in fact such pulp/popular culture could be just as ‘modern’."]},{"key":"dc:format.checksum.md5","label":"Dc Format Checksum Md5","values":["3d7035440d86e808f909f2641c16b806","353adac0d1ebdfd65ab16480263c3c87"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Obscene Publications and ‘Immoral’ Modernities in Shanghai and Colonial Singapore, 1920s–1930s"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Leow, ChaiYi"],"dc:creator":["Geng, Yushu"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-01-31"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation examines the development and the regulation of Chinese ‘obscene’ prints in Republican Shanghai and colonial Singapore, two important Chinese publishing hubs in the early twentieth century. 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Broadly, it argues that yin was not a trans-historical and universalizable category defined by sexually explicit content, but an inherently unstable concept defined more profoundly by the variegated efforts to regulate it. The regulation of obscene prints was never simply a conflict between state authorities and ‘liberal’ intellectuals and artists. A diverse range of historical actors, motivated differently by religious, commercial and feminist interests, participated in the cultural battle to distinguish the decent from the indecent. By exploring the different telos of Chinese modernity that has been marginalized by the May Fourth intellectuals’ interpretation of Chinese modernity, this dissertation is a further attempt to move beyond the May Fourth paradigm. 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