Dissertation Defense: Jason Halub
Candidate: Jason Halub
Major: History
Advisor: Carol Benedict, Ph.D.
Kung Fu Nationalism: Huo Yuanjia, Wong Fei-hung, and the Making of Modern China’s Humiliation Narrative
One of the most important tales about China’s modern past is the “Century of Humiliation” (1839-1945), which begins with the first Opium War (1839-1842) and roughly concludes with Japan’s defeat during World War Two. Since the early 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party has promoted this storyline to bolster the party’s political legitimacy. But why did the Party appropriate this narrative and what explains its receptiveness in China? I argue that popular culture has played an important part in propagating the “Century of Humiliation.” Drawing on Michael Billig’s theory of “banal nationalism” and highlighting the role of Chinese diaspora communities in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and North America, this dissertation examines the evolution of the Huo Yuanjia and Wong Fei-hung martial arts stories, as articulated in print and film throughout the twentieth century. Huo Yuanjia (1868-1910) was a famous northern Chinese martial artist from Tianjin who gained a degree of local notoriety after he settled in Shanghai in 1909. His life story was popularized in the serialized publications of martial arts writer Xiang Kairan (1890-1957) in the 1920s and 1930s and expanded upon in the early 1970s and 1980s through Hong Kong-produced films and television miniseries. Wong Fei-hung (1847-1925) was a southern Chinese martial artist from Foshan, Guangzhou (Canton). Like Huo Yuanjia, Wong’s story initially spread through local word-of-mouth and serialized writings before being popularized in a long-running Hong Kong films series. By examining the historical evolution of these stories, this research allows us look beyond a top-down, government-centered perspective and instead examine the role of non-traditional actors who helped create China’s modern national narrative.