China's masculinity crisis is 150 years old
China has been looking for ways to make men more manly since the late Qing dynasty
Recently, the Chinese Education Ministry announced that it would act upon senior political advisor’s call to suppress the ‘feminisation’ of young men and cultivate masculinity in Chinese schoolboys. They said they would hire more male teachers (whether or not they were the most qualified for the job), improve physical strength through more and better gym classes, and offer incentives such as free college education.
This has sparked a fierce debate in China, with gender and sexuality experts arguing that this move is not only openly sexist, but also potentially harmful to young men. The government has argued that imagery such as effeminate k-pop idols has infected young men, turning them into effeminate little fresh meats: “weak, self-effacing, and timid.” Opposition to the government argues that they should focus less on outward appearance and more on mental health, and aim to cultivate compassionate and moral men instead of those who bullied others for their gender expression.
What stood out to me in this story was the use of words by the political advisor in question. He called the feminisation of young men a “threat to the development and survival of our nation,” which is an interesting choice of words. How exactly is the personal development of young male gender identity directly linked with the survival of a nation? Luckily for us, I’ve already spent 3 years answering this question.
I never thought I would see the day an entire chapter of my PhD thesis would come in handy, but it turns out I’ve already written extensively on the topic of masculinity in China, and how historical hang ups about emasculated men feed directly into both 20th century and modern politics. What follows is basically a tl;dr of my dissertation.
19th Century Crisis
I briefly mentioned in the newsletter on Sino-Australian relations that one of the reasons China gets so combative when poked about touchy issues in its history and present is because of a historical representation of China as the ‘sick man of Asia’. This image emerged at the end of the imperial period when China’s interaction with the rest of the world was increasing, and the so-called ‘Century of Humiliation’ began.
This is arguably the period in which China’s hang ups with masculinity began. From the mid-19th to mid-20th century China was often characterised in its own media as sickly and backwards, and there was no shortage of gender-based equivalencies being drawn to explain this phenomenon. For example, women and femininity were frequently used as analogies for the myriad problems plaguing Chinese politics and society. Whereas traditional, foot-bound Chinese women were often held up as a symbol of China’s backward ways, the new woman in Republican China was promoted as a beacon of the nation's modern future.
As for men, due mainly to China’s recent military losses and its lapse into a semi-colonial state, the early 20th century saw Chinese men criticised for their lack of courage, physical strength and martial valour. The traditional image of a Chinese man that was required to master both Confucian morality and martial valour was becoming outdated, especially as the imperial exams were abolished and the idea of living life as an effeminate scholar writing poetry by moonlight in flowing robes was erased as a possibility.
Throughout the Republican period, both independent and Nationalist media promoted Westernised (in terms of education and appearance) men as signs of China’s own modernisation. Athletes taking part in international competitions and soldiers using modern military equipment were direct reflections of China’s own foray into globalisation. While this period was cut short by Communist ascension to power, the Communists took the problem of masculinity very seriously, and continued the mantle of promoting a masculinised culture.
Socialist Masculinity as a cure
Among their other goals, the CCP aimed to change international perceptions of China as a weak and effeminate nation, and saw an opportunity to do this using ‘new soviet man’ style ego-boosting imagery that portrayed Chinese peasants, workers and soldiers as able to overcome any obstacle through sheer willpower and physical strength. They argued that imperial China deliberately emasculated these men due to traditional power structures that deprived them of land, stability, and the ability to marry and form families by keeping men impoverished and destitute.
Meanwhile, socialism was a path to achieving the ideal masculine identity, for both men individually and for the Chinese nation. This idea of socialism providing the path to enlightened masculinity was derived from Soviet literature. Socialist realist works often came off as stereotypical and repetitive because... they were. Deliberately. Remember, the point of socialist art was to serve politics and regurgitate state myths about culture and society, to not make you happy or entertained.
In soviet works, the New Soviet Man was a strong, brilliant, devoted worker who possessed almost superhuman strength, leadership qualities, and who was ultimately collectively oriented, always sacrificing the self for the greater good. Not bad for your average 1920s peasant.
In Soviet literature, even the structure of society itself, referred to as the Great Family, was portrayed through male-centred relationships, such as father-son relationships. Often in these stories, “fathers,” who are primarily represented as strong, determined leaders who are enlightened politically, have good but politically immature ‘sons’, who over the course of the story progresses over time as his spontaneity is tempered under the guidance of a highly conscious “father” (father = state btw).
This image was adopted wholesale in Chinese media, with both art and literature working double-time to reflect this new, idealised man who was self-sacrificing to a fault and worked tirelessly, day and night, to overcome China’s technological backwardness often literally with his bare hands.
“We will use both our hands to turn wasteland into fertile farmland,” by Ha Qiongwen
For the CCP, Socialism was a means of developing and strengthening China, by transforming an emasculated rural population into a socialist peasantry. Through media, ideology, and on occasion actual policies, the CCP was working to create a masculinised China that had thrown off its weak and effeminate past, and now sought to overcome nature through sheer willpower, and create a new strong, healthy, and vigorous identity.
Post-Mao masculine identity
I remember reading a book for my PhD (I believe it was Men and Masculinities in Contemporary China by Song and Hird, but don’t quote me) where the introduction featured a discussion between several academics on the topic of masculinity in modern China. At one point one of the academics quips “Chinese masculinity, is there such a thing?” at which everybody laughed and the idea for a book was born.
Most literature on modern Chinese masculinity argues that old socialist models of masculinity were discarded in favour of modern, often more westernised ideals. Men in the post-Mao era paid more attention to their appearance, displays of wealth such as watches and cars, job prestige, and social and political connections. However, there is still the implication that prioritising the state over one’s individual comfort or family, reinforced by the constant celebration of national heroes in national media such as films and shows about the war with Japan.
Most academics generally tend to draw a connection between pre-modern sources of masculinity (educational attainment, achieving official status or wealth, political connections, filial piety). However, though they draw from the same sources, they have different aims. Modern day Chinese masculinity reveals the tension between globalisation and traditional Chinese values, as the modern Chinese state attempts to assert itself with greater vigour in the international scene.
China in the modern era continues to experience the same problems the Qing dynasty had at the end of the empire - how to improve China’s perception by the global community. Images of effeminate scholars writing poems under the moonlight while drinking baijiu were not a problem 1,000 years ago, but that when China was solely concerned with its own affairs, and could firmly place itself at the top of the international intellectual food chain (mainly by ignoring everyone else and calling them barbarians).
Now that China is looking to gain equal footing - and even supremacy - in certain global areas, it means it has to compete on global terms in all areas, including masculinity.
Arguably, Politics is masculine. Leaders like Putin, Orban, Erdogan, and Trump show that machismo still has a place in global affairs. Recent bullish statements from senior Chinese officials on Western platforms like Twitter show that China is trying to play the game they see - aggressive and assertive leaders get their way because they’re able to intimidate opponents into backing down, or at least silence.
The Future of Chinese Men
For Chinese politicians - many of whom are old enough to remember the Maoist era of their youths - it makes sense that a perceived crisis in masculinity represents an existential crisis. I think the problem is not so much that Chinese men are effeminate, but rather that politicians feel they’ll need toughening up in what will likely be an increasingly competitive future.
If the Belt and Road initiative shows us anything, China wants to be the dominant player, at least in the developing world. The Chinese who are employed to work abroad managing projects, mining ore, building railroads, and negotiating trade deals are not just representatives of China’s goodwill and economy, but of the nation in general.
Many predictions have been made over the years that China will ‘fail’, the growth won’t last, and the state will ‘collapse into chaos’. There’s a book released on the topic basically every year. China, ever sensitive to outside critique, strives to prove them wrong, and won’t care if they hurt a few feelings of the ‘weak’ and ‘effeminate’ along the way.
Sources
Inkstone, “China wants to bring machismo back to schools”
Sixth Tone, “China Wants to Mitigate Male ‘Feminization’ With More Gym Class”
My Actual PhD Thesis