Youthful ambivalence towards a good life: rhetorical anxieties as affective vacillations in Hegang

ABSTRACT

This study revisits the concept of anxiety and affective dimensions through an analysis of social media related to affordable housing property in Hegang, a small city located in the northeastern part of China. We build on Calum Matheson’s reconceptualization of anxiety as arising from networks of affective investment along with Sara Ahmed’s concept of the sociality of emotions and Lauren Berlant’s notion of cruel optimism. The essay sees rhetorical anxieties as affective vacillations from constant adaptions to an impasse caused by the polarizing effect of a rising neoliberal order, manifested as shifted orientations toward objects of desire and happiness. Constant vacillations may lead to a state of restlessness where anxiety is sedimented to routines and thus recedes to the background, making anxiety ambivalent in shape and unpredictable in trajectory. Viewing rhetorical anxieties as affective vacillations offers insights into their manifestations as anxious encounters and constant affective (re)investments. This reimagination of anxiety has implications on both theoretical inquiries of rhetorical anxieties as affects and practical understandings of the rise of the recent youth counternarratives in China.

KEYWORDS:

• Hegang
• rhetorical anxieties
• affective vacillations
• youth counternarrative
• Chinese social media

Notes

1 Hegang is a prefecture-level city located in the northeastern province Heilongjiang with a relatively small population. The number of permanent residents in Hegang was 891,271 in 2020, a roughly 8% decrease to that of 2011. For more information, see: Heilongjiang Bureau of Statistics, Erlingerling nian heilongjiangsheng diqici quanguo renkou pucha zhuyao shuju gongbao 2020 年黑龙江省第七次全国人口普查主要数据公报 [Report of Major Statistics of the Seventh National Population Consensus in Heilongjiang Province in 2020], May 27, 2021, http://tjj.hlj.gov.cn/tjj/c106736/202105/c00_30334037.shtml.

2 Dongbei refers to regions consisting of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, three of China’s northeastern provinces and part of Inner Mongolia. See: “Dongbei diqu 东北地区” [The northeastern region], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified May 29, 2024, 19:13, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%9C%E5%8C%97%E5%9C%B0%E5%8C%BA/7596883?fr=ge_ala.

3 The average price of housing property in Beijing was 46,941 RMB per square meter (10.76 square feet) in 2021. This means that the average price of an entire apartment in Hegang is less than the per square meter price in Beijing. See “Guojia shuju 国家数据” [National data], National Bureau of Statistics, https://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=E0105&zb=A03&reg=110000&sj=2021 (accessed March 11, 2023).

4 Huahua’s story became known to the public due to a blog post on Weibo. Unfortunately, the original post on Huahua’s story was later deleted by the uploader, but reposts of which can still be seen on Weibo. For example, see: Keji huifeng 科技汇疯, Weibo post, February 3, 2023, 8:12 am, https://weibo.com/2194868354/MrgdzsJb7?refer_flag=1001030103_.

5 Zixuan Zhang and Ke Li, “So You Choose to ‘Lie Flat?’ ‘Sang-ness,’ Affective Economies, and the ‘Lying Flat’ Movement,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 109, no. 1 (2023): 48–69.

6 Zixuan and Li, “So You Choose,” 53.

7 Sara Ahmed, “Not in the Mood,” New Formations 82, no. 1 (2014): 21.

8 Beishangguang used to refer to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, the top three most developed cities in the mainland of China. This term was later adapted as “Beishangguangshen” with the inclusion of Shenzhen as the most recent addition to the country’s line-up of top tier cities.

9 See: Calum Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me?’ Anxiety and Jade Helm 15,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 102, no. 2 (2016): 135; Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2011); Sarah Ahmed, The Promise of Happiness (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010).

10 Peter Jackson, Matthew Watson and Nicholas Piper, “Locating Anxiety in the Social: The Cultural Mediation of Food Fears,” European Journal of Cultural Studies 16, no. 1 (2013): 31.

11 Cheuk-Yuet Ho, “Affective Housing Ownership in China’s New Property Regime,” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 18, no. 1 (2017): 77.

12 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 23.

13 Banu Gökarıksel and Anna J. Secor, “Affective Geopolitics: Anxiety, Pain, and Ethics in the Encounter with Syrian Refugees in Turkey,” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 38, no.7–8 (2020): 1246.

14 Sara Ahmed, “Mixed Orientations,” Subjectivities, no. 7 (2014): 95.

15 Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me,’” 135.

16 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 24.

17 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 194.

18 See “Beipiao 北漂” [Beijing floaters], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified April 20, 2024, 21:29, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%8C%97%E6%BC%82/2969?fr=aladdin.

19 See “Taoli Beishangguang 逃离北上广” [Escaping from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified March 23, 2023, 13:12, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%80%83%E7%A6%BB%E5%8C%97%E4%B8%8A%E5%B9%BF/83699?fromModule=lemma_search-box.

20 This term was originally proposed by Hu Xiaowu in describing youth who constantly switch between small cities and top-tier cities in China. For more on this term, see: Hu Xiaowu 胡小武, “Houniaoxing Bailing: Taoli Beishangguang yu ‘dadushihua xianjing’ 候鸟型白领: 逃离北上广与‘大都市化陷阱’” [Migratory bird youth: Escaping from Beishangguang and ‘the trap of metropolitanization], zhongguo qingnian yanjiu 中国青年研究 205, no. 3 (2013): 33.

21 Calum Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me,’” 145.

22 Hizi Gil, “Fluctuating Affect: Purpose and Deflation in Paths of Self-Development,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 11, no. 3 (2021): 943.

23 The term is often adopted by the Chinese as a metaphor that symbolizes places of prosperity and abundance. For more on this term, see: “Heitudi 黑土地” [Black earth], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified November 14, 2023, 09:08, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BB%91%E5%9C%9F%E5%9C%B0/82878?fromModule=lemma_search-box.

24 See: “Gongheguo Zhangzi 共和国长子” [The first born child of the PRC], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified April 18, 2024, 16:21, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD%E9%95%BF%E5%AD%90/10304428?fromModule=lemma-qiyi_sense-lemma.

25 Zhang and Li, “So You Choose,” 53.

26 See: “Ziyuankujiexing Chengshi 资源枯竭型城市” [Resource exhausted cities], last modified December 22, 2023, 14:14, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%B5%84%E6%BA%90%E6%9E%AF%E7%AB%AD%E5%9E%8B%E5%9F%8E%E5%B8%82/3954025?fromModule=search-result_lemma-recommend.

27 See: State Council, “Guowuyuan guanyu jinyibu shishi dongbei diqu deng laogongye jidi zhenxing zhanlue de ruogan yijian 国务院关于进一步实施东北地区等老工业基地振兴战略的若干意见” [State Council’s opinions on further implementing plans to revitalize old industrial complexes in the northeastern region], September 11, 2009, http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2009-09/11/content_3675.htm.

28 For a more documented record of Dongbei’s economic decline, see: Wang Shengjin 王胜今 and Wang Zhichu 王智初, “Zhongguo renkou jiju yu jingji jiyu de kongjian yizhixing yanjiu 中国人口集聚与经济集聚的空间一致性研究” [Studies on spatial consistency between population agglomeration and economic agglomeration in China], Renkou Xuekan 人口学刊 39, no. 6, (2017): 48.

29 Hengyu Gu, Ziliang Liu, and Tiyan Shen, “Spatial Pattern and Determinants of Migrant Workers’ Interprovincial Hukou Transfer Intention in China: Evidence from a National Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey in 2016,” Population, Space, and Place 26, no. 2 (2019): 1–16.

30 For more details on Hegang’s demographic decline, see: Bureau of Statistics of Hegang, “Erlingerling nian Hegang shi diqici quanguo renkou pucha zhuyao shuju gongbao 2020年鹤岗市第七次全国人口普查主要数据公报” [The 2020 report of major statistics of the seventh population consensus of Hegang], June 1, 2021, http://www.hegang.gov.cn/xxgk_new/z_xgknr/z_xgjxx/z_xtjgb/2021/06/36138.htm.

31 Ahmed, The Promise, 42.

32 For example, in the movie “The Piano Factory,” Chen Guilin, a former steel factory worker facing economic challenges, creates a wedding and funeral band for a livelihood. His wife, Xiao Ju, leaves for a wealthier area with a prosperous businessman due to their difficult circumstances. When Xiao Ju returns with newfound prosperity, she seeks a divorce from Chen, linking custody of their daughter to a promised piano. Determined to fulfill his daughter’s dream, Chen overcomes obstacles, including financial struggles and setbacks, eventually handcrafting a piano with his group of friends in an abandoned factory. The plot of the movie is only fictional, but it is in actuality emblematic of the lived experience of those who are stuck in the region, lacking any potential for a better prospect. In here, the piano itself symbolizes the promise of the newly emerged neoliberal order in the country, where individuals desperately attempt to secure opportunities for achieving success predetermined by wealth, social status, resources, and social privileges, which is essentially cruel. For more of this movie, see: The Piano Factory, Directed by Meng Zhang (Perfect World Pictures, 2011), 1:41:17. https://v.qq.com/x/cover/5eo3anni43k8wt8/i0036f0muvr.html?ptag=iqiyi.

33 For more information of the blog post documenting Professor Yu’s comment on Dongbei, see: Fenghuangwang Caijing 凤凰网财经, Weibo post, February 3, 2013, 11:21 am, https://weibo.com/1988800805/MrhsbtH2X?refer_flag=1001030103_.

34 All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, “Quanguo Gongshanglian fabu erlingerer nian wanjia minying qiye ping yingshang huanjing zhuyao diaocha jielun 全国工商联发布2022 年度万家民营企业评营商环境主要调查结论” [All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce published major research results of the 2022 business climate rated by private enterprises], November 7, 2022. https://www.acfic.org.cn/qlyw/202211/t20221107_184413.html.

35 This comment is an adaption of a Chinese idiom called “Kelianzhiren biyou kehenzhichu 可怜之人必有可恨之处,” meaning whoever is pitiful must have a cause to be despised. In here, the comment replaced the people in the sentence with place.

36 Zhang and Li, “So You Choose,” 59, 60.

37 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 170.

38 For how the “desperate playfulness” reveals youth anxiety and resistance to affective burdens from neoliberal orders in the country, see: Zhang and Li, “So You Choose,” 58–63.

39 Ahmed, Willful Subjects (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2014), 80.

40 Guy Standing. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011), 1.

41 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 117.

42 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 4.

43 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 185, 186.

44 Yifan Wu, Yang Zhou, and Yansui Liu, “Exploring the Outflow of Population from Poor Areas and Its Main Influencing Factors,” Habitat International 99, (2020): 102161.

45 Chen et al., “Spatial Patterns of Long-term Residence,” 356.

46 To gain the local household registration status, an individual has to acquire a local Hukou, which will be mentioned later. See: Yu Zhu and Wenzhe Chen, “The Settlement Intention of China’s Floating Population in the Cities: Recent Changes and Multifaceted Individual-Level Determinants,” Population, Space and Place 16, no. 4 (2010): 254.

47 See “Hukou 户口” [Registered permanent residence], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified November 19, 2021, 17:16, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%88%B7%E5%8F%A3/593947?fr=aladdin. A Beijing Hukou is often difficult to require due to its requirement on the applicants’ education level, job nature, and time of stay (as some have to pay social credit in the city continuously for years before they can apply for the Hukou in Beijing).

48 Yu Zhu, “China’s Floating Population and Their Settlement Intention in the Cities: Beyond the Hukou Reform,” Habitat International 31, no. 1 (2007): 69.

49 Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, “Beijing shi jinfen luohu guanli banfa 北京市积分落户管理办法” [Regulations for Point-Based Household Registration in Beijing], July 14, 2020, http://rsj.beijing.gov.cn/ywsite/jflh/jfzc/202007/t20200716_1950433.html.

50 For more of this video, see Bujiacude anjisuan 不加醋的氨基酸, “Weile yige Beijing Hukou jipo naodai, zhidema? 为了一个北京户口挤破脑袋，值得吗？[Is it worth it to go to great length for a Beijing Hukou], Bilibili Video, 7:07, July 16, 2022, https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1wG411p7fs/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=88b4032a1345e733622dd9e1c5df6db7.

51 Sisi Yang and Fei Guo, “Breaking the Barriers: How Urban Housing Ownership Has Changed Migrants’ Settlement Intentions in China,” Urban Studies 55, no. 2 (2018): 3690.

52 See also Xiaocongming zhangjianguo 小聪明张建国, “Beijing Hukou daodi youshayong? 北京户口到底有啥用？[What can you do with a Beijing Hukou], Bilibili Video, 1:14, February 25, 2023, https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1rY411C7Z5/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=88b4032a1345e733622dd9e1c5df6db7.

53 Yue Qian and Zhenchao Qian, “Assortative Mating by Education and Hukou in Shanghai,” Chinese Sociological Review 49, no. 3 (2017): 258.

54 Zhu, “China’s Floating Population,” 75.

55 For example, floating populations in the 2000s often lived in overcrowded and low-quality living spaces known as “urban villages” owing to cheaper rents. Although this housing practice was later eliminated by government policies due to potential safety hazards, it has certainly left its mark on the country’s history of fast urbanization. See: Siqi Zheng, Fenjie Long, C. Cindy Fan, and Yizhen Gu, “Urban Villages in China: A 2008 Survey of Migrant Settlements in Beijing,” Eurasian Geography and Economics 50, no. 4 (2009): 425.

56 Zhu, “China’s Floating Population,” 65.

57 Middleton, “Anxious Belongings,” 608.

58 Ahmed, The Promise, 14.

59 Wangji jiyi huifu 忘记记忆回复, “Beipiao duonian, jingran zhaobudao fangxiang 北漂多年，竟然找不到了方向” [Been floating in Beijing for years, I have unexpectedly lost my directions], July 4, 2016, https://tieba.baidu.com/p/4649337844?pn=1.

60 Ahmed, The Promise, 181.

61 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 11.

62 Aile aile Aile艾乐, “Weilai, zaijian 未来，再见!” [Goodbye, future], October 18, 2016, https://tieba.baidu.com/p/4826987287?pn=1.

63 Steve Marotta, “Old Detroit, New Detroit: ‘Makers’ and the Impasse of Place Change,” Cultural Geographies 28, no. 2 (2021): 382.

64 Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me,’” 139.

65 Mirjam A. Twigt, “The Mediation of Hope: Digital Technologies and Affective Affordances Within Iraqi Refugee Households in Jordan,” Social Media + Society 4, no. 1 (2018): 6.

66 Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me,’” 135.

67 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 24.

68 For example, a recent “labor reflow” occurred in the country’s less developed regions, shrinking the population and labor force in major coastal cities. See: Chen et al., “Spatial Pattern of Long-term Residence,” 345.

69 Hu, “Migratory bird youth,” 33.

70 The blog post has invoked fierce response, forcing the uploader of the post to deactivate the hashtag and closed the comment section, but the original post can still be seen on Weibo, see Beike Caijing 贝壳财经, Weibo post, February 16, 2023, 9:55 am, https://weibo.com/1646051850/Mtfrxllsy.

71 The irony in the joke comes from a Chinese idiom “Daidai xiangchuan 代代相传” [Pass down from one generation to another], which originally refers to passing down valuable family possessions to one’s offspring. Here, instead of bestowing things of great value to your children, you are leaving them with a huge amount of debt, hence the irony.

72 Ahmed, The Promise, 171.

73 See Laoban Lianbo 老板联播, Weibo post, February 2, 2013, 5:26 pm, https://weibo.com/5994003317/MrapBcnGb?refer_flag=1001030103_.

74 For more of Professor Yu’s comment on the youth and Hegang, see Fenghuangwang caijing 凤凰网财经, February 4, 2023, 8:22 am, https://weibo.com/1988800805/MrpI54OsH?refer_flag=1001030103_.

75 Ahmed, Willful Subjects, 108, 109.

76 Anders Sybrandt Hansen, “Learning the Knacks of Actually Existing Capitalism: Young Beijing Migrants and the Problem of Value,” Critique of Anthropology 32, no. 4 (2012): 415–34.

77 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 3.

78 Sara Ahmed, “Willful Parts: Problem Characters or the Problem of Character,” New Literary History 42, no. 2 (2011): 245.

79 Matheson, “‘What Does Obama Want of Me,’” 139.

80 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 23.

81 In fact, the places of origin remain important final destinations of the floating population, though a great number of them are still looking for their final destinations elsewhere. See: Zhu and Chen, “The Settlement Intentions,” 265.

82 Jenny Preece, Kim McKee, John Flint, and David Robinson, “Living in a Small Home: Expectations, Impression Management, and Compensatory Practices,” Housing Studies, (2021): 4.

83 Henrike Donner, “Liminal States: Propertied Citizenship and Gendered Kinwork in Middle-Class Kolkata Families,” Critique of Anthropology 42, no.4 (2022): 459.

84 Yang and Guo, “Breaking the Barriers,” 3691.

85 Zhang and Li, “So You Choose,” 49.

86 For more information on the video, see Qingnian jizhe bindundun 青年记者斌墩墩, “Duibuqi, Hegang keneng rongbuxia gewei de huanxiang … 对不起,鹤岗可能容不下各位的幻想 … ” [Sorry, Hegang might not be the place to house your fantasy], Bilibili Video, 19:25, October 29, 2022, https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ZG411w7nk/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=88b4032a1345e733622dd9e1c5df6db7.

87 See also, Kangyouwei 康哟喂, “Buhui zhenyouren qu Hegang maifangba? Buhuiba buhuiba? 不会真有人去鹤岗买房吧？不会吧不会吧？” [Could it be true that someone is buying a house in Hegang? No way, right? No way!], Bilibili Video, 10:59, July 3, 2020, https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1DC4y187Q3/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=88b4032a1345e733622dd9e1c5df6db7.

88 Marotta, “Old Detroit, New Detroit,” 383.

89 Temporary migrants often move back and forth between their place of origin and their host city. See: Yang and Guo, “Breaking the Barriers,” 3691.

90 Ho, “Affective Housing Ownership,” 84.

91 Lauren Berlant, The Female Complaint (Durham and London: Duke University Press), 25.

92 A term now generally functions similarly as “Shechu.” See “Dagongren 打工人” [Laboror], Baidu Baike 百度百科, last modified May 9, 2024, 17:08, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%89%93%E5%B7%A5%E4%BA%BA/54050409.

93 Bangu Liao and David W. Wong, “Changing Urban Residential Patterns of Chinese Migrants: Shanghai, 2000–2010,” Urban Geography 36, no. 1 (2015): 123.

94 For more of the young lady’s commuting journey, see Shanhai shipin 山海视频, Weibo post, February 8, 2023, 9:40 am, https://weibo.com/7590570074/Ms1Vu57TN?refer_flag=1001030103_.

95 According to China Academy of the Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD), more than 70% of the cities involved in their recent report saw exacerbated situations of extreme commuting. Specifically, on page nine, the report says that there are 14 million people from 44 major cities who are currently suffering from extreme commuting, with the harshest commuting conditions found in Beijing. See: CAUPD, “Erlingerer niandu Zhongguo zhuyao chengshi tongqin jiancebaogao (fabuban) 2022 年度中国主要城市通勤检测报告(发布版)” [Monitoring report on commuting in major cities of China in 2022 (published edition)], July 29, 2022, https://www.cswcr.com/2022%E5%B9%B4%E5%BA%A6%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%B8%BB%E8%A6%81%E5%9F%8E%E5%B8%82%E9%80%9A%E5%8B%A4%E7%9B%91%E6%B5%8B%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A%EF%BC%8820220729%EF%BC%89.pdf.

96 Ahmed, The Promise, 175.

97 Zhu, “China’s Floating Population,” 74.

98 Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 167.

99 Ahmed, The Promise, 183.

100 Dia da Costa, “Cruel Pessimism and Waiting for Belonging: Towards a Global Political Economy of Affect,” Cultural Studies 30, no.1 (2016): 11.

101 Ahmed, Willful Subjects, 52.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zixuan Zhang (he/him)

Zixuan Zhang (he, him) earned his MA in Translation and Interpreting at Newcastle University in November 2015, and is a lecturer at the School of Foreign Languages of Shandong Jianzhu University. He is currently pursuing his PhD degree in rhetorical studies at Shandong University. His research interests are in rhetoric, cultural studies, and media discourse.

Ke Li (he/him)

Ke Li (he, him), is a professor at Soochow University. He earned his PhD in rhetorical studies from Shanghai International Studies University. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado Denver from February 2015 to February 2016. His research interests are in rhetoric, cognitive linguistics, and basic linguistic theories of English and Chinese.