Disco 'Super-Culture': Consuming Foreign Sex in the Chinese Disco

Ｍ Ｍ Ｍ Ｄｴｾｭ Article Abstract Based on ethnographic observations in Chinese discos, this article describes how urban Chinese youth participate in the cosmopolitan sexual culture of the discotheque, using the hybrid cultural space of the discotheque tor their 0\\"11 forms of sexual display and interaction. The discotheque is perceived by youth as a cosmopolitan space allowing for appropriation and consumption of 'foreign" sexual styles. Especially for young \\/OHICil, the disco provides a space for sexual expression which would be unacceptable in other social spaces, and offers Chinese youth of both sexes a ｳｰｾｬ｣･ tor participation in a global consumer culture. Sub-cultural theories of vourh culture are found to be inadequate to describe participation in this shifting and anonYIl1ous marketplace of sexual images and self-display. Chinese participation in the discotheque is less a 'Iocalizariou' or subversion of global practices than an active consumption of and participation in ..l. kind of sexual cosmopolitanism, more of a construction of a "super-culture" rather than of a 'sub-culture". Rather than creating local group solidarities, p..irriciparion in this 'super-culture ｾ emphasizes, above all, sexual display and the exposure of the commodified sexual self to the gaze of anonynlous and 'forcigu ' others. Keywords China, dance, globalization, sexuality, youth James Farrer Sophia [J nivcrsitv, '](}k).'o Disco 'Super-Culture': Consuming Foreign Sex in the Chinese Disco Cosmopolitan dance culture and cosmopolitan sexual culture Sub-cuJture or super-culture? Global flows of media images, people and commodities have produced a globalization of sexual imagerv, ideas and practices. Sociologists have begun to explore the sexual dimensions of globalization (e .g. Altman, 1997), but there are too few case studies of the particular social contcxrs in which transnational sexual cultures are locally practised and consumed Sexualities Copyright © 1999 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) Vol 2(2): 147-166[ I363-4607( !99905)2:2; 147-166; 007942] Sexualities 2(2) This article describes how a particular globaJ culture - disco \ di-si-ke in Chinese) - serves as a localized "cosmopoliran" context for novel fOrlTIS of sexual expression by urban Chinese youth. Dance is one of the most public and popular sites for the expression of sexual and gender identities (Hanna, 1988) and forms of popular dance are among the 1110St globalized of sexual cultures. One of the most important activities to analyze if we are going to understand how sexual ideology works is dancing. The dance floor is the mosr public setting for musical as well as sexual expression. (Frith and McRobbie , 1990: 388) Yet , despite its prevalence and rich sexual content, social dance has been the 'Ieast theorized popular cultural activiry and the least subject to the scrutiny of the social critic' (l\lcRobbie., 1984: 132). Among China scholars, the popular disco has been dismissed as 'second or third rate irnirations of the 'Vest or Japan' by western proponents of traditional Chinese values and as 'bourgeois decadence' or 'slavish imitation of the West" by Chinese traditionalists (Schell, 1988: 356). Such alarmist or dismissive views of cultural imports echo early sociological critiques of cultural ';glc)balization' as the westernizing and homogenizing intrusion of the glohal capitalist system (Schiller, 1976; \\'allerstein, 1990). 'T'his 'cultu raj imperialism" thesis provoked responses - typically from ethnographers - that glc)bal culture is neither exclusively western nor hornogenizing (Appadurai, 1996; Hannerz , 199 Ｒｾ Pietersc, 1994; Robertson, 1992). First, the origins of cultural objects do not have an obvious relationship to their uses; a popular cultural fCH I11 that means one thing in its place of origin Dl3.Y mean something different in another local context (Liebes and Katz, 1990; Tobin, 1992). Second, imported cultural forms may be appropriated in locaJ resistance to global influences (Srcbcrny-Mohammadi, 1991; Thompson, 1995). These accounts of "appropriation", "localization" or "indigcnizarion ' have intellectual affinities with sub-cultural theories of youth cultures. Sn hcultural theorists emphasize how working-class youth create their own meanings out of the cultural products of a hegemonic capitalist order, express resistance, alterity and sub-group identification through music and dance (Hebdigc, ＱＹＷ ｾ Martinez, ＱＹ Ｗｾ Racz and Zetcnvi, 1994) or, more pessimistically, use commercial leisure as an ineffective escape from deadend Lives at school and home (Mungham, 1976; Willis , 1984). Despite critiques and reformulations of the sub-cultural paradigm, the questions still center on the processes of sub-group identity formation, the construction of 'resistant" and "alter narive ' narratives, and the social uses of themes of resistance Ｈ ｾｯｲ･ . 1997; Redhead et al., 1997; Thornton, 1(96). Disco, like some other globalized mass-commercial youth cultures, rep-· resents a problem for 'sub-cultural" perspectives because disco 6·0111 its c 148 Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture' inception made almost no claims to exclusive identities, to local cultural authenticity or even to musical authenticity (Frith . 1981). By replacing the live band with a ])J and a mixing board, the discotheque allowed the mixing and blending of musical styles without the average dancer even noticing..Although it had roots in diasporic black subcultures, by the late 1970s the discotheque was a global institution of borrowed sounds and symbols with no claim, to a closed creative or folk comrnunitv (Frith, 1981). African and 'Latin sounds dominated, though they were often popularized by performers from core countries (Chambers, 1985). Straights and gays mixed in a sexually fluid atmosphere (Dyer, 1990). The culture of disco was thus opposed to the forrnarion of exclusive subcultural Gcmeinschaften, but represented entry into an anonyn10us and glan10rous Gcsellschajt of transnational styles and fluid sexualities. Far from dead in the 1990s, as the culture of the discotheque circulates the globe ｾ it has increasingly lost whatever exclusivity and specificity it once connoted. For instance, musical forms as diverse as Cantonese pop, ｲ･ｧ ｡･ｾ rap and old disco standards are played in turn in Shanghai's (0111mercial discos, where dancers seldom express a strong identification with a particular genre of 111us1c. Associated in the lJS with a particular variety and era of dance music, the term "di -siＭｦＨ･ｾ in China covers all modern 'parrnerless" dances .md any associated mixed or danccable n1usic.rv1ass, global and commercial dance culture thus may require different sociological categories than those developed in studies of 1110re exclusive dance 'su b-cultures ' or musically sophisticated and self-consciously "alternative" 'club cultures" (Redhead et al., ＱＹＷｾ Thornton, 1996). The giant C01TImercia! discotheq ue - as it has been replicated in provincial centers throughout the world -- is more a site for youth wishing to physically and symbolically enter global (rnassy'commcrcialZ'rnodcrn"] culture than tor those trying to avoid it, resist it or distinguish themselves from it through 'ulternarive ' or 'authentic" performances and identifications. Global disco, in its mass-culture form, is perhaps 1110re appropriately described as a super-culture rather than ｾＱ sub-culture. Rather than spaces for identifying with a particular musical culture or sub-culture" large cornmercia! discotheques are spaces where youth experience the larger society beyond their neigh borhoods and their family and work lives (Willis, 1984: 38 L sites for experiencing a glanl0rous modernity in ,v11ic11 one does not distinguish oneself by class or locality. Walsh (1993 )\vrites of the popularity of discotheques in Britain: It extends an invitation to young people to become participants in the "high lite' which the wealth ofWcsrern societies has made available to the affluent sections of its population ... bringing it down to an egalitarian level so that 1110rc people can share in it. So everything about the discotheque is geared to this selfpresentation of glarnorous sophistication. (p.Ll S). 149 Sexualities 2(2) The 'glan10rous sophistication' which Walsh describes is now a global culture celebrating consumption, fashion and sexuality in which youth on every continent participate, reinforcing an emergent global hegemony of consumer values. It would be \vrong, however, to argue that national origins are irrelevant to transnational cultural forms such as disco. In the global cultural economy, where a thing comes from becomes an important aspect of its meaning for its cosmopolitan users. For instance, 'tango" in Japan relies on its 'authentic' L':1ti11 origins despite great differences in actual practices (Savigliano, 1992). Global cultural objects are thus nearly always "localized" - used in novel ways by local people - but their ｧｊｯ｢ｾｬ origins are an irnportanr part of their meaning and can be a source of empowerment in local practices (Friedman, 1990). Nor is this merely a question of an accidental "mixing" of cultures Ｈｾ｣ｲ･ｯＱｩｺ｡ｴｩｯｮＢ in Hannerz , 1992; , hybridization' in Piererse , 19(4) , but J. p urposcful participation in a cosmopolitan (or 'foreign") space which is intentionally kept separate from 'local" practices. In particular, people n1ay move daily between local and cosmopolitan identifications in order to enhance their own sense of personal autonomy (Hannerz , 1992). Thus the point of discussing Chinese discotheques is not to oppose an inauthentic invading global culture with authentic local cultural practices of appropriation and resistance, but to ask what participants make of their participation in this selfconsciously cosmopolitan cultu re. The cosmopolitan sexual culture of the disco Substantively, I focus on the sexual culture of the disco. In early studies of sexual expression in dance culture, dance \\c;1S usually described as a courtship activity (Rust, 1969), as a means of get6ng sex (Cressey, 1932 L or as a male predatory activity (Mungham, 1976). 'What is missing in views of this kind is the realization that dance is not just J. means to sex (although of course it may well be such) but that it is or can be a form of sexual expression in itself' (Ward, 1993: 22). In particular, the dance hall can be a space for relatively 'safe' and non 'goal-oriented"' sexual expression by young women (l\IcH..o bbie , 198·4; Peiss, 1(86). Whar is abo missing in these views is an appreciation of the larger sexual culture that the dance hall spatially incorporates. Chinese discotheques are sites in a global circulation of sexual iruagery and practices through C0111mercial cultural practices - especially dance - which Savigliano (1992) descri bes as "the world economy of passion". In addition to an increasing number of positivistic descriptions of Chinese sexual behavior and courtship practices (J ankowiak, 1993; Liu et al., 19(7), more critical research on Chinese sexuality has focused on the construction of fixed sexual identities and sexual narratives through the state-controlled media and medical establishments (Dikorrcr, 1995; Evans, ISO Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture' 1997; Honig and Herscharter, 1988). While I do not denv the influence of these semi -official discourses on individ ual sexual narratives, here I emphasize how Chinese youth use social space to play wirh tcmporarv and contextualizcd identities which are deliberately kept separate from these 'serious sexual practices and narratives outside the 'night lite'. Other research on Chinese popular culture has focused on the commercial exploitation of sexual themes in public culture (Barme , 1993; Zha, 1995). Here I Jook at how these commercialized sexual themes are spatially organized and incorporated into sexual practices in a particular context. The commercialization of social life produces a proliferation of such C0111modified practices and fragmented social spaces. To avoid constructing a single ';grand narrative ｾ of Chinese sexual modernitv, we must be careful to study separately these commodified spaces and the forms of sexual expression that elnerge in them. 'The issue with which I Jn1 centrally concerned is the uses Chinese youth make of a deliberately constructed space of 'foreign.' sexuality. While, as I have already suggested, the disco is not a space for 'resistance to globaj cultural hegemony, nor is it a tree space of cultural appropriation. The global sexual culture of disco provides particular opportunities and constraints tor sexual expression. I outline the inequalities that constrain participation in this form of you th culture. 'I Disco in China Studying Shanghai discos This article is based on my ethnographic observations of Chinese discos as a participant observer. From 1993 to 1996 I frequented discos and social ('baJJroom"l) dance halls in all price categories in Shanghai and manv other towns and cities all over China, casually interacting with and carrying out impromptu and occasionally formal (sit down and take notes) interviews with staff and customers, some of whom I carne to know well. As part of n1Y larger research project, I also discussed dance with participants in focus group interviews on sexual relations in Shanghai. However, despite the usefulness of such voluminous 'talk" for writing ethnography, assigning 'meanings" to dance remains inherently difficult (Ward, 19(7). One reason for the lack of research on social dance is the practical difficulty of studying dance hall interactions: the noise, bad lighting and the hostility of dancers to the intrusive project of the ethnographer (Mungham, 1976). Dancing has also been ignored by sociologists of culture because other cultural forms are 1110re accessible to study by virtue of there being a concrete text, image, score or artifact (Ward, 1993), while dance proceeds from the body and hence is perceived as "irrational" and "outside of society" (\'lard, 1997). Dance expresses meanings, especially 151 Sexualities 2(2\)- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - sexual meanings, which inherently defy verbal description, and which ll1ay even be denied or avoided in verbal discourse. Through talking with dancers and participation in dance myself I was able to access to SOITIe extent the varied and (often inrcntionallv) ambiguous sexual meanings expressed through and ascribed to dance by dancers in the disco. The following analysis relies upon both dancers" ascriptions of meaning to dance (and other interactions in the discotheque) and illy own perceptions of the sexual uses of the discotheque, situating them within the local organization of the disco culture and the larger social situations of the dancers. As such, it remains but one sociological "reading" of sexual interactions in the disco, interactions which despite their unavoidable ambiguity, deserve much Inure attention fnJITI scholars interested in explainin g sexual expression in contern porary societies. The social background ofChinese disco culture While partnered ballroom dance became popular in China before the Communist takeover;' during the radical years of political mobilization (1957--77) the Parrv banned social dance ..Along with the "opening up ｾ of the econorny and society under Dcng Xiaoping, disco dancing arrived in China in the mid-1980s, promulgated through American films like 'Flashdance ' and 'Breakdance ' and through the dance parties of foreign students at Chinese universities. 'The first specialized discotheques opened in the late 1980s in hotels restricted to foreigners. In the 19905 these restrictions were lifted and massive discotheques financed largely by Hong Kong entrepreneurs opened to a mostly local Chinese clientele. By the mjd-1990s Shanghai boasted at least 10 multi-level 'disco plazas", which could accommodate about 600 customers each and charged up to 100 yuan (lJS$12) for admission. The remaining 80 to 100 discos in Shanghai were small neighborhood youth clubs, which charged as little as 4 yuan (lTS$.50) for an afternoon admission but usually about 10--30 yuan. While 1no yuan represented about a tenth of the monthly income of a Shanghai factory worker, n1any youth spent much of their disposable income on cutcrtainmcnr. Working youth could afford tickets, and even unemployed yourh were occasionallv able to obtain free passes to expensive discos. Young people described going to the disco to "get a lirt le crazy" and 'release tension" -- reasons almost identical to those given by British youth in the 1960s CRust, 1969: 171). Like these 1960s British youth, Shanghai youth still typically live at horne with their parents and use dance clubs as escapes fr0111 domestic lite (for arguments for the centrality of dance to contemporary lJK youth culture see Thornton, 1996: ＱＴｾＲＵＩＮ Dance was the 11105t popular C0111IT1Crcial leisure activity tor youth in Shanghai.I Moreover, in every county-level town I visited in several 152 Forrer Disco 'Super-Culture' remote provinces of China, I was able to find some type of commercial dancing establishment. Fancy discotheques were 1110st common in the flourishing coastal cities of China, bur lesser imitations can be found in most inland cirics.vwith naITICS evocative of gJobal entertainment centers ('"1;./\. ", 'Barcelona' and ｾｎ･｜ｶ York"), Hollywood fantasy locales (I.Broad- 'Touch"), regionally way", 'Casablanca'), sexual innuendoes Ｈｾｉ ｩｳ Ｂ ｦｾｕＱ Ｐｕｓ discotheques (Taipei's 'Kiss' or Shanghai's ｾ JJ'sｾＩ or globality itself ('(ialaxy", N.l\SA'). In smaller locales disco and ballroom dancing were often combined by alternating the types of music or offering separate disco and ballroom dance sessions during different hours, catering to ditterenr age groups. In big cities like Shanghai, the market was I110re clearly divided between discothcq ues visited byr youth (rnostly aged 15-25 years) and social dance halls visited by- middle-aged people (rnosrly 30-45 years). 'Th3S article only discusses the discos, focusing on the large, metropolitan discos in Shanghai, which are the "models" for discos else where in China.:' I. Consuming foreign sex/being consumed The commercial disco is described by Shanghaicse (by those who go there and those who do not) as 'chaotic" ,\vhere people are 'unreliable ｾ and just "playing around" or ｾｲｩｳ｢ ｮｧ for big monies". Commercial discotheques are described as 'in socicrv (Jhehuis!1a'Jl,ll) as opposed to the non-cornmercial venues with controlled admissions and more decorous behavior. Students and youth are advised not to go to these commercial venues before they begin work and have themselves "entered society' (started work and started dating). Consequently, thosewho generally go to discos are those who have just 'entered society" and have not been "in society" very long. In this urban Chinese 'society", which is now a market society"> youth must learn to imagine themselves as having a dual nature: that of both consumers and desirable commodities. The disco is a place to "enter society and to test one's attractions as a sexual and social commodity in the chaotic marketplace which the word 'society' now connotes. 'The disco is th us a simulacrum of the market society with its chaotic mix of temptations and pressures. Unlike the earlier generation of British dancers surveyed bv Rust (1969), Shanghai youth seldom described the discotheque as a place to make friends or find a mate. Most disco patrons agreed that people one meets in dance halls were "unreliable" or just ｾｰｬ｡ｹ friends". Both young men and young \V0111en dismissed those of the opposite sex in discos as 'knowing how to play too well'. Nor was a disco typically seen as a place to take a date . Men and women usually visited in groups of friends, This does not mean that the Chinese discotheque is a sexless place. Far from it, the sexuality of the discotheque is especially visual, a chance to 'I 153 Sexualities 2(2) show oneself off in a sexualized fashion to an audience of glamorous strangers. Almost everyone puts on special clothing for their trips to the disco, including metallic mini-skirrs and stomach-revealing halter tops that first appeared in discos in the 1990s before they became acceptable on the streets. Some young mens clothing is inrenrionally 'weird", as one trendy youth described it, including colorful shirts and stomach-revealing tops. Mostyoung men, however, resemble the 'teddy boys' of earlier decades in the West, their sober dress reflecting emotional cool and an attempt at social sophistication. In recent years local disco girls have 1110ved a"\vay from traditional Shanghai standards of prettiness and taken to black lipstick" leather and metallic fabrics, also showing a new sense of urban cool. Young ｉＱｈｾｮ and young women have different strategies of display, but for all showing off in the commercial leisure world of the discotheque is about displaying sexual self-confidence and poise in the anonymous selfreflecting gaze of the crowd. Dance styles reflect both the globality of disco culture and its emphasis on the display ofa gendered sexual 1111age. Young men competed in "breakdance" izhanwu; literally 'cur dance") contests in which they hurled themselves 011 the dance floor and spun and Hipped about in a style they picked up from lIS videos and fiJ111S of the 19805. These exercises were as much tests of physical and social daring as of dancing skill. In the S111alJer local discos young men and women gathered in J. circle in the middle of the floor and watched these dancing exhibitions, prodding reluctant young 111en into the center of the ring. The display of masculine skill and daring \V.1S followed by the vigorous applause of the men and \V0111en surrounding them. Young women watched but seldom participated" I110St of them unwilling to engage in the ungainly spectacle of twirling about spreadlegged on the dirty floor. Young women specialized in a different style of dance which S0111e called 'voluptuous dancing' isaowu). The dancers gyrJ.ted their hips and torsos to free-style dance steps derived from the provocative I110VeS of back-up dancers orr wesrern music videos. This style of dancing became I110re popular in the mid -1990s when S0111e clubs began hiring young women to dance on stages set up above the dance floor, where break-dance was impractical. Most dancers on the stages were not paid, however. Women customers, especially, frequently danced on the raised platforms with their hands above their heads and their eyes averted, welcoming the gaze of the dancers on the floor below, Young women also excelled at more complex Latin dances such as the cha-cha, samba and the lam bada, generally with another female partner. Young \V0111en dancers usually described their sexual display and display of dancing skill as a rewarding form of selfexpression as the following t\VO q notes from two young\VOn-len dancers illustrate: 154 Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture' I like to see people watch me. 1 have a desire to show off myself. ... People can think what they want when I dance. In dancing disco a girl \ vould like to let herself go and show off her personality ... if you can 'r let you rsclf go at a disco ir's no fun. As Mclcobbie suggests frorn her observations of British women, the sexual display in young women's dance suggests 'a displaced, shared and nebulous eroticism rather than a straightforwardly romantic, heavily heterosexual ;'''goaJ-oriented'' drive' (Mclcobbie, 1984: 134), a 'whole body sexuality" as opposed to the 'phallic sexuality" of 'cock rock" (Dyer, 1990). Rather than expressing a goal-oriented sexual drive, looking good \V3$ the 111051' constant theme of dance culture in the Shanghai disco. In its highly gendered forms, the projection of a sexual self-image through dance was used to explore onc 's own desirability and autonomy in the idiom of a safely 'foreign" dance culture and was experienced subjectively as empowering and pleasurable. The cosmopolitan definition of disco culture and this culture of sexual display are related on several levels. First, there is direct imitation of foreign styles of sexual display. Styles of dress and dance are studied from western videos. Second, there is the use of the 'cosmopolitan" space of the disco for constructing an image of the sexualized self within a global market culture. Rather than creating a sense of local community, the cosmopolitan culture of the disco is a forum for exposing oneself - literally - to the an0I1)'1110nS ｧｾＱｺ･ of a global image market, for reflecting upon the self as a modern (OnSU111er and also a prized sexual comrnodirv. The globalitv of the disco is deliberately engineered through imagery which incorporates 'foreignness" into the ideal of the cosmopolitan metropolis. Shanghai's discos strive to capture the pleasures and dangers of metropolitan lite, constructing the city as the center, rather than the pcriphcr y, of a global youth culture. D}s frequently identitv the space of the discotheque with the cosmopolitan metropolis, shouting in English and Chinese: 'lleUo Shanghai!' The decor is Hollvwood-style urbanindustrial-chaos with exposed steel girders., old American cars and dayglow English graffiri. Videos are shown, including scenes of gyrating and scantily clad westerners at a beach dance club in .A ustralia or sexy rap stars in US music videos. A foreign (often Hong Kong or overseas Chinese ) I)J is de rigueur at the biggest discos. ] nternarional music dominates, though 1110St clubs aJso play an occasional mix of Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop songs overlain with a disco beat. 'The ly-rics of dance songs are typically in English and Shanghai favorites included the Village Peoplcs ｾｙｎｴＨＺＮａ Ｂ and Ace ofBasss \1.11 That She Wants", which were played very regularly throughout my.' 3 years in Shanghai. One reason for the undying popularity of these tunes 155 Sexualities 2(2) is th at certain Eng lish words in th e cho rus are understood an d repeate d by the dancers, most of wh om ha ve stu d ied E nglish for at leas, 2 or 3 years . These familiar songs allow for a feeling of p artic ipatio n in th e global cu lture o f the d isco. For insta nce , the ' YMCA' d ance is no w a globalized da n ce ritu al in whi ch the dancers are en cou raged to use thei r han ds to make the shapes of th e English letters, identifying the mselves momenrar ily with a bo u ndless global ecumcn c o f SC\'}' happ y yo ut h 'at t he YMC A' . Simil arly, Japane se, European , Am er ican and C hinese yo ut h all were danci ng the glo bal tad -da nce, th e ' Ma cc rena ', at Shanghai discos in 1996, shor tly afte r it bec ame pop ular in Eu ro pe and the US. The sexual content o f glo bal discu culture was also acce nt uated by the mu sic. As U S hip-hop sup planted European techno in popul arity in 1996, ]))5 took to playing severa l songs with sexu ally expli cit lyrics in En glish. Although C hinese youth were largelv unaware o f the me aning of lyrics suc h as ' 1 Like th e Wa)' yo ur Pussy Taste s', and ' 1 Don 't Want a Shor t Dick Man' , both for eign and Chinese D Is \ who did un dersta nd th e lyrics) played the so ngs in part to prom ote a more sexual at mos p he re in th e same way th ey used videos and p aid d ance rs to encourage the sens ua l displa ys of t he yo un g p.nron s mounting the st ages aro und the da nce floor, Actu al ' fo reigners", esp ecially whi te weste rn ers, were I n important pro p in the co ns truction o f t his cosmo po lit an sex ual culture , parti c ularl y in t he metropolitan d isco s of cities like Beijing and Sh an gh ai. foreign st ud e nts were o ften let in free . One Sh an gh ai d isco man agn who was tr ying to p us h his seco nd -rare clu b into first -rate status urged me to bri ng some fo reign men. 'The girls here are shy', he explained , ' bu t they wo uld like to make some foreign friends'. T his was not an unusual approach . Fo reign men were percei ved as a big attraction for loc al wom en . Yo ung 't(lreigners' in gener al were parr of t he co smo polita n sexual atmos phe re consumed by C hin ese in th e biggest metropolitan d isco s. As on e youn g wom an said a bo ut her disco exp e rien ces, ' T he foreig ners mad e it see m mo re mod e rn' . Dan ci ng with the ene rgetic and exotic for eign women was a dare o r ch allen ge for Ch ine se me n , who perceived such women ＮＱ ｾ di fficult to arrain and as sexuall y and soci ally more sophisticated th an local women . Fo r C hinese wome n, o n the o th er hand , dancing wit h th e (often sexu ally ｡ｧｲ･ｾ ｳｩｶ ･Ｉ fo reign men represen ted bo th sexu al danger and a sud de n incre ase in atte ntio n from o ther d an cers. For bo th C h inese men and wom en , in te ractio ns with the fo reign ers thus rep rese nt ed exciteme nt, a soc ial challen ge an d an increase in att e nt io n . Yet these interacti on s were typ ically brie f e nco u nt ers, like mos t in teractio ns in the di sco , chances to play at be ing 'c oo]' , 'desirable' an d soc ially co mpetent . Moreover, give n the rela tively sma ller numbers of fo reig n visito rs, most C hinese wo me n and men ne ver inte racted in an y de pth with fore ign ers in d isco s (t ho ugh 156 Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture' conversely ll1any foreign men pursued greater intimacies with local Chinese women). Like the videos, these foreign ers were large lv for visual consumption, but were even more useful as the ;';global audience" for the displays of local youth, male and female. To be watched (and desired) by the foreigners was to be directly affirmed as desirable in the cosmopolitan sexual market of the disco. Actual social interactions with foreigners were occasions tor displaying poise and the c.ipacity (both social and linguistic) to dealwith the dangers and sexual temptations foreigners represented. Foreigners became the objects of sexual tanrasy and occasional sexual adventures, but even 1110re so were the mirrors for The construction of a cosmopoliran sexual self-image. Disco dance in China and the overt sexual expression associated with it derive both legitimacy and persuasiveness from this larger global culture. Rather than being merely seen as the degenerate performances of juvenile delinq ue nrs influenced by foreign 'spiritual pollution" such celebrations of sexual display can now be positively identified as the elite cosmopolitan culture of modern youth around the world, The specific forms and meanings this sex and gender display take, however, may be out of sync with globai fashions even while they rely on their global origins for legitimacy. For instance, 'voluptuous dancing' which reminded one American woman of "a striptease dance with the clothes left on ｾ was interpreted by the Chinese woman performers quoted here as a form of pleasurable exhibitionism learned from foreign music videos. Music which would seem dated to London or New York youth was fresh and 'western" for youth in Shanghai. This appropriation of foreign sexual passion by Shanghai youth means that what Savigliano ( 1992) calls "the global economy of passion" does not always follow the pattern she describes of an over-rationalized industrial center appropriating the sexual culture of an economically backward 'primitive other". Nor does it always take the form of the sexualization of a dominated "other by the peoples of the center (Wallerstcin , 1990: 4-<1). Rather, in these Chinese discos, we find that dancers use dance stages, video images of sexy dancers and the anonvrnoux crowds surrounding them to literally picture themselves in a transnational modernity of music, dance and sexual excitelnent.v\Tithin the disco, they become sexual \:OSmopolitans ' themselves with an enlarged repertoire of sexual strategies and styles. The sexual repertoires of the disco also extend to lTIOrC inrirnare forms of sexual expression 'The separation of disco from everyday 'real" lite allows for forms ofin tinlacy and behavior which would normally have been censored in other social spaces. The discotheque may even serve as a space tor acting out 'foreign ｾ sexual ideologies. For instance, a 24-year-old pro·· fessional \V0111an 1 knew well once mentioned a 'one night stand' to me , 157 Sexualities 2(2) using the English expression. One day when we were alone I asked her about that experience: That \vas the only time Tve done that ['one night stand"]! I went out with SCHne friends. and I Iller him dancing. He was a really attractive man, and I really wanted to be with him. fIe took us out after the dancing and later I went horne with him. It was very 'romantic and very wonderful" .... We had been drinking. ｾＧＱ aybe if I wasn 'r drinking then it wouldn 'r have happened so quickly.... The next morning we got up and went to the marker to buy something for breakfast. It was rcallv romantic. Though her use of English is unusual, her English references to 'one night stand and "ron-lance' in her narrative 111J.rk the accessibility of western sexual ideologies in the framing of her sexual adventure as part of a normal range of sexual behaviors originating in the heady atmosphere of the disco. For her, the disco provided a place where foreign sexual ideologies could be enacted in a 'romantic' ｾ spontaneous and drunken encounter, a kind of behavior which would have been labeled as "hooliganiSI11' a mere decade earlier (and still would be condemned by 1110st Chinese adults)." In this case, though the relationship ended in a few days, she still was able to remember it fondly. Discotheques are thus spaces where youth -- young\VOn1en especially .- can practice freedoms of sexual expression and interaction not usu ally allowed them in the larger society, using this cosmopolitan space for illicit sexual display and play without tear of social sanctions. The 'one nigh r stand' is the extreme case of the "erotic play' of the disco but casual flirtations are more typical. Kissing with a new friend is not uncommon. It is actually because of its separation from everyday life that the disco becomes an important space for working on one's sexual self image and sense of desirability. In the more earnest environments of school and work casual Iiaisons and flirtations might be too costly. In the disco they can be dismissed as inconsequential. Inconsequentiality and a110nyn1ity are thus a cover for the irnportanr activities of sexual self-appraisal and self-appreciation in a kind of virtual sexual marketplace, cut off FrUIn the serious and consequential sexual marketplaces governed by family, C0111rnunity and friends. The separation of the disco from everyday lite through its liminoid 'torcignness" increases its uti lirv for Chinese youth exploring alternative sexual images and behaviors. In the culture of sexual display in the discotheque competing notions of sexual desire and desirability are simultaneously promoted by videos, dancers, 1) Js and advertising images. Canto- pop singers croon heroically about lost love .while hip- hop artists rap explicitly about sex acts in English. In the half-hour orslow dance in many discos, young people use the physical proximity of social dance to engage in tactile sexual intimacies. In the 158 Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture) 'voluptuous dance' young \VOll1Cn - whose modesty had been encouraged in Chinese society - simulate sexual excitement with lithe pelvic motions. Most dancers are more modest with their hips, but not in their desire to look good. Being desirable is more important than modesty in the mutual visual consumption of the disco. But even here, there is no one standard. In their dress, traditional notions of feminine beauty and social status (pleated skirts, business suits and long hair) compete with images of urban cool (black t-shirrs, halter tops and cropped hair). The cosmopolitan disco culture thus offers a varied pallette of sexual themes and a place tor sexual playfulness, its transnational melange of sounds and images marking it as a space apart f . om everyday lite where such play is possible. Dancers use these transnational and local discourses tactically to enhance their own sense of pleasure, desirability and autonomous choice. In SUD1111ary, the disco is a deli berately engineered space of 'foreign.' sexual imagery, which Chinese youth appropriate to experiment with alternative sexual styles and sexual self-images ..A.ctual foreigners are props in the exploration of sexual desirability and emotional poise in a global sexual and social marketplace. For youth faced with an increasingly free and competitive but still '''cry earnest sexual marketplace in the 'real world", the disco is a space apart fr0111 everyday life for proving their desirability through sexual display and casual and (usually) inconsequential flirtations with strangers, The 'foreignness" of the disco abets the construction of the disco as a space apart in which sexual display and experimentation is possible. But in general the disco is still 1110re a space for working on the sel], rather than for working on serious relationships. Social inequalities in Chinese disco culture:{cathedrals' and (churches' As Appadurai (1996) writes, globaljzation is mediated by numerous disjointed 'flows" of capital, ideas, technology, people, etc. The cosmopolitan sexual culture of the discotheque shows the importance of these gJobal 'flows" in contemporary Chinese youth culture. Chinese pirating of cas-settes and Ｈｾｄｳ makes the circulation of music particularly fluid. Dance forms are similarly passed along cheaply through pirated videos and laser discs. These digital flows of music and images are borderless and virtually uncontrollable. 'There are, however, important boundaries to the t]O\VS of global culture, and we HUlst be careful of the implications of this I,tlO\A'" metaphor, with its implied lack of conflict, borders and social agency. 'The social boundaries governing disco participation became obvious in conversations with customers. When asked where they like to go for fun, almost any Shanghai youth in a small cheap local disco would mention one of the elire nightspots in Shanghai where entrance prices ranged from 50 to 100 yuan. Most of the local youth did occasionally Blake it to these ｴｾｕＱｃｙ clubs, but 159 Sexualities 2(2) nlany of them spent most of their time hanging out in small dank local dance clubs with dilapidated furniture and poor sound systems. They experienced disco culture as a hierarchy of venues, with the fancy, expensive places at the top and their regular hang-outs often near the bottom. This hierarchy of venues reflects a new hierarchy of consumption standards based on priccvwhich is a dominant feature of the elnergent hegemonic market culture in China, also reflected in other areas of lite such as clothing (Kunz, 1996). Few' of the Shanghai youth I met (very few of the working-class ones) questioned this hierarchy of consumption, and there were few signs of self-conscious sub-versions of consumer values or attempts to distinguish "authentic) or 'hip local dance venues from inauthentic "rnainsrream' ones, as is apparently typical of more developed metropolitan cultural regimes (Thornton, 1996). The other division in disco participation is regional. The fanciest discotheques are in Shanghai, Guangz.hou and Beijing . Ｎｌｾｈｯｮｧｋ D] company Inanager r interviewed conceded that Shanghai had now sur-passed Hong Kong as a place to dance. Building on Shanghai's popular dance culture and reputation anlong outsiders as an erstwhile mecca of leisure and 'decadence", some entrepreneurs (often 'overseas Chinese") have used Shanghai as a base tor developing national leisure companies. Working for companies like his, Shanghai 1) Js circulate throughout China, selling their expertise and positioning Shanghai as a new center in. the global culture of dance. Even Lhasa in "Tibet has a "JJ"s" disco with a D] brought in from Shanghai. Shanghai, of course , while pretending to gJobal stature, also Lived in the shadow of acknowledged metropolitan centers such as NewYork and London. 'The widest gap in China is, of course, the rural urban divide. NonethcJess, according to dance hall managers in small towns near Shanghai, even rural youth in this relatively wealthy area of the country visit dance halls, but less regularly than city youth. I also observed rUL1} youth dancing in small-town discos very elf from the wealthy coastal regions. While increased wealth allows even isolated ru raj youth to occasionally participate in this global youth culture, it also makes these rural youth 1110re aware of their peripheral position in this culture. Professional mediators were important in defining boundaries between center and periphery, between first-rate and second-rate clubs. 1)Ts were trained in an increasingly professionalized svstcrn dominated by I) J cornpanics in metropolitan centers such as Shanghai, manv run by Hong Kong entrepreneurs. The flow of Djs was from center to periphery, as 1) Js trained in big Shanghai clubs moved out to local discotheques in the neighborhoods and towns away from metropolitan centers. These D'ls and their Hong Kong managers and investors determinedwhich ven ues would be considered first-rate and fashionable, or second -rate and provincial. 160 Farrer Disco (Super-Culture' Shanghai"s peculiar style of sexual cosmopolitanism was also influenced by the local organization of the business. The biggest clubs in Shanghai were owned by Hong Kong (and sometimes Taiwanese ) financiers, whose investment decisions ultimately decided where the cultural centers were located. 'The dominance of Hong Kong capital meant that 1n:1ny features of Hong Kong nightlife were replicated in Shanghai discos, including the presence of expensive karaoke boxes, which were important sources of revenue tor big discos and attracted businessmen who otherwise would not have patronized discotheques. This, in turn, prompted commercial sex activities in many expensive discotheques in big cities. SOUle of the young \V0I11en who regularly attended discos were thus drawn into formal and informal commercial sex exchanges with older and wealthier rncnv who were not normally part of the dance scene itself The status hierarchies between expensive and cheap discos and metropolitan and provincial discos largely reflected economic facrorsv While Shang haiese Inay have 311 been eCOn0111jc 'peripherals" in 1980, by 1995" Shanghaiese were able to alford a ticket to the cultural center at worldclass discotheques -- new metropolitan cathedrals in the globaJ cult of sexual spectacle _ Ｑｾｵｲ Chinese youth, on the other hand, were absorbed at the periphery, in cheap dance halls which were dim imitations of the glitter of the metropolis -- mere parish chu rches. Sirnilarlv, poorer urban youth spent 1110st of their time in dingy neighborhood discos, only occasionally visiting the bigger clu bs. The additional advantages enjoyed by metropolitan discotheques in terms of sound systems, rnonev for music purchases, training of Ｎｄｊｳｾ etc., meant that they were almost universally seen as superior to small local discotheques. Disco was thus a site in which J wide range of Chinese youth were able to participate in a globaJ sexual culture, but a sire to which access was increasingly structured by geo·· graphic arid class inequalities and in which, for some, sexual desirability was increasingly perceived ;1S a tradeable cornmodirv. Conclusion: joining the global sexual spectacle This article describes the uses Chinese youth make of the global Jupcrculture of disco. This I have proposed as a mirror for imagining an anton01110US sexual self reflected against the background of a global sexual culture. In this self-portrait, music videos, foreign I)Js and foreign dancers are props for entry into a global sexual market and market society in general. Although access is unequal, even in the most isolated towns pirated (])s and videos provide cheap access to some elements of this global sexual culture. The disco is thus one site where a cosmopolitan culture is made materially available tor local participation. for urban youth in China, the sexual cosmopolitanism of the disco allows a broad array of 161 Sexualities 2(2) sexual expressions which were previously taboo in the institutional confines of state socialism. Finally, I should add that the more exclusive dance cultures or "club cultures' of 'acid house" 'raves", etc., had thus far failed to be developed in Shanghai in ] 995 and 1996, where I found a less discriminating and musically less sophisticated audience than those described in most western studies of music and dance sub-cultures (C;ore, ＱＹ Ｗｾ Martinez, 1997; Redhead er al., 1997; Thornton, 1996).E) The Chinese disco is J. n1JSS cultural form which represents itself as J site of globality rather than as a site of 'alternative' or 'authentic' sub-cultural difference. For 111:1ny urban Chinese youth, entry into a new consumer modernity (an be found in the marble and chrome cathedrals of the discotheque, and from the perspective ofyouth it is the cosmopolitan Ｈｾｴ Ｉｲ･ｩｧｮ '), inauthentic ('only for play', 'nor serious") and inclusi ve ('open") character of the disco which makes it accessible and attractive. Perhaps self-defined alternative sub-cultures or "club cultures" are already arising in urban China, butin the n1id-1990s 1110s1' Shanghai youth were still too busy pushing into the global "mainstream" to have arrived at the idea of resisting it or despising it (or even to conceive of it as 'mainstream"). In this respect, they nlay be more like the first generation of U'K 'beat.' dancers described by Rust (1969) - eager to join the modern world represented by imported sex, style and J1111Sic - than the present generation of deliberately 'alternative ｾ "ravers ' described by Thornton (1996). But Chinese youth are not simply the optimistic dupes of capitalism. They are far more cynical of one another's motives than either the convivial, courting youth described by Rust or the 'tribal" rave-goers celebrated by 1110re recent critics Ｈ ｾｯｲ･Ｌ ＱＹ Ｗｾ Thornton, 1996: 111). Tn particular, Shanghai youth go to the large metropolitan disco to experience J glarnOrOLl.S, cosmopolitan 'society ｾ rather than to en1erge themselves in a 'communiras ' of similarly 'authentic' people (Gore, I 997:). 'This disco 'socicrv" .- especially the sexual relations it entails - is conceived as trickv, chaotic and morally ambiguous. The disco milieu is not a place for constructing social solidarities in opposition to the gJobal marketplace but ror engaging the marker through fantasies of the .fe{{ as a desirable sexual object. I have argued in particular that these practices of sexually and socially 'entering" the globa.llnarket 'society" involve the construction of the disco as a 'foreign" space of sexual spectacle. To understand the wide appeal of this kind of sexual '" eOSIn opolitanism ' we must think beyond sexual exoricism, and investigate sexual spectacle as a practice of self-affirmation in a globalizing scxualy'culturaly'labor marker. The disco is a place for the visual consumption of others but even more t{)r offering oneselfup for visual consumption. Mounting the stage and performing a sensuous dance or staging 162 Farrer Disco 'Super-Culture' a break-dance in the center of the dance floor is the source of pleasure and status (as a desirable sexual commodity) much 1110re than silently gazing from the balconies above the dance floor. In this globalized sexual marketplace, being consu med by the global gaze is ITIOre passionately pursued than consuming the spectacle of the sexual other. While this analysis of the sexual self as globalized spectacle does not exhaust the sexual meanings of the Chinese disco, even aU the meanings discussed here (e.g. felt romantic passion), I believe it is plausible and importan t. Ｈｾｬｯ｢｡Ｑｹ media ted "sexuality" is as much spectacle as discourse or practice, 1110re show than talk or substance. Becoming part of the sexual spectacle­ becoming a desirable 'object" ­ is the paradoxical position of rhc postrnodern sexual 'subject", but it is not an arbitrary position. The disco is one place where Chinese youth, some more advantageously than others, beC0111e part of the sexual spectacle themse lves, and rh us part of a postrnodcrn sexual world which, for them J.S for nearly everyone else, means subjecting themselves to the evaluation of the global marker. Notes 'This research was made possible by a Fulbright­Hays dissertation research felknvshjp from the L\) Department of Education and an international prc·· dissertation research lcllowship fr om the So... ial Science Research Council with funds trorn the Ford Foundation and the Arncric ..in Council of Learned Societies. 1. Western social dance most likely entered China through Shanghai in the ＱＹＲＰｳｾ but by the end of the J9405 had spread to all regions of China. Informanrs encountered social dance practices as far west JS Xinjiang in the cady 1950s. According to other infounanrs, social d ..u icc was also popular in many sl11a11 towns near Shanghai. 2. According to the Sh . i ngh..ii Cultural Minisrry there were more registered karaoke bars {about 20(H)} thJ.I1 dance halls (about 1200 including discos and social d . i ncc halls), but discos and dance halls tended to have tar more daily visitors than karaoke bars. Beijing h . id similar numbers of discos and dance halls. 3. For a comparison of the t(H"t1)S of sociability in Shanghai's dISCOS wirh Shanghai 's social dance halls see Farrer (in press). 4. Unlike IT5 or European dance clubs, there was very little drug use at these discotheques other than alcohol and tobacco. \Vonlcn drank 111uc11 less than men. 'Those who drank heavily tended to do so at dinner before COIning to the disco, where drinks were comparatively expensive. 5. Independent 'raves' or small specialized dance clubs dedicated to one type of music did not yet exist in Shanghai in the 1990s. The closest thing to musical sub­cultures I found in China in the 11lid­1990s were the Chinese rock groups (and a fe\v rock bars) centered mostly in Beijing and the break­dancing youth described here (see the story "Rocking Tian.uuneu ' in Barme and [aivin , 1992, for a description of the informal break­dancc scene in Bejing). Because of state controls, there was little media infrastructure ­­ specialty magazines, 163 Sexualities 2(2) tor example ­ for promoting specific DIs and specific genres of dance music. There were few venues for local groups ro perform, and alternative music was generally discouraged by official state media and cultural agencies. Spontaneous events such as "raves', if they were attempted, would be quickly suppressed. References Altman, Dennis (199'7) 'GlobaJ C;aze/IC;]obal Gays \ (;LQ- _4 Journal ofLesbian an d Gav Srudics 3: 417­·36. 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Walsh, David (1993 ') ＧｾＢｓ｡ｴｬｲ､ｹ Night Fever": An Ethnogr ..iphy of Disco Dancing", in Helen Thomas (cd.) Dunce, Gender lind Culture. New York: St Marrins Press. Ward. Andrew H. t I 993) 'Dancing in the Dark: Rationalism and the Neglect of Social Dance", int­lden Thomas (cd. )lJancc) Gender Anti Culture. New York: St Marrins Press. \V..ird , Andrew H.. (1997) "D .i ncing . i round Meaning (and the Meaning around Dancer, in Helen Thomas (ed.} Dance in the City. New York: Sr. Marrins Press. Class Kids Get llfH·!<:iJ1..IfWillis, Paul (1984) Lcarnitu; to Labor: How ｬｖｻＩｲｫＱｩｾｔ ｃｾｬ｡Ｎｊ [obs. New York: Columbia Univcrsitv Press. Zha , Iiauving (1995) China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Best Sellers are Transforniitut a C'ultu?f.Nev.. : Yorkr Ncv..: Press. Biographical Note James Farrer received his 1'h1) in Sociology from the LT nivcrsirv of Chicago in 1998 . and is now Assisrant Professor of Sociol (}gy at Sophia Univcrsirv in 'Tokyo. He is currently finishing a book , based on his doctoral disscrt..i tion, to be called ()peninj1 [Ip: Sex an d thcMurlrct in Shanqha». His ongoing research interests are in scxu . iliry, glob..ilizarion and consumer culture in China and Japan . .Address. Faculty of Comparative Culture, Sophia Univcrsirv, 4- Youban­cho , Chiyoda­ku , Tokvo 102 ­0081 ｾ Japan. ern ail : j ­iarrer@'sophia.ac.jpl r 166