Globalization and Privacy in Crisis: A Mermaid in the Suzhou River and Violence on the Beijing Streets

Abstract

This essay explores how people in Chinese cities cope with their privacy issues in the age of globalization. I propose two texts for analysis: Lou Ye's film Suzhou River (1999) and Chen Ran's novel A Private Life (1996). Entering the era of globalization, Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai experienced numerous transformations of everyday life. Beyond the growing affluence related to materialist culture, people's perspectives changed, especially with regard to the question of privacy. In Suzhou River, the male protagonist (Ma Da) suffers from “mermaid paranoia,” a form of obsession with a past lover rooted in remorse for the love/ransom exchange. The female protagonist (Niuniu) in A Private Life is victimized by the widespread violence of the city streets: patriarchal tyranny, sexual harassment and the Tian'anmen massacre. These examples, reflecting the lives of metropolitan inhabitants, express how the challenging search for privacy is exacerbated under globalization. Meanwhile, I note individuals' different ways of responding to the crisis of privacy. Despite the painful experiences of paranoia and nervous breakdown, the protagonists choose to pursue urban living. They know well that the big cities encroach on their privacy; at the same time, they also realize that these are the only places where they may create and establish privacy to begin with.