University of Heidelberg

In the master narrative of the modern political and social transformation of China, historians have traditionally focused on the role played by great men, books and ideas. Other developments that might have had as much - and even more - impact such as the shifts in urban mentality, the rise of a new entertainment industry and press, or the emerging star culture have received little attention because of scholars’ prejudices, difficulty of documentation, and the complex methodology required for decoding the different media involved and for integrating the results. Confronting the prevailing master narrative(s) with the project’s results will open the critical space to test the impact of such marginalized areas on the particular Chinese path towards “modernity.” The rise of the dan should be seen in the context of a nation and a people in search of identity when confronted with the demise of dynastic rule, the birth of the Republic, and the threats to sovereignty coming from the great powers. Studying this asymmetrical cultural flow as a dynamic process of self-assertiveness and regenerating identity, the project hopes to demonstrate the creative and constructive dynamism brought by the desire to cope with asymmetry in the process of cultural flow.