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Multimedia Quake Poetry: Convergence Culture after the Sichuan Earthquake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2012

Heather Inwood
Heather Inwood
Affiliation:
Ohio State University, Columbus. Email: inwood.4@osu.edu
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Abstract

This article examines a wave of Chinese poetry sparked by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. “Quake Poetry” was published online before being re-circulated through digital, print and live media. Multimedia adaptations of one poem are examined to investigate the relationship between the authors of Quake Poetry, the different media platforms, and the people and institutions involved in its proliferation. Media convergence enabled Quake Poetry to fulfil several functions in the aftermath of the earthquake. Most prominently, it served as an emotional outlet for those affected by the quake, while giving its netizen-producers a sense of creative agency as they engaged in participatory cultural production. Members of the contemporary poetry scene cited Quake Poetry as evidence of poetry's ongoing hold over the Chinese national consciousness. Finally, certain poems were appropriated and promoted by China's state-controlled media to propagate a politically expedient image of Chinese unity in the face of tragedy.

Keywords

Sichuan earthquakemultimedia poetryinternetcontemporary poetry scenetrauma processconvergence culture
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 208 , December 2011 , pp. 932 - 950
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2011

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References

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5 Cf. Chen Hongli, “Shi shen zai feixu shang gechang: you ‘Wenchuan shichao’ tan dizhen shichao de yiyi he qishi” (“The god of poetry sings in the rubble: from ‘Wenchuan poetry’ to thoughts about the meaning and revelations of the earthquake poetry tide”), http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4868bcc80100dgdp.html; Pang Chunjie, “Su Shansheng: wo zhibuguo shi luguo de daibizhe” (“Su Shansheng: I was just a passing ghostwriter”), http://dzrb.dzwww.com/dazk/dzzm/200805/t20080530_3651395.htm; Chen Yunfa, “Wangping: kang zhen, rang shige fusu” (“Web comments: earthquake relief efforts, bringing recovery to poetry”), http://opinion.people.com.cn/GB/7384308.html.

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9 Zhao was spoofed by netizens for writing colloquial poems that were deemed so simple that anyone could produce them simply by repeatedly hitting the “return” key on their computer; this despite her being a “national first-level poet” (guojia yiji shiren), a title gained by way of literary awards and membership of the Chinese Writers' Association.

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15 Ibid. p. 7.

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17 Chen, “Multiplicity in uniformity,” p. 8.

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20 “Wenchuan dizhen shichao zhi er” (“Wenchuan quake poetry transcripts No. 2”), http://www.bdsz.com/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=1421.

21 Ibid.

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23 For more on the crisis discourse see ibid. pp. 32–33. For an example of this kind of Chinese critical writing see Ce, Ma, “Shige zhi si” (“The death of poetry”), in Wuchang, Tan (ed.), Zhongguo xinshi baipishu 1999–2002 (Beijing: Kunlun chubanshe, 2003), pp. 514–24Google Scholar.

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25 Ibid. p. 35.

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28 Scar Literature, a literary movement that emerged with the end of the Cultural Revolution and new political relaxations regarding acceptable literary content, has been criticized for being formulaic and didactic: see Knight, Deirdre Sabina, “Scar literature and the memory of trauma,” in Mostow, Joshua S. (ed.), The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), pp. 527–32Google Scholar.

29 Zhou Zan, “Da dizhen yu wenxue biaoda” (“The big earthquake and literary expression”), http://mythicizer.ycool.com/post.2880492.html.

30 Pu Lizi, “Xie Youshun: shige yinggai yu shidai gandan xiangzhao” (“Xie Youshun: poetry should be in tune with the times”), http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-06-01/081615659442.shtml.

31 See e.g. “A proposal to all of China's poets from the website Poemlife and the journal Poetry and People,” http://www.poemlife.com/PoemNews/news.asp?vNewsId=4008, in which the editors describe plans to hold fundraising poetry recitals in cities throughout Guangzhou province, and request that poets write earthquake-themed poems to be recited at these events. Similar recitals were held across China, and most regions published their own volume of Quake Poetry.

32 Lizi, Pu, “Xie Youshun: poetry should be in tune with the times,” and “‘Caogen shige jujiao Wenchuan dizhen” (“Grassroots poetry focuses on the Wenchuan earthquake”), He'nan ribao, 29 May 2008, http://newpaper.dahe.cn/hnrb/html/2008-05/29/content_69970.htmGoogle Scholar. For more on grassroots poetry see Wu Sijing, “Mianxiang diceng: shijichu shige de yi zhong zouxiang” (“Facing the lower rungs: one direction in poetry at the beginning of the new century”), http://www.gzwhys.com.cn/node_162/node_165/node_343/2006/11/07/11628855834141.shtml, and Li Shaojun, “‘Caogen xing’ zhengzai shige zhong kuosan: da ‘Shenzhen shangbao’ jizhe wen” (“‘The essence of grassroots’ is spreading in poetry: in response to questions from a reporter from ‘Shenzhen business news’”), http://www.wyzxsx.com/Article/Class12/200711/28103.html.

33 Jiang Yunfan comments, for example, that it would have been impossible for anyone to write and publish avant-garde poetry in response to the Tangshan earthquake of 1976, which killed around a quarter of a million people but was subject to “political interference and a closed and backwards social environment” within China. Jiang Yunfan, “On the ‘Wenchuan poetry’ phenomenon.”

34 For a comprehensive selection of these discussions and an overview of the different opinions expressed within the poetry scene see Lihai, Huang (ed.), “5.12 Wenchuan dizhen shige xiezuo fansi yu yanjiu” (“Reflections and researches of poetic works on 12 May earthquake [sic]”), Poetry and People, No. 8 (2008)Google Scholar.

35 For the Chinese version of this poem see Appendix. This translation is my own.

36 “Baozhu ni de shunjian, wo leiliu manmian: Sichuan Wenchuan da dizhen huiwang” (“The moment I held on to you tears covered my face: a look back at the massive Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan”), http://www.sxnem.gov.cn/view.asp?ArticleID=8587.

37 A Google search of the poem's title in July 2008 resulted in 1,350,000 hits, and searches of variant titles (such as Haizi, kuai zhua ZHU mama de shou) turned up tens of thousands of results. The poem even made it in English translation on to a New York Times web page and the official blog of Jackie Chan. Cf. Revkin, Andrew C., “The road to heaven is too dark,” The New York Times “Dot Earth” blog (22 May 2008), http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/the-road-to-heaven-is-too-dark/Google Scholar, and Jackie Chan, “The devastating situation in Sichuan” (14–18 May 2008), http://www.jackiechan.com/blog/207372--The-Devastating-Situation-in-Sichuan.

38 My thanks to Zang Di for pointing out that parts of the poem sounded remarkably similar to an old pop song by Su Rui.

39 For an example of a newspaper request for the author to come forward, see Wang Yuehua, “Searching for the author of the poem ‘Child, quickly grab hold of Mama's hand’,” posted 22 May 2008: http://society.news.mop.com/rw/p/2008/0522/0740368928.shtml. For usage in this instance of the term “human flesh search,” see Liu Hui, “Shige ‘Haizi, kuai zhuajin mama de shou’ maochu duo wei ‘zuozhe’” (“The poem ‘Child, quickly grab hold of Mama's hand’ gives rise to multiple ‘authors’”), http://www.china.com.cn/book/txt/2008-06/02/content_15587548.htm.

40 http://www.lrn.cn/culture/whzx/200805/t20080530_236664.htm.

41 Feng Chunjie, “Su Shansheng: wo zhibuguo shi luguo de daibizhe” (“Su Shansheng: I was just a passing ghost-writer”), http://dzrb.dzwww.com/dazk/dzzm/200805/t20080530_3651395.htm, and “Benbao zhaodao ‘Haizi kuai zhuajin mama de shou’ shi zuozhe” (“This paper discovers the author of the poem ‘Child, quickly grab hold of Mama's hand’”), Nanfang ribao (Southern Daily), http://www.nfdaily.cn/bignews/hot/content/2008-05/25/content_4412271.htm.

42 Jiangxi yu ganhan xiao dao, “Fan Meizhong, Su Shansheng ji Furong Jiejie” (“Fan Meizhong, Su Shansheng and Sister Hibiscus”), http://cache.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/free/1/1282172.shtml.

43 Feng Chunjie, “Su Shansheng: I was just a passing ghostwriter.”

44 Bayne, Siân, “Temptation, trash and trust: the authorship and authority of digital texts,” E-Learning, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2006)Google Scholar.

45 Ibid. p. 19. For an in-depth analysis of modes of online participation see Schäfer, Mirko Tobias, Bastard Culture! User Participation and the Extension of Cultural Industries (The Netherlands: All Print Utrecht, 2008), available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8594831/Bastard-Culture-User-participation-and-the-extension-of-cultural-industriesGoogle Scholar.

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47 Feng Chunjie, “Su Shansheng: I was just a passing ghost-writer.”

48 http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/e9aDirZ3sng/.

49 Roger Brown and James Kulik, “Flashbulb memories” (abstract), http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T24-46632T5-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3da84f1fc1c2da603c0934ce8e7e8997.

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51 The sheet music for a different musical version, apparently written on 24 May 2008 and with Hong Weiguo cited as the author of the words, can be found at: http://www.gangqinpu.com/html/5421.htm.

52 http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/13929168-1349202150.html.

53 http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_cb00XMjgwMjkxNDQ=.html.

54 See the following video for an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csmjm38IRac&feature=related.

55 See the comments section, http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_51abadbe01009e5h.html.

56 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiJSPsjAyPg.

57 Bradsher, Keith, “Hong Kong marks anniversary of handover,” New York Times, 1 July 2007Google Scholar, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/world/asia/01iht-hong.1.6431824.html.

58 People in Hong Kong gave generously to earthquake relief funds, suggesting this image of solidarity was more than just media propaganda. According to the Hong Kong Red Cross, over HK$1.27 billion was received in charitable donations by November 2008. Cf. http://www.redcross.org.hk/china_earthquake/eng/.

59 For more on the Chinese government's interest in Pan-Chinese nationalism see Yingjie, Guo, Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary China: The Search for National Identity Under Reform (London & New York: Routledge, 2004)Google Scholar.

60 Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006), p. 2Google Scholar.

61 Ibid. p. 3.

62 The term “collective intelligence,” as used by Jenkins and others, is taken from Lévy, Pierre, Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace (Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books, 1997)Google Scholar.

63 For more on the functioning and discourses of the contemporary Chinese poetry scene see Heather Inwood, “On the scene of contemporary Chinese poetry,” PhD dissertation, SOAS, 2008.

64 Cf. de Weerdt, Hilde, “Grief for departed women in Shi from Jin to Sui,” Papers on Chinese Literature, No. 1 (1993), pp. 21–39Google Scholar.

65 Hockx, Michel, “Links with the past: mainland China's online literary communities,” Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 13, No. 38 (2004), pp. 105–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Yang Guobin, “The internet as cultural form.”

66 For an overview of uses of folk culture by Chinese intellectuals in the Republican era see Hung, Chang-tai, Going to the People: Chinese Intellectuals and Folk Literature, 1918–1937 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67 Chris Buckley, “‘Grandpa Wen’ comforts China's earthquake victims,” http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKPEK20190120080514.

68 Giese, Karsten, “Speaker's corner or virtual panopticon: discursive construction of Chinese identities online,” in Mengin, Francoise (ed.), Cyber China: Reshaping National Identities in the Age of Information (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 19–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

69 Yu Haiqing, Media and Cultural Transformation in China, p. 152.

70 Cf. Elegant, Simon, “A year after Sichuan quake, citizens press for answers,” Time Magazine, 12 May 2009, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1897567,00.htmlGoogle Scholar, and Branigan, Tania, “China jails investigator into Sichuan earthquake schools,” The Guardian, 9 February 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/09/china-eathquake-schools-activist-jailedGoogle Scholar.

71 Guobin, Yang, The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online (New York: Columbia University Press: 2009), p. 1Google Scholar.

72 For a list of current Chinese web slang see http://www.chinasmack.com/glossary.

73 Hu Ge's most recent (2010) online video, “Apartment dwellers” (Zhaiju dongwu) simultaneously parodies the nature programme “Animal world” (Dongwu shijie) and government censorship of the internet. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2n5GoGWmb0.

74 Yu Haiqing, Media and Cultural Transformation in China, p. 152.