Asian men have always been stereotyped as more "feminine", but why is this? And what do 'soft masculinity', pretty boys, and Confucius have to do with Chinese masculinity?

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:43 The wen-wu paradigm (scholar ideal vs soldier ideal)
6:40 The female gaze ft. bishounen and korean flower boys
10:50 China's ban on effeminate masculinity and vision for the future
15:15 Discussion on macho actors in china, pretty men in the west, and masculinity being a societal construct
19:14 Conclusion

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my gear!
below links may contain affiliate links that help me out but come at no extra cost to you :)
- camera: iphone 11
- mic: razer seiren mini [ Ссылка ]
- editing software: final cut pro

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Detailed timestamps, thoughts and sources! (it's quite a bit….)

1:43 Definitions of wen and wu, Louie K 2002 (see list of sources below)
2:55 Imperial China's civil service exams, meritocracy (we stan) and its history [ Ссылка ]
3:52, 4:50 Wen wu in history, Louie K 2002
6:33 The flaw with traditional masculinity, the wen wu paradigm and need to bring in the female perspective, Song G 2004
7:59 The story of Bjorn Andresen [ Ссылка ]
8:35 Bishounen, flower boys and xiao xian rou, Song G 2004
8:58 China being one of the first foreign countries introduced to Kpop and H.O.T's flower boy image, Sun M 2019
10:28 Song Geng talks about the Pan East Asian Soft Masculinity and makes a lot of references to pop culture like kdrama Descendants of the sun! He also just posted all these thoughts on a forum lol how chill of him, Song G 2016
10:55 Chinese source - entire transcript outlining the ban on effeminate men [ Ссылка ]
11:41 Li Yanling dropped barssss. Quoted in Song G 2021
12:26 Chinese source - honestly its just mostly shaming effeminate men so I'm hesitant to link it, but personally I think it's still worth seeing the other perspective even if you don't agree [ Ссылка ]
12:55 call an ambulance… but not for me. The paradox of self orientalism and nationalism, Song G 2021
14:14 really interesting read detailing the CPC's ideal of masculinity but also possible socioeconomic consequences as a result of this policy [ Ссылка ]
14:58 cover art for the wen wu paradigm, credit to artist Helen Haoyi Yu
15:15 me again with the tiktok [ Ссылка ]
16:15 little fresh meat actors transforming themselves to be more 'macho' [ Ссылка ]

Academic papers/journals referenced:
Louie, K 2002, Theorising Chinese masculinity : society and gender in China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Louie, K 2012, ‘Popular Culture and Masculinity Ideals in East Asia, with Special Reference to China’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol 71, no 4, pp. 929-943, [ Ссылка ].
Louie, K 2016, Changing Chinese Masculinities: From Imperial Pillars of State to Global Real Men, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, [ Ссылка ].
Song, G 2004, The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, [ Ссылка ].
Song, G 2016, Changing masculinities in East Asian pop culture, East Asia Forum, [ Ссылка ].
Song, G 2021, “Little Fresh Meat”: The Politics of Sissiness and Sissyphobia in Contemporary China, 'Men and Masculinities', Vol 25 no 1 [ Ссылка ]
Sun, M 2019, 'Analog Hallyu: Historicizing K-pop formations in China', Global Media and China, vol 4, no 4 [ Ссылка ]

Finally a special thank you to Kai Wen Lee for sharing your experience and understanding of Chinese masculinity with me!

Thanks for watching :)

tags: video essay, cultural commentary, social commentary, internet analysis, analysis video, chinese masculinity, orientalism, east asia, korea, china, japan, east asian, kpop, bts, exo, koreaboo, weaboo, anime, bishounen, pretty boys, soft masculinity, pan east asian soft masculinity, flower boys, soft boys, korean idols, korean entertainment, kdrama, idol shows, animation, manhua, manga, donghua, chinese animation, bl, boys love, danmei, mxtx, tgcf, hob, danmei, mdzs, priest, chinese, chinese novels, chinese culture, korean culture, confucius, gaokao, wen wu, hallyu wave, korean wave, kdrama, mina le, madisyn brown, olisunvia, edvasian, aini

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