Immoral Modernities: The Politics of Obscenity Regulation in the Early Twentieth-Century Sinophone World

A lecture by Dr Yushu Geng (TCD) for the International History Research Seminar Series.

This talk is based on his current book project, which examines the circulation and censorship of Chinese-language obscene books and pictures in Shanghai, British Hong Kong, and colonial Singapore in the early twentieth century. Tracing the various meanings of the category of ‘yin’ (which can be loosely translated as ‘obscene’ and/or ‘obscenity’) in transnational Chinese contexts, he argues that ‘obscenity’ was an inherently unstable concept defined not by sexually explicit content, but by the diverse efforts of various actors, including different states, colonial administration, communal initiatives, and the self-regulation of the book industry, to regulate it. ‘Obscenity’ effectively became a way to talk about and differentiate desirable and undesirable modernities in the early twentieth-century Sinophone world. Ultimately, his monograph uses the instability of ‘obscenity’ to deconstruct several dichotomies deeply rooted within modern Chinese cultural and intellectual history, such as moral/immoral, modern/traditional, China/West, and China/the Sinophone diaspora. Showing that ‘yin’ cannot be unproblematically translated into ‘pornography’ or ‘erotica’, it offers a geographically and historically grounded understanding of obscenity and pornography, which enriches the existing scholarship on pornography that has remained largely Eurocentric.

The Centre for International History draws on the burgeoning insights of scholars in the past few decades that history does not stop at the border of the nation-state.  International history explores comparative approaches and uncovers transnational flows of commerce, politics, culture, and ideas. The Centre's research seminars and public events will display these methods while examining historical developments across the globe especially in the late modern period.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: gearyd@tcd.ie