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WANG SHUO AND THE PROFESSIONALISED WRITING1

Yongli Su (Australian National University)

Wang Shuo, characterised by his satirical style and public profile as an entrepreneur, is one of the most popular and controversial fictional writers in Mainland China, with his peak period being from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Through the example of Wang Shuo, this paper explores the new phase of the professionalised writing, and more broadly, the commercialisation of culture, that emerged in Mainland China during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. As John Fitzgerald anticipated in 1983, the influence and importance of this cultural commercialisation can be compared to that of the Cultural Revolution.2 I approach this significant cultural phenomenon through an examination of changes in peoples attitude toward writing, especially fiction writing. As argued by John Sutherland, because of its length and consequently the large investment it requires, the novel is intimately tied to the technological development and commercial management.3 Therefore, through changes in fiction writing, the historical changes in literary mode of production can be explored.

This paper was presented to the 15th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Canberra 29 June-2 July 2004. It has been peer-reviewed and appears on the Conference Proceedings website by permission of the author(s) who retains) copyright. The paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and other relevant legislation. 2 It was indicated by the title of John Fitzgeralds article, John Fitzgerald, A New Cultural Revolution: The Commercialisation of Culture in China, The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 11 (January, 1984), p.105. 3 John Sutherland, Bestsellers: Popular Fiction of the 1970s, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), p.21.

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According to the Confucian tradition of Wen yi zai dao (literature to convey the Way), writing had been considered an important means to transmit moral and political messages in China. Writers had been viewed as guardians of values. Following the traditional Chinese values that regarded commerce morally corrupting, Chinese writers for centuries were meant to feel ashamed of associating writing with the idea and practice of earning profits. Even popular fiction, such as Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), was always considered a means of moral education (jiaohua). However, with the advance of the market economy, the powerful forces of consumerism penetrated cultural spheres. In post-Mao China, writers and others working in cultural fields waded into the ocean of business dealings (Wenren xiahai). Even Confucius was interpreted as a business guru.4

To explore this drastic cultural transformation, I will briefly investigate two types of professionalised fiction writing in Chinese history, the professionalised commercial writing at the turn of the twentieth century and the professionalised writing in the socialist period. I, then, move to Chinese literary and cultural market in post-Mao era. The popularity of the writer Wang Shuo among readers and the great controversies aroused by his self-promotion demonstrate the emergence of a new type of the writer, the entrepreneurial writer.

1. Two types of professionalised writing in China

The notion of the profession is useful in exploring the historical changes in literary mode of production and writers relationships to the changes.5 Magali Sarfatti Larson points out that professionalisation coincides with the rise of industrial capitalism and with the evolution of capitalism toward its corporate form.6 In the Chinese context, the emergence and transformation of professionalised writing reflect historical changes in peoples attitudes toward commerce and writing. At the turn of the twentieth century, along with the increasing industrialization, urbanization and entertainment industry, fictional writing became a new profession and literary works as commodities became acceptable.

During the socialist era, however, with strengthened Party control and the intensified socialist ideology, writing was transformed into another type of profession to implant prescribed
Kam Louie, Sage, Teacher, Businessman: Confucius as a Male Model, Shiping Hua ed., Chinese Political Culture (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), pp.33-38. 5 See Norman N. Feltes, Modes of Production of Victorian Novels (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), p.5-6; Robert L. Patten, Charles Dickens and His Publishers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), p.9-27; John A. Sutherland, Victorian Novelist and Publishers (London: Athlone Press, 1976), pp.78-81. 6 Magali Sarfatti Larson, The Rise of Professionalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), p.6.
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values and attitudes to common readers. Writers, dramatists and other people working in cultural fields were called cultural workers (wenhua gongzuozhe). Instead of being geniuses or creative, writers and other cultural workers were paid by the government and were supposed to work as screws within the whole socialist machine.

1.1. The first stage of the professionalisation of writing

Historically, it was not until the late Qing Dynasty, when modern printing technologies emerged and modern industrialisation developed, that it became possible for writing to develop into a profession and writers to survive on their publications.7 Fiction was long considered an inferior genre precisely because it often was associated with entertainment and commercial operations. The commercialisaiton of the print industry emerged in China during the mid seventeenth century.8 However, I argue that it was not writers but printing houses that played an important role in the early commercilisation of fiction. Xiong Damu, the owner of the old-styled bookstore Zhongzhengdang (which not only sold books but also printed books), was also the author and compiler for several early novels.9 In addition, as McLaren points out, most works of vernacular fiction were published using woodblocks, even after the advent of movable type.10 For commercial publishers at that time, instead of publishing new texts, altering older woodblocks was a more economical way for an expanding market. Consequently, not writers creative works but compiled and revised works by publishers were inspired.

As for writers, considering the despised status of fiction, the number of writers engaging in writing novels was much less than that in classical prose or poetry. Traditional Chinese literati made a living more often from official service, landowning, or other business, other than writing.11 There were no records of manuscript payment standards. In addition, it was proved that not a few novels, such as The Journey to the West (Xiyouji), was printed and circulated around two or three decades after its completion. The author could not have a chance to observe the publication of the book.12 Even the authorship became a problem for the contemporary literary archaeologist. In that case, it is hard to imagine that fiction writing could be a profession for writers at that time.

Perry Link, The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System (Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press, 2000), p.129. 8 Anne E. McLaren, Chinese Popular Culture and Ming Chantefables (Leiden: Brill, 1998), p.1. 9 Chen Dagang, Tongsu xiaoshuo de lishi guili (The Historical Development of Popular Fiction) (Changsha: Hunan chubanshe, 1993), pp.72-73. 10 Anne E. McLaren, Chinese Popular Culture and Ming Chantefables, p.43. 11 Perry Link The Uses of Literature. p.129 12 Chen Dagang, Tongsu xiaoshuo de lishi guili, p.90-91.
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Modern printing technologies developed during the late Qing dynasty. Meanwhile, an enlarged cultural market grew.13 Along with the prosperity of teahouses, theatres and other forms of entertainment, a certain volume of writing was for entertainment and profits. Bao Tianxiao, a famous writer during that period, later recalled: What was the content of these entertainment papers like? Fun, of course, was their core. Their first principle was not to speak of politics; they would hear nothing of the great affairs of the nation and things like that.14

The commodity aspect of writing became clear. This was demonstrated by the appearance of payment standards. When the Datong Translation Press (Datong yishu ju) was established in Shanghai in 1897, it openly solicited manuscripts by offering payments: Any books of translation, creation or compilation can be printed by our publisher if required. It will be paid for either by money or printed books as an alternative, with negotiation.15 Although there was no mention of a fixed standard, this was said to be the first available reference in Chinese history to the setting payments for manuscripts. Following this start, fixed standards soon developed. In 1907, the Xinmin News (Xinmin congbao), which was established by Liang Qichao and others in 1902 and was believed as one of the most influential newspapers at that time, introduced rates of remuneration in carefully distinguished categories: The payment rate of commentary (shu ping) and criticism (pi ping) can be set at 3 yuan per thousand characters. As for treatises (lun zhu), the rate might be increased a little (depending on the value of the content), with 4 yuan of the highest and 3 yuan as a common standard. As for reports (ji zai), the rate can be set at around 2 yuan.16 Besides this, rates higher than three yuan were reserved for writers of established reputation and were offered by the major publishers. The Commercial Press (Shangwu yinshuguan) once offered the cultural authority Liang Qichao 20 yuan to get one of his articles published in the Oriental Magazine (Dongfang zhazhi).17 This rate of payment stabilised until around the late 1930s.

For more on the entertainment industry during that time, see Perry Link, Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: Popular Fiction In Early Twentieth-century Chinese Cities, (Berkeley: University Of California Press, 1981). Bao Tianxiao, Chuan ying lou huiyi lu (Reminiscences of the Bracelet Shadow Chamber, Hong Kong: Da hua chubanshe, 1971). 14 Bao Tianxiao, Chuan ying lou huiyi lu, p.445. 15 Liang Qichao, Yinbingshi Collection (Yinbingshi hej) (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1941), vol.2, p.58. 16 Ding Wenjiang and Zhao Fengtian et.al., Liang Qichao nianpu changbian (Chronicle of Liang Qichaos Life), (Shanghai: Renmin chubanshe, 1983), p.387. 17 Ibid., p. 965. This offer was disclosed in the letter the editor Zhang Jusheng wrote to Liang Qichao.
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Previously in China, authors occasionally received payment for their writing. As stated in the Analects, the junzi understands the importance of morality (yi) and the xiaoren understands the importance of profitability (li). Throughout Chinese history, good Confucians avoided talking of money.18 Writing for profit was often considered a disreputable affair. However, in Shanghai in the early twentieth-century, people began openly soliciting manuscripts, advertising rates of remuneration and honoring well-known writers with extra high rates.19 These practices indicated that peoples attitudes toward writing had started to change and the commodity aspects of writing emerged.

Another pivotal element for the professionalisation of writing was the publication of serialised fiction in newspapers and magazines. As recalled by Bao Tianxiao, started from Shibao,20 serialised publications became popular. Publications of serialised fiction intensified the publishers commercial relations with authors, and provided writers the possibility to live on writing.21 Series writers incomes were more stable than casual incomes from getting a novel published. Some writers had thus kept long-term relations with the press. Zhang Henshui, the famous writer for popular fiction at that time, worked for nearly six years with the Press of World Daily News (Shijie ribao) in serialising his story, Grand Old Family (Jinfen shi jia).22 He also received fixed salary as he worked as an editor for Wanjiang News (Wanjiang ribao).23 In fact, many writers worked as editors and earned manuscript payment from extra piecework. Li Boyuan, for example, was employed by The Commercial Press to edit Xiuxiang Fiction (Xiuxiang xiaoshuo); Bao Tianxiao and Chen Jinghan were employed by the press of Fiction Times (Xiaoshuo shibao). 24

These demonstrated that the first group of Chinese professional authors emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. This was similar to the findings of Feltes that the serialised publication in the Victorian period marked the emergence of professional authors in Britain.25 Due to different social circumstances, there are distinct differences between the professionalised fictional writing in China in the twentieth century and in Britain in the Victorian period. In Britain, coinciding with industrialization process, literary works with commodity aspects gradually evolved into

Kam Louie, Sage, Teacher, Businessman: Confucius as a Male Model, p.33. Perry Link. Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies, 153. 20 Bao Tianxiao, Chuan ying lou huiyi lu, p.313. 21 Perry Link, Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies, p.151-152. Link analyses the important role the serialisation of fiction played in the development of both newspapers and popular fiction. 22 Hsiao-wei Wang Rupprecht, Departure and Return: Chang Hen-shui [Zhang Henshui] and the Chinese Narrative Tradition (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Co., 1987), pp.15- 16. 23 Yuan Jin, Zhang Henshui pingzhuan (Critical Biography of Zhang Henshui) (Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe, 1988), p.56. 24 Bao Tianxiao, Chuan ying lou huiyi lu, p.313, p.317. 25 N.N. Feltes, Modes of Production of Victorian Novels. (Chicago and London: the University of Chicago Press, 1986), p. 4.
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mature commercialised writing and industrialised culture. In contrast, the first phase of professionalised commercial writing in China was ephemeral and did not have a chance to develop fully. As business dealings were still despised,26 writers concerns with regard to money came mainly from the need to support family rather than to earn a profit. Zhang Henshui explained that he had to write to keep his family well-fed and warm, I must write every day. If I stopped writing today, I would go hungry right away on this day. How could I let that happen?... I always have to write.27 Furthermore, the development of professional writing was interrupted by various wars since the 1930s and the increased power of the Communist Party.

1.2. The professionalisation of writing in Maoist era

During the Communist era, there emerged another type of professionalised writing. The professionalised commercial writing was transformed into a way of writing administrated by bureaucracy and guided by ideology to teach readers correct political and social attitudes. After a short period of development at the turn of the twentieth century, commercial professionalisation of writing was rejected in Maoist China. Under socialist principles, commerce, the market and other business concerns and practices were viewed as evil and capitalist reactionary. Even soft topics, such as love or other sentimental feelings, were criticised as bourgeois decadence. Guided by Mao Zedongs Talks at the Yanan Conference on Literature and Art in 1942, writing was supposed to engineer peoples minds for the purposes of politics. Depictions of mountains or water, for example, were intended to inculcate patriotism among young people;28 stories of contemporary lives were expected to set up models for readers to learn.29

Instead of the market, the Party bureaucracy controlled publication and distribution of literary works. One important institution was the Central Bureau of Publishing (Chuban zongshu). Established in 1949, it was a department of the central government to supervise nation-wide publishing. The first effort the Central Bureau of Publishing made was to set up the first group of state-run publishers across the country and build a network of the New China Bookstore as

The status of merchants in the late Qing Dynasty was not high. See Wellington K. Chan, Merchants, Mandarins and Modern Enterprise in Late Qing China (Harvard University Press, 1977), p.24. 27 Zhang Henshui, Jianmo (Reticence), Xinmin bao (Xinmin News) (Chongqing), April 14, 1942. 28 Liu Baiyus famous prose, such as Sunrise (Richu), Three Days along Yangtze River (Changjiang san ri), are typical examples. Previous publications of landscapes, such as Li Bais poems, were also interpreted as eulogies for the motherland. 29 The character Gao Daquan in the novel The Sun Shine Bright (Yan yang tian) is an example.
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distribution channel. The Central Bureau of Publishing controlled the selection of publications, the supply of capital and paper to publishers nation-wide, and was in charge of the New China Bookstore, the sole distributor of all publications around the country.30 Meanwhile, previous private publishers were brought under joint state-private ownership, and by 1956 all private publishers had been nationalized. As a consequence, systematic institutional networks developed, which made it possible for an all-encompassing, monolithic official culture to come into existence which was disseminated from the top. Writers, editors and other cultural workers were engineered and conformed to the leadership of the Party.

All artists and writers were regrouped into state-sponsored units and went through thought reform, or indoctrination in Maoist ideology, to become workers for socialist culture. After all the institutional bases of old culture were thus swept away or taken over, the party emerged as the countrys only cultural authority in full control of a new national culture that could now begin to penetrate every corner of Chinese society on an unprecedented scale.31 Most writers of the time wrote part-time and undertook other jobs. Their incomes derived mainly from their working in the state-owned units. During that time, the professional writer referred to full-time writers supported by the Writers Association (zuojia xiehui). As Perry Link points out, the Writers Association was to serve the complementary functions of providing the Party with a means of monitoring and controlling creative writing.32 Therefore, among requirements to become professional writers, such as a certain number of publications and prizes, the most important criterion was to conform to the guideline of the Association to comply with the leadership of the Party.

Professional and other writers financially supported by the Writers Association did not worry about the market or whether their works could be sold. They mainly worked on writing projects allocated by the government. They were another type of professionalised writers, although not commericalised. Their writings generally were to serve the Party and to inculcate certain political and social attitudes among readers. Literature or cultural forms for entertainment were restricted from developing. Popular fiction in the tradition of Mandarin

30

The New China Bookstore had branches in every province to build up a nation-wide network. It lost its exclusive right of distribution in late 1985 when private booksellers distributed books directly from publishers to privately owned bookstores and bookstands. See Ren Ke, ed., Sao huang zai yi jiu ba jiu (Retaliation Against Pornography in 1989, Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin daxue chubanshe, 1989), p.31. 31 Jianying Zha, Chinas Popular Culture in the 1990s, China Briefing: The Contradictions of Change, ed., William A. Joseph, (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), pp.111-113. 32 Perry Link, The Uses of Literature, p.119. Link discusses the role and functions of the Writers Association in the book.

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Ducks and Butterflies (Yuanyang hudie pai) had to stop publications, though it continued to thrive in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas communities.33

Without regulations through the market, government was the only force that decided the topics of writing and rates of manuscript payments. Due to the contempt the Party held for commerce, the payment standard decreased. Even worse, frequent political campaigns were against writers and intellectuals. Liu Shaotang, a famous writer in the 1950s, recalled in 1998 that the rates of manuscript payments for fiction in the 1950s before 1957 were about 12, 15, 18, up to 20 yuan per thousand characters. The anti-rightists political campaign in August 1957, which developed into a nationwide political movement, dramatically changed the situation. Liu Shaotang, who had a high income from his writing, was soon categorised as a bourgeoisie rightist against the Party and socialism.34 In July 1957 The Peoples Daily advertised that his novel, The Golden Canal (Jinse de yunhe) would be published with a print-run 100,000 copies in October. However, after the Anti-rightist Campaign commenced, the manuscript was returned to the author from the printing factory.

In 1960, a notification from the government declared the abolition of royalty payments. With the intensification of the class struggle, even the authors right was denied. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution began. The decade of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) represents the lowest point in the status of the writer in Chinese history. Owing to the Gang of Fours new literary prisons, nearly all publishers needed to ask for high-level approval before getting a book printed.35 A word out of place could bring about imprisonment or even death for the

writer and their families. With political movements strengthened and more frequent, it was
impossible for professionalised commercial writing to develop. Even creative writing was hard to maintain. Most writers stopped writing until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. As a

result, many editors were discredited and lots of publishers were forced to close. Manuscript
payments were cancelled; even the Writers Association was closed.36

Perry Link, Mandarin Ducks, p.236. But peoples need for entertainment did not disappear. A number of popular novels, such as Zhang Yangs The Second Handshake and some foreign works, circulated underground. 34 According to Liu Shaotangs recall, he received 1,800 yuan for his anthology of short stories, Green Branches (Qingzhi lye) with 40,000 characters. His payment was calculated as 15 yuan per thousand characters. While 20,000 copies were set as a quota, the actual 63,000 copies printed enabled him to earn 45 yuan per thousand characters. At that time, one kilogram of pork cost 0.6 yuan; 100 yuan was considered as standard salary for an ordinary worker. Given that, the 1,800 yuan manuscript payment made him a high income earner. In fact, he used about 2,500 yuan of his manuscript payment to purchase a house with five bedrooms. See Liu Shaotang, Wangshi bukan huishou (Unforgettable Past). http://www.booksir.com/books2003/cnread1/zzzp/n/niuhan/sywc/102.htm 35 Geremie Barme, Notes on Publishing in China 1976-1979. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs. no.4.(July, 1980). p.167. 36 Perry Link, The Uses of Literature. p.131.
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2. Wang Shuo and a new era of cultural commercialisation

According to Perry Link, rooted in Chinese cultural tradition, written language had been strongly associated with moral instruction.37 Chinese writers, from traditional Confucian scholar-officials, modernisers in the early twentieth century, Maoist cultural workers to postMao writers in the 1980s, albeit different or even having opposing views on various matters during different periods, agreed almost unanimously in the assumption that literature is relevant, or even essential, to morality, social life, and politics.38 However, the fact that professionalised commercial writing developed at the turn of the twentieth century reveals that with appropriate social conditions, the market could also become the motivation for writing. From the late 1980s, together with the transformation from planned economy to market economy, from Maoist ideology to post-Maoist ideology, the dominant status of moral writing was almost demolished by the trend of professionalisation and commercialisation in writing. Compared to the first phase of professionalisation of fiction, the new phase in the contemporary era unfolded more swiftly and impetuously. This section centres on the writer, Wang Shuo and investigates the contemporary Chinese cultural market from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Comparing Wang Shuo with the American novelist Mario Puzo, the Chinese writer Ah Cheng who was active during the mid-1980s and the first group of Chinese professionalised commercial writers at the turn of the twentieth century, I argue that Wang Shuo was for his time and place significant for researches. Wang Shuo represents that new type of professional writers, entrepreneurial writers, stepped into the centre of Chinese cultural stage. His popularity signifies that the trend of commercialisation radically transformed not only a group of writers, but also editors, book merchants, officials and the Chinese common readers.

Wang Shuo versus Mario Puzo

John Hersey, a novelist in the US of the 1970s and the chairman of one of the committees of the 7,500 strong Authors Guild, observed that publishing a book in the US at that time was more and more a choice of whether a book will sell, not whether or not it will contribute to our culture39 Cultural artefacts, even authors writing intentions, fell completely into the world of commodities. Mario Puzo is an example. He is famous for his popular novel The Godfather (1969), as well as his blatant proclamation of profit seeking. It was said that the delivery of The
Perry Link, The Uses of Literature. p.5, p.143. Perry Link, The Uses of Literature, p.5. 39 American Book Review, December 1977. Cited from John Sutherland, Bestsellers: Popular Fiction of the 1970s, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), pp.22-23.
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Godfather was spurred by the authors need of some money to take his family on holiday.40 The speech make by Puzo himself assured the words, as he publicly declared that, I wrote it to make money.41

Similarly, in China, Wang Shuo is also well known for his undisguised pursuit for money and view of writing as a means to earn profit, as he says, having money is better than anything else.My business experience gives me the merchant insight. I am aware of what is saleable.
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Notably, being famous in Mainland China during the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Wang

Shuos words were more provocative than those of Puzo. When Puzo expressed the worldly concerns on writing, the US was already a country with advanced industrialisation and consumerism. Puzo just expressed what had been accepted in a high capitalist country, although such ideas were not necessarily respected. However, when Wang Shuo uttered similar ideas, China was just emerging from the Cultural Revolution when any thoughts containing commercialism were under criticism from orthodoxy ideology. In addition, in traditional Chinese thinking, there also existed a contradiction between writing and commerce. Confucian thoughts, for example, viewed writing as a means for moral standardisation, and considered commerce as morally corrupting. Under these circumstances, Wang Shuos proclamation equating literature with a means of earning profit was undoubtedly offensive and provoking. It amounted to declaring a war on both Confucian and communist traditions.43

Ironically, although the trend of commercialisation is found to be against communist tradition, it can be argued that the development of cultural workers during the Maoist era formulates the foundation of the commercialisation in the post-Mao era. During the Maoist era, writers were no longer considered to be moral guardians, the status they were entitled to in Confucian tradition. Through thought reform or indoctrination in Maoist ideology, writers were supposed to be the same as other people working for socialist construction, such as workers in factories. This, in the context of post-Mao China, developed a ground for the rise of an indiscrimination between writing, business and other professions, and with specific circumstances, made the rise of common commercial concerns possible. Wang Shuos attitude toward writing and earning money can be found in the book, I am Wang Shuo (Wo shi Wang Shuo, 1992). Here, Wang Shuo expresses his view that literature is a

John Sutherland, Bestsellers: Popular Fiction of the 1970s, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), p.38. 41 Mario Puzo, The Godfather Papers, p.38. 42 Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo (I am Wang Shuo, Beijing: Guoji wenhua chubangong si, 1992), p.17, 20. 43 In fact, a nation-wide debate on humanistic spirit (renwen jingshen) from 1993 originated from discussions on this controversial writer.
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commodity and writing is the same as operating a business in the market. Whether it aimed to provoke the society or not, the book caught the publics attention. In the book, Wang Shuo recalls his personal experience in private business and attributes his achievement in writing to his professional understanding of the market. Before writing, he resigned from working in a state-owned unit and pursued business activities in the market. It was well-known that on the burgeoning Chinese market, the boundary between legal and illegal business was not clear. As a result, Wang Shuo once became a black marketeer (daoye). The business world did not bring him wealth. However, he claims that his experience in the market gave birth to his achievement in writing. As he announces, the business experiences make it easier for him to gauge editors and readers expectations. He had two stories published in 1984, including the novella, Kong zhong xiaojie (Air Hostess), which brought him fame.

The title of the novella, Air Hostess, is an example of Wang Shuos ability to grasp editors and readers interests. The title in Chinese incorporates two expressions in the air (kong zhong) and Miss (xiao jie). The phrase in the air attracted most Chinese including editors and readers in the late 1980s because it aroused their desire to travel by air, their curiosity about the modern lifestyle and even their jealousy toward those rich businesspeople travelling by air. During Maos time Chinese airliners were a non-profitable service exclusively for the privileged, and commoners had few chances to travel by air. Later in Dengs era, travelling by air was possible for many, although passengers were mostly successful businesspeople. Therefore, the phrase in the air was seen to be fashionable.

The last word Miss was a pejorative term in the Maoist era because of its indication of images of beauties and thus, moral decadence. However, in the commercial society in the 1980s, this word regained its charm and fashionability.44 The attractive title helped the publication of the story and demonstrated Wang Shuos sensitivity to new social trends. With an entrepreneurs insight, he exploited language as a resource to follow the fickle taste of the public and was able to hit a large buying readership.

Wang Shuo versus Ah Cheng

However, Wang Shuo was not the only writer in China who was affected by consumerism. Earlier than him, during the mid-1980s, Ah Cheng uttered similar ideas on many occasions. When being asked about the motivation for his novel, Chess King (Qi wang), Ah Chengs

44

Ping Chou, Halfway Rebel: Rise and Fall of Wang Shuo's Hooligan Literature between 1978 and 1999, PhD thesis (Stanford University, 2003), p.23.

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answer was payment for manuscript, just for that.45 In introducing himself, he compared the status of writers with that of carpenters and stated that writing was just to exchange for some money to cover family expenses.46 It can thus be seen that the view of writing as a means to earn profit was not exclusive to Wang Shuo. What interests me is, while the commercialised writing of Wang Shuo incurred heated critiques, similar aspect of Ah Chengs writing scarcely received a ripple of interest. Why?

To answer this question, there are three points worth noting. Firstly, the way Wang Shuo publicised these ideas was much more provocative than Ah Cheng. While Ah Chengs words gave people the impression that he needed manuscript payments to cover family expenses, which was understandable, Wang Shuo provoked people. For example, he openly states that Talk? All right. I am keen on whatever can bring me fame in the book entitled, I am Wang Shuo.47

Secondly, the content of fiction by Ah Chang and Wang Shuo are different. While Ah Chengs stories more concern about tradition and culture, as shown by Chess King (1984), Wang Shuos fiction often depicts lives of urban young people. Wang Shuo writes about air hostess which became a fashionable profession at that time. He writes about adventurers and tide-riders of the economic reforms, who drive Cadillacs and drink X.O. whisky. In fact, as discussed, Wang Shuos stories fired Chinese peoples imagination of a material and consumerist world.

More importantly, Wang Shuo uttered monetary concerns at a time when commercialisation began to affect the Chinese in an unprecedented way. The different reactions to Wang Shuo and Ah Chengs similar materialistic concerns derive from the fact that they verbalised similar ideas at different times. The mid-1980s was a period quite different from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The 1980s was claimed as a decade of glory and dream of enlightenment.48 Elites utopian discourse dominated the literary and cultural scene during the mid-1980s. Consequently, rather than the material aspect of his writing, most research on Ah Cheng focuses on the revelation of traditional Chinese culture, such as Confucianism and Daoism in his writing.49 In contrast, the late 1980s was a period when materialism and consumerism became such a fashion for Chinese. As I analysed the title of Air Hostess, the popularity of Wang Shuos stories results from his ability to voice what people wanted to hear.
Yu Ah Cheng dongla xiche (Talking about this and that with AH Cheng), Jushi niandai (The Nineties) 1 (1986), p.68. 46 Ibid. 47 Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo (I am Wang Shuo), Beijing: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi, 1992). p.1. 48 Huazhi Wang, Problematizing the Nation: the Wang Shuo Phenomenon and Contemporary Chinese Culture, PhD thesis, Cornell University, 1999, p56. 49 Different from the main theme, Kam Louie provides an in-depth discussion of the celebrity of life in Ah Chengs writing, see Louie, Between Fact and Fiction (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1989), p.85-90
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In short, both Wang Shuos stories and promotional words hit the right nerve of the Chinese at that time. Besides ordinary people, even Chinese officials welcomed Wang Shuo because, to a certain extent, his ideas coincided with the social transition toward commercialisation advocated by the government. He stood as a skilful spokesman for the trend of commercialisation in China during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was for his time and place notable in social and cultural indications.

Wang Shuo versus the first group of professionalise commercial writers

Resembling the first group of professional writers at the turn of the twentieth century, the writings of Wang Shuo were reader-oriented and profit-seeking. With an intuitive understanding of market condition for that time, Wang Shuo went one step further and promoted his works by intentionally challenging Chinese tradition. What differentiates Wang Shuo from the Republican professional writers is that, while those authors distinguished themselves from commercial operators although their works were circulated on the market,50 Wang Shuo took the role of a commercial operator to create mass mania and to promote his works. Instead of concealing commercial concerns, he provocatively highlighted his image as an agitator. He publicly compared writing with money and said money is more important than anything else for me.51 He recalls his personal experience in private business and attributes his achievement in writing to his professional understanding of the market.

Furthermore, he affronted the decency of Chinese writers and elite tradition by declaring that: I simply cant stand their [writers] sense of superiority and nobility. They think that common folks are all benighted fools and only they themselves are the conscience of the society. Isnt this aggravating? Theres no so-called conscience in this society. Who needs them to fabricate it? 52 As noted before, it is true that most Chinese writers most of time liked to think of themselves as educators or moral guardians. This is mainly because they presumed that fiction is a good tool for reforming society and writers had responsibilities to assist political rulers and to uplift common people.53 However, Wang Shuos words were remote from a serious reflection on this cultural issue. In fact, it was his attitude that irritated Chinese intellectuals: he derided the presumed responsibilities of Chinese writers and intellectuals as superfluous and

Perry Link, Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies, p.150. Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo. p.17. 52 Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo. pp.12-3. 53 Cited in Perry Link, The Uses of Literature. p.143.
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aggravating. He even mockingly described them as the fourth mountain which suppressed him: In the past we often said that Chinese people had been oppressed by three mountains imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism. Chinese women were also oppressed by the fourth mountain men. In my case, the fourth mountain is Chinese intellectuals 54

More than occasionally, Wang Shuos words were intended to arouse controversy and attract attention. In an interview, he highly valued his own writing and anticipated that his future work at least could amount to, Gone with the Wind, with a bit of luck, it might be turned into A Dream of Red Mansions (Honglou meng).55 With little disagreement, Gone with the Wind is said to be a famous novel in US, whereas A Dream of Red Mansions is considered the greatest piece of literary work in the history of Chinese literature. As writers, to compare their writing to these two well-established literary works would have been considered blatantly insolent. In fact, people who disapproved of Wang Shuos arrogance and insolence often quoted this sentence.

These words, however, could also become the best advertisement for Wang Shuo and his works. A book, which was said to be as good as Gone with the Wind and A Dream of Red Mansions, could arouse great curiosity among common readers. Wang Shuos
provocative public speeches were rewarded in the market. The sales of his books prospered. The Selcted Works of Wang Shuo (Wang Shuo wenji (1992) was the first Mainland Chinese bestseller. Looking Beautiful (Kanshangqu hen mei) (1999) was also one of the best-selling books in Chinese book market. As a result, Wang Shuo was on the list of the top richest Chinese writers.56 In this sense, his provocative public speeches can also be viewed as a marketing strategy. This is particularly important because the practice of self-promotion illustrated a strong marketing consciousness and represented a new era in the professionalisation of writing.

As already discussed, the commodity-text of series publication in the Victorian period in Britain and at the turn of the twentieth century in China independently signalled the emergence of professionalised commercial writing. Here I would like to point out that the emergence of writers strong marketing consciousness represented a new phase of professional writing. During the first phase, the commodity aspect of writing was recognised. Writing began to be considered as a profession from which to make a living, but most writers who sold their work

Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo. p. 13. Wang Shuo, Wo shi Wang Shuo. p.99. 56 Chen Jie, Wang Hong, Shichang jingji zhi xia de zuojia gaochou (Writers Payments Under the Market Economy), Zhonghua dushu bao (China Reading Newspaper), Sep. 30 1998. http://www.anewfocus.com/wwwdigest/spare/contfee.htm
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did not expect profit, yet the allure of payments was undeniable.57 With the advance of industrialisation, the commodity aspect of writing and culture was further reinforced and was incorporated into systematic commercial machinery. The development of cultural industries was strengthened by writers and artists strong desire to sell and, most importantly, by systematic mercantile operations, which may include a whole string of agents, editors and salesmen.58 In this sense, the new phase of professional writing can be called as commercial writing.

Due to different socio-political circumstances, when commercial writing appeared in China in the late 1980s, it was different from what happened in the US and other western countries during the 1960s and 1970s. Rather than a whole string of agents, editors and salesmen, individual practices, such as the writer Wang Shuos self-promotion, played an important role in producing bestsellers and encouraging cultural commercialisation in China. Chinese cultural industry during the late 1980s and early 1990s was far from being systematically established. Instead of brokers and agents intervention, Wang Shuo himself adopted the role of promoter and agent of his own works.59

The promotional practices of Wang Shuo stirred society, and at the same time, pushed the undercurrent of commercialisation into the centre of the Chinese cultural stage. His popularity compelled the Chinese to confront the existence of entrepreneurial writing and reflected commercial concerns among readers. Not long after Wang Shuos attempt at entrepreneurial writing, a large number of Chinese writers, university professors, teachers, editors and others who worked in cultural fields waded into the ocean of business dealings (Wenren xiahai).60 This trend was not confined to wenren, people in almost any area became involved in the business world. A popular ditty (shunkouliu) of the mid-1990s vividly discloses the situation, as it goes, [There are] a billion Chinese, and 90 percent of them are doing business dealings (shi yi renmin jiu yi shang).61 Ironically, the phrase imbued with revolutionary ideology Looking forward (Xiang qian kan) was reworded as Putting money above everything else (Xiang qian kan).62 Even Confucius ideas, which for centuries had been supposed to be hostile to commerce, were re-interpreted to be beneficial to economic growth.63

Link, Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies. p. 152. Sutherland, Bestsellers, p. xii. 59 Liu Xiaobo, Wang Shuo: Zhongguo zui you shangyexing yu tongsuxing de zuojia (Wang Shuo: The Most Commercialised and Popular Writer in China), Wang Shuo, ed. Bianjibu de gushi (Stories of an Editorial Board, Taipei: Fengyunshidai chubanshe gufenyouxiangongsi, 1993), p.1. 60 Wenren xiahai was a notable phenomenon during the early 1990s. 61 62 The two terms and are of the same pronunciation, but their meanings are quite different. 63 For detailed discussion on this point, see Kam Louise, Sage, Teacher, Businessman: Confucius as a Male Model, pp.21-41.
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All these reflected the fact that, along with the rapid progression of the market economy, commercialisation in culture and ideology developed. Furthermore, the government officially legislated and reinforced this trend. In 2000, a policy intended to develop culture-related industries was promulgated.64 Zhang Xianliang, the previously elite writer who set up a film production company in 1993, was elected to attend the Tenth Plenum of National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He stated in pubic that he was one of the richest writers in China and he was proud of his entrepreneurial practice which served the nations modernisation.

Conclusion

By tracing the development and variation of professionalised fiction in Chinese history, this paper focuses on fictions professionalisation and cultural commercialisation in post-Mao China. Wang Shuos self-promotion departed from the established image of Chinese writers who were ashamed to associate writing with commerce. He was the continuity of the image of professional writers who emerged during the first decades of the twentieth century because he considered writing as his profession, and manuscript payments were his only income. Influenced by Maoist ideology, he treated writing the same as any other profession. During Dengs era he added new meaning to the image of the writer: strong marketing consciousness and provocative promotional practices.

By a comparison of Wang Shuo with Mario Puro, Ah Cheng and the first group of profesionalised commercial writers at the turn of the twentieth century, I argue that Wang Shuo was a man for this time and place. He represents the China then, experiencing great transition not only in socio-economic but also cultural spheres. The trend of commercialisation radically transformed not only a group of writers and intellectuals, but also common readers, editors, officials and the Chinese in various fields. Furthermore, the emergence of entrepreneurial writers in post-Mao China was not only a product of industralisation and integration with the world in terms of both trade and cultural practice in accordance with Deng Xiaopings reforms policy, but also a result of the socialist professionlisation which engendered the rise of an indifferentiation between writing and other professions.

64

The Fifth Plenum of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the CCP issued the culture industry (wenhua chanye) policy. http://www.ynu.edu.cn/web1/ynu80/wenhua/jianjie.htm.