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| Publications [#370129] of Linshan Jiang
Papers Published
- Jiang, L, Queer Vocals and Stardom on Chinese TV: Case Studies of Wu Tsing-Fong and Zhou Shen,
in Queer TV China Televisual and Fannish Imaginaries of Gender, Sexuality, and Chineseness, edited by Zhao, JJ
(February, 2023),
pp. 145-160, Hong Kong University Press .
(last updated on 2024/08/01)
Abstract:
This chapter examines the life experiences and TV performances of two pop singers, Taiwanese Wu Tsing-Fong (吴青峰; born in 1982) and mainland Chinese Zhou Shen (周深; born in 1992), as well as how people react to their images on Chinese TV. Wu and Zhou are special in the Sinophone entertainment industry because they both possess “androgynous” voices as male singers. At first glance, their appearances and personalities echo the popular soft masculinity—a hybrid form of Chinese Confucian wen (文) masculinity, Japanese bishōnen (美少年; rendered as “beautiful youth”) masculinity, and global metrosexual masculinity—that scholars have identified in recent studies of stardom in East Asia (Jung 2010, 39; Louie 2014, 24; Louie 2015, 122; Song 2010, 410; Song and Hird 2013, 1; see also Chapters 3 and 6 in this volume). While the so-called “soft masculinity” may in itself be considered “effeminate,” the voices of Wu and Zhou intensify this social stigma based on gender norms and are often denounced as unacceptable—indeed, queer. Their vocal queerness not only drew verbal abuse during the singers’ teenage years, but also generated media sensation and public attention following each of their performing debuts. I use vocal queerness in these two cases to denote both a form of gender nonnormativity and a signifier of homosexuality for some audiences (although neither singer has declared himself as such). Wu and Zhou continue to be targets of verbal abuse at present, despite their popularity. Nevertheless, I argue that their vocal queerness not only destabilizes the univocal male masculinity rooted in mainstream Chinese society, but also adds to the diverse representations of Chinese-speaking male gender personas in today’s music, TV, and celebrity industries.
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