'Rivers and lakes' : alternative sovereignty in the Chinese popular imagination

"'Rivers and Lakes': Alternative Sovereignty in the Chinese Popular Imagination" is a study of the Chinese concept of jianghu and its literary and film representation. Literally "rivers and lakes, " jianghu has been part of Chinese cultural and moral traditions for more than 2,000 years, and is a mainstay of modern martial arts fiction and related popular genres, yet to date there has been no systematic, in-depth scholarly treatment of this unique and ubiquitous concept. Drawing on Hannah Arendt's conception of the public realm as the space for speech, action, and judgement, I argue jianghu is a subversive public space, where yi (honor) guides those who inhabit and traverse it. Jianghu's literal meaning as rivers and lakes conjures images of marginal, in-between spaces as well as roads and waterways that connect urban and rural areas. These are spaces outside or in between sites of state authority where unsupervised networks flourish. I further argue that jianghu in literature operates as an imaginary locus of alternative modes of sociality, moral honor, and sovereignty, both symbiotic with and in contestation of the state. This dissertation pushes for a reevaluation of honor in our public discourse. Honor is not only vital to understanding the narratives I analyze, a facet underestimated by many scholars, but influences our world in many ways—ranging from identity politics to transnationalism and much more. I draw upon the work of Kwame Anthony Appiah, Francis Fukuyama, and Charles Taylor to analyze the role of honor in societies past and present. I build on these theoretical frameworks by combining them to analyze the Chinese concept of yi and the jianghu narratives it manifests in. I also reflect yi back onto these theories to analyze ways they can be modified, thus creating new frameworks for analysis. I argue the jianghu moral concept of yi, stemming from but different than the yi of the Confucian classics, is an egalitarian system of honor. Yi provides a moral orientation which informs the identities of jianghu gallants and enables typically itinerant or isolated people to occasionally band together and rise up against the state. I modify Appiah's "global honor world" to argue that honor can inform the creation of transnational honor worlds between individuals rather than nations. By analyzing Appiah's and others' insights with Fukuyama's "democratization of dignity, " I demonstrate dignity's relationship with nationalism and identity politics and argue the need for dignity to be the basis for individuals to achieve honor rather than the end goal. These contestations of honor manifest in jianghu narratives analyzed in this dissertation, from the 16th century novel Water Margin to modern films and novels such as Fist of Legend, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and The Deer and the Cauldron. Another theoretical thrust this dissertation makes is that jianghu, underwritten by yi, is an alternative public space where people outside of the dominant classes and the mainstream communal networks can appear, act, speak and be judged by their peers. The values of yi and jianghu knight-errantry also enable people to break away from the state sponsored Confucian family and form alternative but fluid communities, essential for members of jianghu to leave the private and enter a public. Jianghu is where identities not encouraged by the state can form, different conceptions of honor and legitimacy flourish, and strangers encounter one another—potentially bonding into unsanctioned groupings. The alternative public space of jianghu challenges uncritical notions that Chinese culture encourages uncontested authoritarianism. I contend that jianghu provides examples of honor bound public spaces. Its emphasis on face-to-face encounters can contribute to Arendt's postulations of a "republic of councils, " and is a potential force of civil disobedience for Andreas Kalyvas' "third dimension of democracy." This dissertation's analysis of jianghu and yi adds a new layer to our global understanding of honor and public spaces by bringing these Chinese concepts into conversation with the aforementioned and other theoretical frameworks

Keywords: East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Advisor: Lee Haiyan
Wang Ban
Zhou Yiqun