Dear colleagues, We are thrilled to announce the publication of the edited book Internet Vulgarities in China: Cultures, Governance and Politics, edited by Jian Xu (Deakin University) and Dino Ge Zhang (City University of Hong Kong). The book has been published by Routledge as part of its Asian Visual Cultures series. https://www.routledge.com/Internet-Vulgarities-in-China-Cultures-Governance-... The book is the first comprehensive study to critically examine the cultures, governance and politics of internet vulgarities in Chinese society. Comprising twelve chapters, the authors present empirically rich case studies to explore the nature, regulation and evolution of the internet cultural products, vernacular internet cultures and subcultural online communities which have been officially deemed ‘vulgar’ by the state, official media and policy documents.
From ‘vulgar’ online music, internet literature, memes, web dramas, influencers, video games to online fandoms, this timely book demonstrates that the disciplinary power of China’s ‘anti-vulgarity’ campaigns stems from the state’s strategic use of the ambiguous concept of ‘vulgarity’ to judge and regulate the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of popular digital media cultures. This process of turning language into law—a form of ‘linguistification of rule’—functions as a key technique of digital and cultural governance, ensuring that these cultures evolve in accordance with the ideological, moral and cultural values of the party-state.
The book will make a significant contribution to the fields of China’s digital media studies, popular culture studies, internet and cultural governance. It is an essential resource for scholars, researchers and students seeking a critical understanding of China’s digital media cultures and its governance and politics. Table of Contents Chapter 1 (Introduction): Judgement of ugliness: The politics of ‘anti-vulgarity’ in China’s media and cultural governance — Jian Xu & Dino Ge Zhang Part I: Internet Cultural Products Chapter 2: Messy realities and power secrecy: Contested and persistent presences of vulgarities in the governance of Chinese web novels — Renren Yang Chapter 3: Legitimising musical taste: ‘Vulgar internet songs’ from ‘Mice loves rice’ to PG-One — Nathanel Amar Chapter 4: Boy’s love as ‘vulgar’ culture? The discourse of anti-boys’ love and the cis-heteronormative governance against BL-adapted web dramas in China — Liang Ge, Tingting Hu and Ziyao Chen Chapter 5: Vulgar spirits of games and play from state to society: An alternative history of videogames in China — Dino Ge Zhang & Jing Sun Part II: Vernacular Internet Cultures Chapter 6: ‘Toxic Chicken Soup’ as a genre: The dialectics of hope and its governance on We Media — Shaohua Guo Chapter 7: Ball-ache, dick hair and serial cunt words: The role of vulgarity in Chinese internet language — Gabriele de Seta Chapter 8: Negativity as vulgar? The rise of self-mockery culture and its governance — Junqi Peng Chapter 9: In search of the opposite of the canonical: eGao Red Classics and its regulation — Qian Gong Part III: Subcultural Online Communities Chapter 10: Vulgarising a subaltern taste on Chinese social media: The rise and fall of hanmai rap and social shake dance — Jiaxi Hou Chapter 11: Eroticised internet celebrity and vulgarity in China: The case of Aoi Sola — Jamie Coates Chapter 12: ‘Chasing idols in a rational way’: Governing toxic ‘fan circle’ culture in China — Jian Xu & Ling Yang
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Best regards Jian Xu Associate Professor in Communication Deakin University, Australia Profile: https://experts.deakin.edu.au/40550-jian-xu Important Notice: The contents of this email are intended solely for the named addressee and are confidential; any unauthorised use, reproduction or storage of the contents is expressly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please delete it and any attachments immediately and advise the sender by return email or telephone. Deakin University does not warrant that this email and any attachments are error or virus free.