Liu, Tingli (2019) Love and marriage for ‘leftover' women : representations and readings in Chinese media. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

For the last decade, urban professional single women in China aged thirty-plus have been labelled sheng nü (translated as ‘leftover’ women in English), a term popularised by the media. This research analyses three recent Chinese films portraying ‘leftover’ women, together with online reviews of the films. I address how ‘leftover’ women are constructed in Chinese media, how these representations are read by the audience and how this links with wider changes in Chinese urban society. The latter include changes in gender relations, love, marriage, intimacy and family relations, as well as wider trends concerning choice, modernity, individualisation and consumerism. Using genre analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA) along with multimodal techniques, my thesis addresses the representations and readings of ‘leftover women’ through the following key themes: self-identity, choices in love, and intergenerational and social ties with families and friends.

I argue that ‘leftover’ women are represented as having complex, mixed emotions; while proud of being independent professional women they also express anxieties about ageing and desires for a stable relationship. ‘Leftover’ women’s search for love in the films is associated with several cultural components, such as concern with the remote consequences of one’s decisions, cultural norms and consultation with family and friends. While marriage focused on men dang hu dui1 remains an acceptable and popular principle of a ‘good match’, the films also address individuals’ personalities and socioeconomic status as important dimensions. Finally, tensions between life choices as an individual and life choices shaped by tradition emerge from the representations and their audience readings, with parental intervention simultaneously normalised and criticised, and friends’ involvement emerging as a new form. Overall, I argue that the contemporary preoccupation with ‘leftover’ women reflects anxieties about the changing status of Chinese women and their quest for more agency and autonomy, as they navigate the tensions between choice and tradition.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Single women -- China -- Attitudes, Single women -- China -- Social conditions, Women -- Social conditions -- China, Marriage -- China, Sex role -- China, Women in motion pictures -- China, Women in popular culture -- China, Feminist theory -- China, Stereotypes (Social psychology) in motion pictures, Stereotypes (Social psychology) in mass media
Official Date:	September 2019
Dates:	Date Event September 2019 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Wright, Caroline ; Pettinger, Lynne ; Steinberg, Deborah Lynn
Extent:	263 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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