FEMALE “EMPOWERMENT” WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
GUANXI AND SOCIALISM IN THE TV SERIES THE IDEAL CITY (理想之城, 2021)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14244/2179-1465.RG.2026v17p115-139Keywords:
Female empowerment, guanxi, workplace dramasAbstract
This article analyzes the Chinese TV series The Ideal City (理想之城, 2021) from a gender perspective, focusing on the trajectory of the protagonist Su Xiao in a male-dominated corporate environment shaped by the logic of guanxi. Through textual analysis, the series is shown to intertwine neoliberal, socialist, and Confucian values, exposing tensions between meritocracy, work ethic, and social justice. While incorporating elements of pink dramas, it adopts a realistic and critical aesthetic that questions the limits of individual female “empowerment.” The narrative ultimately proposes a collectivist alternative aligned with the socialist ideal of a “community of shared destiny.”.
Downloads
References
BOURDIEU, Pierre. Os três estados do capital cultural. In: NOGUEIRA, Maria A.; CATANI, Antônio (org.). Escritos de educação. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1998.
CAI, Shenshen. Television drama in contemporary China: political, social and cultural phenomena. London: Routledge, 2017.
CHEN, Hui. The career growth history of a practical idealist: the innovative expression of “Ideal City” and reflection on professional dramas. Contemporary Television, n. 1, p. 47–53, 2022. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.16531/j.cnki.1000-8977.2022.01.006. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
CHEN, Mei; CAI, Jun. Women’s access to political power: an analysis of the life trajectory of Wu Yi. In: CAI, Shenshen (ed.). Female celebrities in contemporary Chinese society. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
CHEN, Xia; LI, Ying. On the realistic creative direction of workplace dramas: a discussion based on the TV series The Ideal City. China Television, n. 1, p. 32–37, 2022. Disponível em: http://doi.org/CNKI:SUN:ZGDD.0.2022-01-009. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
CHEN, Zihan. The embodiment of transforming gender and class: Shengnu and their media representation in contemporary China. 2011. Dissertação (Mestrado) – University of Kansas, Lawrence, 2011.
DAI, Jinhua. Cinema and desire: feminist Marxism and cultural politics in the work of Dai Jinhua. London: Verso, 2002.
ECO, Umberto. Apocalípticos e integrados. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2001.
FONGARO, Fernando. Uma introdução aos fundamentos da narratologia. São Paulo: Viseu Editora, 2003.
GOLD, Thomas; GUTHRIE, Doug; WANK, David. Social connections in China: institutions, culture, and the changing nature of guanxi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
HWANG, Kwang-kuo. Face and favor: the Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology, v. 92, n. 4, p. 944–974, 1987. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1086/228588. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
LIANG, Yu. On the flow of “Bossy CEO” plot motifs from literature to the field of TV dramas – from the TV drama He Yisheng Xiaomo on the hot air. Southeast Communication, n. 6, p. 108–111, 2015. Disponível em: http://www.cqvip.com/qk/61574x/201506/665132684.html. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
MAUSS, Marcel. Sociologia e antropologia. São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 2003.
PINHEIRO-MACHADO, Rosana. Fazendo guanxi: dádivas, etiquetas e emoções na economia da China pós-Mao. Mana, v. 17, p. 99–130, 2011. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-93132011000100005. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
SCOTT, Jonathan M.; FU, Jing; WU, Zhong. The role of guanxi networks in the performance of women-led firms in China. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, v. 6, n. 1, p. 68–82, 2014. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-09-2012-0039. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
SMART, Alan. Gifts, bribes, and guanxi: a reconsideration of Bourdieu's social capital. Cultural Anthropology, v. 8, n. 3, p. 388–408, 1993. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/656319. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
SONG, Geng. Televising Chineseness: gender, nation, and subjectivity. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2022.
SORLIN, Pierre. Sociología del cine: la apertura para la historia de mañana. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.
WANG, Bin. Rethinking the issue of leftover men and women. Chinese Youth Research, n. 6, p. 82–87, 2012. Disponível em: https://oversea.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD2012&filename=ZGQL201206021&uniplatform=OVERSEA. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
WANG, Yiman; MIHELS, Sarah. A socialist superwoman for the new era: Chinese television and the changing ideals of femininity. Feminist Media Histories, v. 5, n. 3, p. 36–59, 2019. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2019.5.3.36. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
WANG, Zheng. Finding women in the state: a socialist feminist revolution in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1964. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016.
WANG, Zheng. Feminist struggles in a changing China. In: ZHU, Ping; XIAO, Hui Faye (ed.). Feminisms with Chinese characteristics. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2021.
WITHERS, Catherine P. Boss lady: how female Chinese managers succeed in China's guanxi system. 2015. Monografia (Graduação) – University of Mississippi, Oxford, 2015. Disponível em: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/182. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
XU, Kun; LI, Ying. Exploring guanxi from a gender perspective: urban Chinese women's practices of guanxi. Gender, Place & Culture, v. 22, n. 6, p. 833–850, 2015.
YANG, Mayfair Mei-hui. The modernity of power in the Chinese socialist order. Cultural Anthropology, v. 3, n. 4, p. 408–427, 1988. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/656486. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
YANG, Mayfair Mei-hui. Gifts, favors, and banquets: the art of social relationships in China. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994.
ZHANG, Lan. Professional ethics in workplace dramas: a study of the TV series The Ideal City. China Television, n. 12, p. 46–49, 2021. Disponível em: https://oversea.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFDLAST2022&filename=ZGDD202112008&uniplatform=OVERSEA. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2025.
ZHU, Ping; XIAO, Hui Faye (ed.). Feminisms with Chinese characteristics. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2021.
ZHU, Ying. Television in post-reform China: serial dramas, Confucian leadership and the global television market. London: Routledge, 2008.
ZHU, Ying; KEANE, Michael; BAI, Ruoyun (ed.). TV drama in China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008.
REFERÊNCIAS AUDIOVISUAIS
A STORY of LaLa’s Promotion. Direção: Bona Film Group; Hunan TV. China, 2010. Série de televisão.
I WILL Find You a Better Home. Direção: Dragon Television; Linmon Pictures. China, 2020. Série de televisão.
THE IDEAL City. Direção: Dragon Television; Linmon Pictures. China, 2021. Série de televisão.
CHINESE-Style Relationship. Direção: CCTV-1; Huace Film & TV. China, 2016. Série de televisão.
DEAD Pigs. Direção: YAN, Cathy. [S.l.]: MUBI, 2018. Filme.
STILL Life. Direção: ZHANGKE, Jia. [S.l.]: Xstream Pictures, 2006. Filme.
THE CHINESE Mayor. Direção: ZHOU, Hao. [S.l.]: CNEX, 2015. Filme.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Marina Soler Jorge
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, to publish in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
