Tibet on contemporary screens : two Tibetan figures in China

Abstract

This thesis investigates the representation and self-representation of Tibet and Tibetan communities in contemporary China through the lens of popular culture. In 2020, two Tibetan cultural figures simultaneously drew the attention of Chinese netizens. They are Ding Zhen, a Sichuan-born Tibetan online celebrity, and Pema Tseden, a transnational filmmaker and writer. Despite their seeming irrelevance, their simultaneous emergence is not a coincidence. This study highlights a strong irony shared by both figures in that they are both moving between the two poles of reality and fakery. I argue that Pema Tseden and his representation of Tibet can only be understood after the complexities of Ding Zhen as a cultural icon in Chinese popular culture are understood as a premise. Instead of being an antithesis to all the stereotypical images represented by Ding Zhen, Pema Tseden’s works offer a critical perspective on contemporary Tibetan society’s problems. Chapter 1 delineates three cultural undercurrents in socialist and post-socialist China: the socialist propaganda, the city/rural divide, and the mysterious imagination mediated by Western popular culture. It also introduces the Han Chinese’s popular Tibetan imagination and complicates the connotations of Orientalism in the context of Sino-Tibetan relations. The two main chapters each deal with one figure. Chapter 2 argues that Ding Zhen, as a government-endorsed mascot, reinforces nationalist propaganda and sustains the skewed perception of Tibet, which has also been fueled by the growth of mobile internet and fan communities on social media. Chapter 3 builds upon the previous chapter as a backdrop and interprets Pema Tseden’s films beyond the Han Chinese’s misconceptions of Tibet in order to position him as more than just a devoted archivist of his native culture but an auteur with profound thinking and individual cinematic style. This chapter further argues that, more importantly, what Pema Tseden does is a reexamination of the Tibetan traditions, which are frequently idealized by nativists around the world, as well as a reflection on Tibetans’ dualistic view of tradition and modernity. Chapter 4 is an epilogue that discusses Pema Tseden’s quest for humanity in Tibet’s past and present as represented by his female characters. This concluding chapter also suggests gender issues that could be addressed in future research.