Revolutionary Appropriation of Disability in Socialist Chinese Literature and Film

Revolutionary Appropriation of Disability in Socialist Chinese Literature and Film

Literature and film in socialist China represented disabled people primarily in two ways: either as courageously contributing to socialist development in spite of physical impairments, or as recovering miraculously due to the medical practices supported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This art...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:China perspectives 2021-06, Vol.2021 (2 (125)), p.61-69
Main Author: Wang, Zihan
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Appropriation
Asian literature
Censorship
Chinese literature
Communism
Communist parties
Consciousness
Cultural change
Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution (China : 1966-1976)
Disability
Disabled people
International relations
Love
Medical assistance, Chinese
Medical practices
Motion pictures
Motion pictures and literature
Narratives
Paradigms
People with disabilities
Rehabilitation
Socially handicapped
Society
Veterans
War
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Summary:Literature and film in socialist China represented disabled people primarily in two ways: either as courageously contributing to socialist development in spite of physical impairments, or as recovering miraculously due to the medical practices supported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This article seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of these two narrative paradigms. In the first case, it examines a mutually constitutive structure of love and disability, and then demonstrates how writers maintained a certain agency under socialist censorship by deviating from this structure. In addition, this article traces the formation of miraculous recovery stories and argues that this process was a complex interaction among disability, Soviet or Chinese medical practices, Sino-Soviet relations, and the Mao cult. I will further explore why the second paradigm became more influential than the first one during the Cultural Revolution.
ISSN:2070-3449
1996-4617