Critical Han StudiesCritical Han Studies The History, Representation, and Identity of China’s Majority Edited by THOMAS S. MULLANEY JAMES LEIBOLD STEPHANE GROS ERIC VANDEN BUSSCHE Ba Global, Area, and International Archive University of California Press BERKELEY LOS ANGELES — LONDON‘The Global, Area, and International Archive (GAIA) is an initiative of the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the University of California Press, the California Digital Library, and international research programs across the University of California system. University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www-ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Led London, England © 2012 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 21 20 19 Wo 16 5 4 wo 987654321 ISBN: 978-0-520-28975-8Contents Acknowledgments Critical Han Studies: Introduction and Prolegomenon Thomas $. Mullaney PART I. HAN AND CHINA 4. Recentering China: The Cantonese in and beyond the Han Kevin Carrico 2. On Not Looking Chinese: Does “Mixed Race” Decenter the Han from Chineseness? Emma J. Teng 3. “Climate’s Moral Economy”: Geography, Race, and the Han in Early Republican China Zhihong Chen 4. Good Han, Bad Han: The Moral Parameters of Ethnopolitics in China Uradyn E. Bulag PART II. THE PROBLEM OF HAN ORIGINS 5. Understanding the Snowball Theory of the Han Nationality Xu Jieshun 13PART Il. 8. 10. a. Antiquarian as Ethnographer: Han Ethnicity in Early China Studies Tamara T. Chin The Han Joker in the Pack: Some Issues of Culture and Identity from the Minzu Literature Nicholas Tapp THE PROBLEM OF HAN FORMATIONS Hushuo: The Northern Other and the Naming of the Han Chinese Mark Elliott From Subjects to Han: The Rise of Han as Identity in Nineteenth-Century Southwest China Searching for Han: Early Twentieth-Century Narratives of Chinese Origins and Development James Leibold Han at Minzu's Edges: What Critical Han Studies Can Learn from China's “Little Tibet” Chris Vasantkumar Notes Character List Bibliography Contributors Index 147a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page 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thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.2. On Not Looking Chinese Does “Mixed Race” Decenter the Han from Chineseness? Emma J. Teng, What do you mean you feel Chinese in your heart? You don't look Chinese. isa see, “The Funeral Banquet” In an essay published in Half-and-Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural (1998), the best-selling author Lisa See recounts the above reaction from readers of her epic account, On Gold Mountain: The One- Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995). With her red hair and freckles, itis perhaps not surprising, on the face of it, that, See frequently encounters this reaction from Chinese and non-Chinese observers alike. Yet such a charge—" You don’t look Chinese” —deserves to be interrogated, for it can only be understood given ana priori assumption of who is Chinese and who is not. What does it mean to be Chinese? And who defines it? Does red hair (or black skin) make one any less Chinese than any other “Descendant of the Dragon” (Long de chuanren)?? A great deal has been said on the subject of Chineseness in the years since the publication of Tu Wei-ming’s seminal edited collection, The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today (1994), as suggested by the introduction to this volume, and yet the question of what constitutes Chinese identity remains a vital arena of contention: in conference rooms, in the classroom, and on the Web. Is it primarily a matter of race (biology) or of culture (behavior)? Is such a dichotomy between “descent” and “con- sent”—to borrow from Werner Sollors—even a productive way to think about the question?? How can Critical Mixed-Race Studies in tandem with Critical Han Studies shed light on these issues? One approach to defining group membership is exemplified in the mission statement of the global Internet-based organization Huaren.org: “Huaren are people of Chinese origin by birth, descent and heritage inside and outside China,”* This is a notably primordialist vision of Chinese iden- 45