The memory and experience of a workwoman: How do Chinese workers spend their lives in Weaving Girl (2008)

Abstract

The film, Weaving Girl, focuses its camera upon laid-off workers who lost their jobs during the time of the Chinese government’s vehement neo-liberal reforms following the 1990s. The narrative framework takes the triangular relationship of a woman and her two lovers. On the surface, it narrates a “tragic” story of a passionate woman, which seemingly is a reflection of the unfortunate destiny of the Chinese working woman in the era of reform; and there is a certain intersection between class and gender. However, after a careful examination of its narrative structure, the paper suggests that her tragedy to a large extent is merely a projection of the elite's imagination regarding the working class, making it a biased and partial representation of the fortune of this unfortunate group in general and the female workers in particular. Furthermore, this narrative bypasses the really deplorable aspects of underprivileged people in contemporary China. Essentially, then, the plotline merely makes “fate” and the woman’s capricious character to be the scapegoats, but avoids exploring the neoliberal reform agenda which is the true cause of the tragedies of (female) workers, in which the protagonist’s own story is but a minor one. From this perspective, the movie is anti-feminist in its core under the surface of a pro-female stance. The merits and faults of the movie provide an inspiring lesson for future feminist interventions.

Abstract in Chinese

⟪纺织姑娘⟫聚焦于在中国社会1990年代以来凶猛的新自由主义改革政策下失去工作的下岗工人群体。它的叙述框架是一个女人与其两个男人之间的三角关系。表面上, 它叙述了一个感情浓烈的女人的悲剧性故事, 这似乎是对改革时代中国女工的不幸命运的反映; 并且在其反映的阶级和性别问题之间也有一定的交集之处。但通过对其叙述策略的仔细检视, 本文认为女主人公的悲剧很大程度上是将精英的惯习和想象投射到工人阶级身上, 这使得它无论是对工人阶级整个群体还是对女工这个特定群体的命运表现都是片面的、不完整的。并且, 这个叙述其实忽略了当代中国弱势群体的真正可悲境遇。本质上, 这个情节只是将命运和女人的任性作为悲剧的替罪羊, 而回避反思流行批判的新自由主义政策, 而后者才是(女性)工人的悲剧的真正原因罪魁祸首, 而女主人公的故事在这之中只是一个较小的插曲而已。从这一视角看来, 电影在其表面上的亲女性立场之下, 实际上是反女权主义的。这一电影的优点和缺陷为将来的女性主义批判工作提供了有益的借鉴。

Keywords:

• Weaving Girl
• laid-off workers
• neoliberal reform
• tragedy
• destiny

Keywords:

• ⟪纺织姑娘⟫
• 下岗工人
• 新自由主义
• 悲剧
• 命运

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the co-editor of AJWS, Mala Khullar, for her meticulous editing work and very helpful suggestions.

Notes on contributor

WANG Xiaoping received his Ph.D. in Asian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He is now chair professor of Chinese studies at Huaqiao University. His major research interests are concerned with modern and contemporary Chinese literature and culture. He has published more than eighty articles in Comparative Literature Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, Postmodern Culture, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, Australian Journal of Popular Culture, Critique, International Critical Thought, Frontier of Literary Studies in China, etc.

Notes

1. Meisner also cites Anita Chan’s study by pointing out that “[t]he abuses suffered by workers in China … include: ‘forced and bonded labor; control of workers’ bodily functions and physical mistreatments; subsistence or below-subsistence wages; and a pervasive climate of violence’” (Meisner, 1999, p, 533).

2. A critic points out that just when she is in the hospital, hearing the unfortunate news about her illness, “we witness the back of a woman holding a baby in an unclear long shot, which gradually fades away; then, between Li Li and this woman, the head of another boy appears. The information this shot articulates is rich. The triple-layered image brought about by the close-up, medium shot, and long shot suggests Li’s complex psychological movement when she hears the tragic news … The back of the woman holding her baby might imply Li’s thought that her husband has to find a stepmother for her son, whereas the boy in the back is another projection of Li’s psychological movement. In all, the hazy long short already tells us that Li realizes that she will leave her son soon (Lanling qishi, 2010).”

3. The festival is on the seventh day of every seventh month of the lunar calendar.

4. A critic has made comments on this action, now since “her feelings of love have started to return, she feels that she must escape this kind of renewed attraction towards each other. She knows that she is going to die soon, and so she can’t face the prospect of being in love again. That’s why she left suddenly and didn’t allow any new developments to happen between them.” But this is merely one of the possible reasons opened for discussion (see Rist, 2009).

5. Therefore, her verbal exchange with the foreman is meant to convey a sense of resentment against exploitative working conditions.

6. Historians have acknowledged the fact that “Under Chinese communism, labor’s exalted status was reflected not so much in high wages, but by the supposedly indestructible ‘iron rice bowl,’ the cradle-to-grave benefits provided to SOE employees. This package of benefits—which undoubtedly fostered worker dependency on the state—included permanent employment, essentially free housing and medical care, food and fuel subsidies, travel allowances, pensions, childcare, and education. The iron rice bowl was considered so desirable that its recipients have been called China’s ‘labor aristocracy’” (Weston, 2004, p. 71).

7. It has been noted that “The majority of laid-off women are middle aged with few resources to compete in the new job market. Laid-off women with scant special skills and a family to support have limited choices” (Wang, 2003, p. 175).

8. The other Chinese sixth-generation auteurs in this period have paid some attention to the plight and changing destiny of Chinese women during the state’s neoliberal turn. For instance, in two movies directed by the members of this group, Rainclouds over Wushan (1996) and Suzhou River (2000), Chinese women are forced to sell their bodies; they also serve as the social-political allegory of a China transforming from a socialist state into a pro-capitalist market society. For an analysis of the two movies, see Wang (2013, 2014).

9. In the choir team, Li Li was a good singer and Zhao played the accordion, and that’s how they met. In the Chinese idiom, there is a saying, “the lute and psaltery are in harmony,” which means that two bosom friends are keenly appreciative of each others’ tastes for they share similar intellectual thoughts and aesthetic distinctions. Meanwhile, the implication of her meeting with ex-lover Zhao is not sufficiently presented in the diegetic space. Only from the director’s response to a reporter’s inquiry do we learn the message “in the scene where they go to the ocean, and they talk about their children, asking about what they are like and what they do … she asks ‘what is your daughter like?’ and he says ‘she sings very well’ and then in response to a question about her son, she says that, ‘well he plays an instrument’—he plays the piano, but it could be the accordion—so from these two simple sentences we know that for the whole time they were teaching their children things, while actually thinking about each other” (see Rist, 2009).

10. Meanwhile, after Li leaves Beijing without notice, although Zhao comes to the hotel to look for her, he does not try to contact her again.

11. We are informed by political scientists that “Reform of state-owned enterprises, bankruptcies, massive unemployment, and labor rights violations have triggered a rising tide of labor activism in the cities since the 1990s. Grievances of workers in both the state and private sectors focus mainly on an array of economic and livelihood problems, notably unpaid pensions and wages, layoffs, inadequate severance compensation, arrears of medical reimbursement, and non-payment of heating subsidies. Targets of worker grievances have been enterprise managements and local governments. In numerous cases involving bankruptcies and privatization, workers voice opposition to official corruption and illicit transfer of state assets” (Lee, 2007).

12. The director claims that “I wanted to provide a very direct introduction to who the main character is, in what working space she inhabits, and to show that she is only one among a huge number of women workers in this industry; and that this situation is quite normal for the current generation of industrial workers.” Nevertheless, in his mind, “The most important thing is not what happens but how one copes, how one sees life.” This indicates that he does not intend to make a critique of the socio-political roots which bring about the tragedy or miserable situation of the laid-off workers, but just wants to offer a humanist glimpse. Meanwhile, he says that he “wanted to show that someone at the low end of the social scale can still be happy, and have a meaningful life. The same things apply to people at every social level.” These words show that there is no perspective of class analysis in the movie (see Rist, 2009).

13. Although at most times she appears reserved and restrained, yet her peevish attitude towards the unit leader and her coldness towards her husband clearly indicate her egocentrism. Thus a reporter aptly notes that “In general terms she is emotionally inexpressive, but, at key moments, very expressive” (see Rist, 2009).