Title: The cosmopolitan imaginary and flexible identities of global city‐regions: articulating new cultural identities in Taipei and Shanghai
Abstract: Abstract Abstract Given the broad consensus among academic geographers that a new matrix of global city‐regions is on the rise, this paper attempts to show how urban linkage has become not only a social reality that produces various cosmopolitan identities but a discursive framework for the formulation and articulation of these identities so as to reproduce the urban networks. With a particular emphasis on the 'imaginary of identity' and its problems, I will explore Taipei‐Shanghai as a global city‐region first by examining the ideology inherent in the discourse of the so‐called 'New Shanghai People' (xin shanghai ren), a popular discourse which has recently emerged to represent the identity of transmigrants. The second part of the paper will analyze several representative cultural texts including Wang Wen‐hua's bestsellers in Shanghai, The Protein Girl, its sequel The Protein Girl II, and Chen‐pin's bestsellers in Taipei, a series of non‐fiction works on how to survive and succeed in Shanghai. Situating these texts in the context of the Taipei‐Shanghai linkage, I will critique the imagination of the cosmopolitan identity, enabled by the material conditions of the urban network, and further lay bare not just the intricate connections between the new geopolitical regionalism and cultural narrative of Chinese transmigrants but the intense contradictions between the flexible accumulation of capital and the production of 'flexible citizenship' in Aihwa Ong's terms. Keywords: Global city‐regionTaipei‐Shanghai linktransnational cultural identitieseveryday urbanismChinese transmigrants Notes 1. See Allen J. Scott (2001 Scott, Allen J., ed. 2001. Global City‐Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]) Global City‐Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy and Saskia Sassen's (2002a Sassen, Saskia. 2002a. Global Networks, Linked Cities, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) Global Networks, Linked Cities. According to Scott, global city‐regions generally take one of the three following forms: 'the basic figure of a central metropolitan area with a hinterland,' 'conurbations, spatially overlapping or converging urban areas,' and 'alliances of geographically distinct but proximate urban centers' (Scott 2001 Scott, Allen J., ed. 2001. Global City‐Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]: 4). 2. See Sassen (2002b Sassen, Saskia. 2002b. 'The repositioning of citizenship: emergent subjects and spaces for politics'. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, l(46): 4–25. [Google Scholar]) and Holston and Appadurai (1996 Holston, James and Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. 'Cities and Citizenship'. Public Culture, 8(2): 187–203. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). For research on (Shanghai) taishang's identity formation in relation to nation‐states and Taiwan subjectivity, see Geng (2002 Geng, Shu. 2002. '"IT professionals" or "Taiwanese"? national identity of high‐technology taishangs in Shanghai' http://www.npf.org.tw/PUBLICATION/IA/091/IA-R-091-061.htm, accessed 10 December 2004. [Google Scholar]) and Wang Horng‐luen (2005 Wang, Horng‐luen. 2005. 'The strange strangers: social positions and subjectivity of Taiwanese in Shanghai' (The Strange Strangers): , Transnational Chinese, Cultural Migrations, The Fifth Annual Conference of the Cultural Studies Association (Taiwan). National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, January 8–9 2005 [Google Scholar]). 3. The author thanks the reviewer for his/her question. 4. According to Kim, the most influential East Asian regional organization is likely to be the ASEAN+3, which refers to the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the NEA‐3, China, Japan, and South Korea (Kim 2004 Kim, Samuel S. 2004. 'Regionalization and regionalism in East Asia'. Journal of East Asian Studies, 4: 39–67. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 10). Kim argues that 'the center of gravity for economic regionalism has already shifted away from the US‐dominated APEC toward ASEAN+3' (Kim 2004 Kim, Samuel S. 2004. 'Regionalization and regionalism in East Asia'. Journal of East Asian Studies, 4: 39–67. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 13). 5. The center of the Yellow Sea Regional Cooperation Zone is the Chinese Bohai Sea Rim, which embraces the two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, and the three provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, and Shandong (Friedmann 2001 Friedmann, John. 2001. "'Intercity networks in a globalizing era'". In Global City‐Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, Edited by: Scott, Allen J. 119–138. New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]: 131). 6. For discussions of contemporary Hong Kong and Shanghai as a tale of two cities, see Ackbar Abbas (2000 Abbas, Ackbar. 2000. 'Cosmopolitan de‐scriptions: Shanghai and Hong Kong'. Public Culture, 12(3): 769–786. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) 'Cosmopolitan De‐scriptions: Shanghai and Hong Kong,' and Tsung‐yi Michelle Huang (2005 Huang, Tsung‐yi Michelle. 2005. 'Mutual gazing and self‐writing: revisiting the tale of Hong Kong and Shanghai as global city‐regions'. Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, 31(1): 71–93. [Google Scholar]) 'Mutual Gazing and Self‐Writing: Revisiting the Tale of Hong Kong and Shanghai as Global City‐Regions.' 7. For example, two joint projects on 'two coasts and three regions' in the publishing and film industry have been launched since 2001: one is a series of novella collections entitled 'Tale of Three Cities: Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei,' edited respectively by Wang Anyi, David Der‐wei Wang and Xu Zidong. The other is Jiao Hsiung‐ping's six‐film project entitled 'Tales of Three Cities.' The project recruited directors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China to tell stories about the urban changes in Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing. 8. Chou Yi‐heng and Hsu Ming‐yi proposed to develop Taiwan‐centered Double Golden Triangles, namely, Silicon Valley–Taipei–Shanghai and Tokyo–Taipei–Shanghai. 9. For a detailed analysis of the relationship between East Asian Chinese regionalism and nation‐state sovereignty, see Ong's (2004 Ong, Aihwa. 2004. 'The Chinese axis: zoning technologies and variegated sovereignty'. Journal of East Asian Studies, 4: 69–96. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) 'The Chinese Axis: Zoning Technologies and Variegated Sovereignty.' Ong argues that 'Greater China' is 'a state‐driven strategy to integrate economically disarticulated political entities as a detour toward eventual political integration' (Ong 2004 Ong, Aihwa. 2004. 'The Chinese axis: zoning technologies and variegated sovereignty'. Journal of East Asian Studies, 4: 69–96. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:70). 10. For the collective identity of the rich in China, see Shi Lei (2004 Shi, Lei. 2004. 'From upstarts to middle class: the new rich in Shanghai' . Open Magazine , 213: 40–42. [Google Scholar]). 11. For discussions of the two expanding classes of global cities, see Sassen (1998 Sassen, Saskia. 1998. Globalization and its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money, New York: The New Press. [Google Scholar]). 12. Based on his findings, Xiong Yuezhi, a researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, translates 'New Shanghainese' into 'Blueprint residents' (lanyin houkou): in 1994 the Pudong local government developed the Blue‐Cover Residence Card (Lanyin Hukou) so that 'those who came to Shanghai could become Shanghainese…. the Lanyin hukou, in other words, is the local version of investor immigrants and skilled immigrants' (Xiong 2003 Xiong, Yuezhi. 2003. "'Shanghai people: yesterday, today, and tomorrow' ". In New Shanghainese , Edited by: Shanghai Zendai Institute. 108–121. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing . [Google Scholar]: 119–120). In the year 2000 only 30,000 of the 3,530,000 non‐local permanent residents in Shanghai were granted the status of 'Blueprint resident.' 13. Although the rural migrant workers in Shanghai is not the case study of this paper, it is instructive to point out that the seemingly open‐door‐cosmopolitan identity of New Shanghainese is in fact a privilege for the chosen few – mainly the elite migrants such as translocal/transnational investors and the professional managerial class. The fact that those non‐locals who are denied this identity of New Shanghainese (e.g. the large number of low‐class migrant workers) greatly outnumber those who stay inside the gate of the glorious global city indicates that this cultural construct is a far cry from the democratic spirit it purports to embody. 14. I have argued elsewhere that two common rules can be found in the rhetoric of urban planning as seen in the contemporary East Asian global city campaign. One is an arduous attempt to look for an ideal other, that is, a role‐model such as London or New York as a blueprint for redevelopment. The other is to look back and find a historical era of the city that rationalizes the global city formation as a continuation of the old glories. That is, the nostalgic narratives of Old Shanghai are informed by the projected self‐image of the global city. 15. I borrow the term 'collective instruction' from Susan Sontag (2003 Sontag, Susan. 2003. Regarding the Pain of Others, New York: Picador. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 85). 16. Ma explains that such 'remigration' registers 'a development that has expanded the area extent of the Chinese diaspora, created new paths of transnational circulation of people and capital, and contributed to the diaspora's social heterogeneity' (Ma 2003 Ma, Laurence J. C. 2003. "'Space, place, and transnationalism in the Chinese diaspora'". In The Chinese Diaspora: Space, Place, Mobility, and Identity, Edited by: Ma, Laurence J. C. and Cartier, Carolyn. 1–49. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. [Google Scholar]: 19). 17. See Wang's official website; http://www.readingtimes.com.tw/authors/tomwang/promote/cn.htm. 18. Jimmy Liao is a renowned illustrator from Taipei, 'whose illustrated books with simple stories about people coping in the modern urban world have become hot sellers in Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore' (Taipei Times 2003 2003. Taipei Times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/01/10/190417 [Google Scholar]). His picture books, including Sound of Colors and Turn Left, Turn Right, have been adapted into films, TV dramas and plays in Hong Kong and China. 19. With an MBA degree from Stanford, Wang himself once was a member of the professional managerial class. 20. Addressing himself in the second‐person, the narrator describes his romantic longing in detail: She [Jia‐jia] would make an in‐flight call on her way to New York while you are talking to your boss about the price‐earning ratio of Cisco System's stocks. She would be telling you that she is flying over Fiji, where you two had a sweet time together. Then you have no choice but to tell your boss that you have to take this call. You think of how you two will be parasailing high in the sky over the small island of Fiji. Blown by the wind, your parachute flies so close to hers that you can give her a quick kiss. Then the parachutes become entangled. So you two just fall into the ocean together to feed the fish. You figure she would fax you a piece of blank paper with tiny words on the lower right corner, 'me in New York without you' and you would fax her back from your office a piece of black paper, saying 'broad daylight in Taipei without you' (Wang 2000 Wang, Wen‐hua. 2000. The Protein Girl , Taipei: China Times . [Google Scholar]: 237). 21. In addition, the mass media's circulation of Shanghai people's homegrown cultural identities produced in response to globalization, such as 'the international freeman,' 'the white‐collar lady' (bailing liren), and particularly 'the successful people,' serve as precursors that help Shanghai readers to identify with Wang's global urban elite in Taipei. 22. In other words, Wang's cross‐strait popularity resulted from Shanghai readers' identification with the ideal users of the global city (‐regions) and the geographical fantasy of being at home in the world through transnational urban linkage. The underlying contradiction inherent in this new cultural imagination lies in its annihilation of all kinds of differences among the cities, socio‐political, material, and cultural. At the same time, when the global elite are projected as the legitimate users of the urban glamour zone, other social classes and urban realities are often hidden from sight. The 'urban reality' one sees is nothing more than a phantasmagoria of global brand name products, a space for consumption. The author thanks the reviewer for the question he/she raises here. 23. Wang Yung‐ching has said in public quite a few times that he opposes the government's 'go slow' policy toward investment in China: 'In the face of the unstoppable mainland heat, Taiwan simply can't run against the global trend of opening up the mainland market'. … 'Taiwan's people should calmly accept the 'one China' principle, and from this position of equality, both sides can cooperate and enjoy long‐lasting mutual benefits' (Lin 2004 Lin, Meng‐yi. 2004. 'Wang Yung‐ching on the cross‐strait relations, political situations, and successors: Taiwanese, be the premier of China if you can' . Business Weekly , 841: 110–116. [Google Scholar]: 111). 24. According to a special report in Asiaweek in 2001 2001. Asiaweek http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,165847,00.html [Google Scholar], 'Chen is in such demand in Taipei that business associations have to wait for weeks to get him to speak' (Asiaweek 2001 2001. Asiaweek http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,165847,00.html [Google Scholar]). 25. Jin Bi, a Taiwanese sociologist in Shanghai, has also repeatedly reminded her readers to avoid the pitfalls of 'same language, same ethnic origin': 'More often than not Taiwanese businesspeople are deceived by the rhetoric of 'same language, same ethnic origin,' assuming that there will be no problem of communicating with Shanghai people. Yet in reality speaking the same language certainly doesn't mean we share the same sets of values' (Jin 2001 Jin, Bi. 2001. Sojourning in Shanghai: Take a Good Look at Shanghai Life , Taipei: Shang Shun Cultural . [Google Scholar]: 220). 26. In contrast to Global Views Monthly's special issue, which calls Taiwanese in Shanghai New Shanghainese as mentioned earlier, in New Shanghainese, a collection of essays articulating the new cultural identity of Shanghai people in the age of globalization, no authors define Taiwanese in Shanghai as New Shanghainese (Shanghai Zendai Institute 2003 Shanghai Zendai Institute, ed. 2003. New Shanghainese , Hong Kong: Joint Publishing . [Google Scholar]). 27. I thank the reviewer for bringing my attention to Ong's observation. 28. See Chen for xiao taishang (Chen 2003 Chen, Pin. 2003. New Concepts for Settling in Shanghai: The Emergence of Nothing Doers and Taiwanese Wanderers , Taipei: China Times . [Google Scholar]: 75), zhongyou yizu (Chen 2003 Chen, Pin. 2003. New Concepts for Settling in Shanghai: The Emergence of Nothing Doers and Taiwanese Wanderers , Taipei: China Times . [Google Scholar]: 30, 35), xianxian meidaizi and genben meidaizi (Chen 2003 Chen, Pin. 2003. New Concepts for Settling in Shanghai: The Emergence of Nothing Doers and Taiwanese Wanderers , Taipei: China Times . [Google Scholar]:16–29), and also for tailao (Chen 2001: 10, 128–42). For tailiu see Tan (2004 Tan, Yu‐chi. 2004. Taiwanese Housewives in Shanghai. , Taipei: INK . [Google Scholar]: 194–203). 29. The word tailiu was coined by The Business Weekly in 2001. 30. Two recent examples are 'tatsu‐jin' (daren) and 'kuso' (egao). The former means 'connoisseur' and the latter, originally referring to human excrement, now usually designates a subculture that defies mainstream values. 31. The meanings of diaspora here deviate from the word's traditional association with exile. As Ong explains, 'diaspora politics describe not an already existing social phenomenon, but rather a social category called into being by newly empowered transnational subjects' (Ong 2003 Ong, Aihwa. 2003. 'Cyberpublics and diaspora politics among transnational Chinese'. Interventions, 5(1): 82–100. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]: 88). To be precise, my use follows those of Khachig Tölölian and James Clifford. As Clifford maintains, 'flexible accumulation requires massive transnational flows of capital and labor‐depending on, and producing, diasporic populations' (Clifford 1994 Clifford, James. 1994. 'Diasporas'. Cultural Anthropology, 9(3): 302–338. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]: 311). Taishang in Shanghai could be seen as such diasporic population, one of 'the exemplary communities of the transnational moment' in Tölölian's terms (qtd. in Clifford 1994 Clifford, James. 1994. 'Diasporas'. Cultural Anthropology, 9(3): 302–338. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]: 303), communities born at the current transnational moment of flexible accumulation and the rise of global city‐regions. I also employ taishang's case to illustrate the complicated diaspora consciousness produced in response to the variegated experience of migration, including displacement, assimilation, or syncretism, just to name a few. My analysis of the self‐articulating labels of taishang helps elucidate how 'it [diaspora] is about feeling global' (Clifford 1994 Clifford, James. 1994. 'Diasporas'. Cultural Anthropology, 9(3): 302–338. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]: 312). 32. For Taiwanese women in Shanghai, see Ji (2003 Ji, Shuoming. 2003. 'Enjoy the latest excitement in Shanghai, and say goodbye to the depression in Formosa – ninety thousand Taiwanese women embrace Shanghai'. Yazhou Zhoukan , 17(4): 14–18. [Google Scholar]).