Michel Hockx is a Professor of Chinese at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. He is the author of several books, mainly focusing on modern Chinese poetry and literature. Prof. Hockx presented his essay "Trans-cultural Dialogue and the World Wide Web" on the morning of Nov. 7 in the Culture Panel of 2009 Beijing Forum.
Jacques, reporter from PKU English News Website, was able to interview Prof. Hockx.
J - Jacques
H - Prof. Hockx
J: You mentioned in your lecture the impact of stereotyped propaganda by overseas media on forming westerners' "imaginary" perception of the Internet of Mainland China. Are there any similar trends of "imagining" the West from the Chinese side?
H: Yes, I imagine so, but I haven't studied it in detail. The point I want to say in my lecture is that there is a very common imagination of the World Wide Web as a siege or space that needs to be protected. That can also be seen in the quote I gave for the China Youth Daily, although it is not specifically imagining the western World Wide Web, but how the west could "invade" the Chinese one. In essence there's no division of China's World Wide Web or Western's—there's no such thing. It's not right to imagine the web with national borders or walls.
J: What do you think are the main features of China's current Internet environment, especially in comparison with that of UK/US?
H: The comparison I have done in an article published is limited in literary activities online. The main thing I notice is that literature on the Internet is taken very seriously in China, especially in genres such as poetry. It has been generally acknowledged, and scholars here in Peking University are studying that power. The seriousness of online literature can hardly be found in other countries like the US. There are very active online literature communities in America, but it's largely treated as a hobby. The established writers rarely participate in that kind of activities. So that's one major distinction. And if we talk solely about the avant-gardes, the experimental writers, the distinction I find is that these writers from America or Europe are concerned with typical west things of the Internet; they work with different media. Whereas the Chinese experimental Internet writers tend to be more concerned of the format of luntan or online discussion forums, in which contributions from different people are put together.
J: Since 2006, major websites for "Internet literature" such as Rongshu Xia (Under the Banyan Tree) have either economically failed, or declined in popularity. Do you have any idea on the future of the Chinese-language "electronic" literature?
H: Well, I think the prospect of literature can never be expressed in economic terms. I mean literature has its own system of values which is largely symbolic, criticism, prizes, evaluation etc. So the case of Rongshu Xia doesn't say anything about the future of the Chinese Internet literature. I'm sure you know other sites such as Qidian which is quite successful commercially; they have managed to set up websites for paid reading and encouraged the writing contests. So I think it will be more mature for commercial as well as serious literatures.
[J: Will there be any negative impact from the commercialization?]
H: Theoretically, perhaps. Over the past one or two decades there are lots of debates on the influence of the market on literature. That's on the administration of how the system has changed. But if you compare it to literary systems in European countries, the popularity of literature in China is enormous. By going to bookstores in large cities you can see many people reading novels, and discussions in media are also active. Literature in China is 1000 times more significant than in any western country. I wouldn't worry too much of the impact from market now. Many writers are able and active to take opportunities offered by the market.
J: Do you think the financial crisis will be "disastrous" enough to influence the current Chinese literary writing, just as its rejuvenation in eras of radical changes like 1980s or late 1970s?
H: Well, I don't think 1980s was a very radical era in Chinese literature. Surprisingly, 99% of literatures that can be thought of as "radical" were published in officially-controlled magazines, pre-approved by government censors. Comparing to this, what's happening now in China sees more freedom and independence: independent writers, publishers and film-makers which are more radical than 20 years ago. I do think that the financial crisis potentially has an impact on the study of literature. Funding for university courses in literature is strongly reduced because of the crisis. The attention of funding thus might go to other more profitable subjects like economics. That's what I sense as quite significant.
J: You urged in your speech for a "truly global online culture". Which method may be the most applicable for people seeking the "common ground" through trans-cultural dialogue?
H: Well, the most obvious one is to reduce obstacles for communication. In some senses, though, the Great Fire Wall is not as obstructive as the misrepresenting western media; I don't think it needs to be there. I do believe that the people should be given more trust, although in my opinion the removal of the Great Fire Wall will not certainly solve all problems. It is a very complicated issue, for certain groups like children do need more protection. Ideally, the Internet should be universally free, but some measures are to be taken.
[J: Like the "Green Dam"?]
H: Well, I think the Green Dam is a good example for how NOT to do it, and it is a good example for how netizens can actively and effectively oppose a new policy that they believe to be wrong. Finally the plan was given up as I had assumed.
[J: Then, is there any danger of threatening the internal security by such free "trans-cultural" dialogues?]
H: After all, every single government in any culture seeks the way to protect its citizens from potential danger. But it depends on to what extent the people rely on or oppose to it. It is a problem. In Western societies, for example, the solution has usually been to put the responsibility on the ISP, Internet Service Providers, to ensure that users do not break the law. If they do break the law, it's the providers that are responsible. And I think, to some extent, the Chinese government has to share it as well.
[J: On the other side, what about the voice of cultures that are not as dominant as that of Europe/US, especially cultures not based on the de facto lingua franca, the English language, in the dynamics of this "global online culture"?]
H: I guess Chinese is probably the most widely used language in the Internet. You can say English is the lingua franca, but there are more people using Chinese globally. So I think the Internet has the capacity for accommodating many different languages and many different communities in the world. Thus I don't regard the Internet as a tool for imposing the global power of the English language. I think it's the opposite: to develop opportunities for communication between each other. I think in a more abstract level, the internal structures of computers, such as encoding a language, are largely by western letters with western keyboards, which are still used in making programs. That may be an example of the dominance of the English (Western) alphabet.
Edited by: Seren
