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"Little Fresh Meats"


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in the People's Daily

PLA Daily slams 'little fresh meats' for portraying soldiers on TV

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In modern Chinese society, the phrase “little fresh meat” has become a popular buzzword, used to describe young and handsome men. In a recent commentary, PLA Daily slammed several "little fresh meats" for their performance in a military-themed TV show. The actors scarcely resemble hardened Chinese soldiers, even if they are dressed in uniforms, the paper stressed.

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Some argue that when profit becomes the only goal, art has lost its value.

The buzzword could easily be dismissed as nothing more than a linguistic trend, but it nevertheless guides the public's aesthetic orientation. Every piece of art has an impact on the viewer's inner world. A military-themed show should be high-spirited and enthusiastic, the commentary explained.
 
Soldiers are not born with military spirit. Instead, it is carved into them through fighting and battles. One cannot be a qualified soldier without responsibility and bravery. In this regard, the article argues, "little fresh meats" will never be able to act like real soldiers, and the entertainment industry should stop encouraging them to do so.

 

Edited by Randy W (see edit history)
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A spate of public allegations have brought down several male Chinese celebrities, denting not just their image but also billions of dollars in brand endorsements. This article has been updated with an audio version via the “China Stories” podcast.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3030497747269065

What Does the Future Hold for China’s ‘Little Fresh Meat’ Idols?
A spate of public allegations have brought down several young male celebrities, denting not just their image but also billions of dollars worth of brand endorsements.

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Last week, singer Huo Zun was grilled over his perceived lack of morality by social media users after his former partner accused him of cheating. He responded by saying he was ending his singing career.

Actor Zhang Zhehan was also shunned last week after photos of him posing at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a site honoring Japanese war criminals, surfaced online. While many fans slammed him for “dishonoring China’s history” and its invasion by Japan, more than two dozen brands — including French luxury fashion brand Lanvin and Japanese jeweler Tasaki — immediately canceled contracts with the actor due to his tainted public image.

 

 

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Replug: “China’s real crisis of masculinity isn’t ‘sissy pants’ — it’s a generation of men anxious and insecure about their declining social status and their desperation to cling to power.”

More reading material, if you're still interested

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3031047293880777

Why It’s Silly For Chinese to Worry About ‘Sissy’ Young Men
State media has joined in with parents to decry the nation’s young boys for being ‘sissy pants,’ but the real issue is fragile masculinity.

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State news agency Xinhua then poured gasoline on the fire when it published a commentary last Thursday lambasting the popularity of young male celebrities who have slender figures and an interest in makeup, calling them “sissy pants” and emblematic of a “sick culture.” Later that day, Party-run news outlet People’s Daily published a rebuttal of Xinhua’s piece, dismissing terms such as “sissy pants” as derogatory, stating that a man’s value should be measured by his character, not his outward appearance.

To understand the nature of this controversy, we must first understand how Chinese have traditionally viewed masculinity. Kam Louie, a professor of Chinese literature at The University of Hong Kong, argues that masculinity in China’s cultural context historically appeared in two main forms: wen and wu — the literary and the martial, respectively. And for most of Chinese history, wen masculinity — that of the scholar, not the warrior — was actually seen as superior to wu, especially when the state was at peace.

To be clear, regardless of whether or not they embodied wen or wu, in those days Chinese men still wielded absolute power over their families and society. Despite this — or perhaps because of it — there was no cultural expectation for men to behave in what would be considered an outwardly macho manner, and warriors were not always lionized over the literati.

In other words, the current backlash against “sissy pants” and inadequately butch men is rooted not in a traditional cultural abhorrence of slender, gentle, and delicately proportioned men — who were the masculine archetype throughout much of Chinese history — but in more modern concerns.

After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, one of the first tasks the country’s new leadership set for itself was rebuilding the country’s economy after decades of almost constant war. In desperate need of workers to build a new China, Mao’s famous declaration, “women hold up half the sky” was meant to mobilize Chinese women and draw them into the country’s workforce.

Although some feminists argue this movement did not liberate women so much as desexualize them and use the discourse about class struggle to downplay entrenched gender hierarchies, it is difficult to deny that women’s increasing involvement in the economy during this period led to a fundamental shift in the country’s gender dynamics.

 

 

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