Queering Chinese Youth Cultures: Biopolitical Negotiations in Post-Xi China

Post-Xi Chinese society stands at the confluence of shifting norms, with the administration transitioning from neoliberal developmentalism to a more biopolitical mode of social governance. Amidst these changes, Chinese youths are particularly susceptible to the state’s stringent control over the production of ‘docile bodies’ through the power of normalisation. Utilising multidisciplinary methods, this study juxtaposes a diverse sampling of youth cultures to reveal how Chinese youth are actively crafting ‘queer’ subjectivities, transforming subordination into agency, in order to navigate their non-normative ‘selves’ within Chinese society’s disciplinary regimes. It comparatively explores the intersections and divergences of two sets of contemporary Chinese youth cultures that have emerged from the margins of the normative mainstream: the respective sexual minority cultures of the sexuality-based ‘LGBT’ self-identified community and the more fluid and cosmopolitan ‘queer/ku’er’ culture; the shamate culture of young migrant workers that first arose in 2008, and the ‘sub-youth’ trend amongst urban young people in the 2020s, along with the polarised cultural interactions between the two peer cohorts over the period of a decade. Drawing from queer theory’s ontological interrogation of ‘normativity’ and its associated power relations, this thesis delves into the nuanced remoulding of subjectivities and state-society relations facilitated by various cultural practices in Xi-era China. These case studies serve as a microcosm of the broader dynamics of young individuals’ negotiation with the heightened normalising pressure on their desires, aspirations, and self-perceptions. Ultimately, this thesis aims to contribute a new understanding of Chinese state-individual negotiations embedded in their cultural interplay from a ‘queer perspective’, and of the transformative potential of a ‘queer’ standpoint in studying contemporary cultures.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Jingyi

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Inwood, Heather

• cultural studies
• queer studies
• Chinese studies
• biopolitics

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/da71a36c-5fa0-4041-8bb9-8462d7cbe883/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.114020

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/377007