Sunday 13 February 2011

To what extent can it be claimed that the governmental and intellectual elite of the Qing dictated the parameters of ‘popular culture’?: Chapter Five

V: Conclusions

In conclusion this study has provided a survey of different interpretations as to how one should view popular culture within Qing China. The specific case studies contained within sections II through IV establish the degree to which popular culture, the impetus driving mechanisms of belief and interaction, was not confined to dogmatic parameters defined by the elite, ruling class but replete in relationships centered upon the ability of the peasant to exercise personal desire. However, each study, albeit not in every instance directly, alludes to the significance of tradition in dictating belief systems and modes of interaction, underlining mechanisms regardless of social standing to allow for there to be a degree of continuity and self-propagation of a national image and agenda. The role sexuality occupied within society specifically brings to attention certain themes such as the interaction between State orthodoxy, elite and common practice and tradition. In exploring homosexuality as functional one is reminded that Qing China was a society of particular social relations, with interaction, to an extent, dictated in terms of class, age and sex, patterns of which can easily be traced in Chinese history. Furthermore, in exploring homosexuality as a method of attack for political elites and an expression of personal choice there still existed a sense of proper social etiquette, with people knowing and accepting a particular position in a social hierarchy. This point coincides with the conclusion that same-sex relations draw particular attention to the role of tradition, not only in terms of respecting hierarchies within society as a whole but also on a much more personal level: the family.

Modern historiography leans towards considering new areas of possible research, areas otherwise mistreated, underestimated or all together not considered. To this effect rose movements such as subaltern history, history of mentalities and other specific schools of historical consideration. Within Chinese peasant studies, a field with limited primary source material of personal perspective; it becomes even harder to consider peasants on their own terms. However, modern attitudes tend to deny that the agents the historian considers is devoid of any sort of rationality in their actions, therefore to truly understand culture one need to approach the material and resources available from different angles. Evans-Pritchard, for example in his study of the Azande[1], pioneered a unique social approach to understanding and explaining witchcraft as a part of a community’s culture. Specifically Evan-Pritchard considered the field of study sociology of perception; a mean of trying to ascertain models of social relations and world views based on primary evidence and real patterns of behaviour[2]. To truly understand peasant culture in China, therefore, one needs to go beyond economic or mathematical models. Likewise, trying to establish models and patterns are sometimes unattainable; to understand systems of belief, values and social norms a variety of different considerations and approaches need to be debated and applied.

As thus, through considering different approaches in understanding Chinese popular culture this essay has highlighted the necessity of contemplating that culture within China was a product of negotiation between personal want, the effect of political methods of control and traditions embedded within social organization. This model, for want of a better word, is not specific to a region or specific social group but can be used to ascertain a social understanding. This provides an understanding of how culture was constructed, however, and only as a by-product furnishes an insight into how culture actually existed, for example prevailing attitudes extant within family politics and economic systems. However, in order to fully elaborate on this point a separate survey of the history of culture in China would be necessary, considering historical method and its relation, most specifically perhaps, to anthropology and sociology. As thus, the conclusion given can only exist on the basis that more information on cultural studies in China needs to be applied to strengthen its claims.



[1] E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande, Oxford University Press, 1951

[2] Mary Douglas, Introduction: Thirty Years after Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic, in Mary Douglas (ed.), Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, Tavistock Publications Limited, 1970, p. xvi

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