The “Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School”, having been repressed by the “May Fourth” critics, regained its reputation in recent scholarly field. However, none of these scholarly discussions focus on the Hong Magazine, one of the most popular Butterfly magazines of early 1920s Shanghai. It was edited by Yan Duhe and Shijie Shuju. Influenced by his editorial career in Kuaihuolin, the supplement of Xinwen Bao, Yan Duhe strived to appeal to both the refined and the popular taste. He also included many texts playing with the word “hong” (red), which refracted the images of modern women and commercialized writers. This research will pursue a semiotic analysis of “hong” in the Hong Magazine to explore how it was related to morality, urbanism, gender, and literary commodity. Both literary and...[ Read more ]

The “Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School”, having been repressed by the “May Fourth” critics, regained its reputation in recent scholarly field. However, none of these scholarly discussions focus on the Hong Magazine, one of the most popular Butterfly magazines of early 1920s Shanghai. It was edited by Yan Duhe and Shijie Shuju. Influenced by his editorial career in Kuaihuolin, the supplement of Xinwen Bao, Yan Duhe strived to appeal to both the refined and the popular taste. He also included many texts playing with the word “hong” (red), which refracted the images of modern women and commercialized writers. This research will pursue a semiotic analysis of “hong” in the Hong Magazine to explore how it was related to morality, urbanism, gender, and literary commodity. Both literary and non-literary materials will be widely utilized to explain the literary phenomenon. By outlining the rich semiotic meaning of “hong”, this research will reveal the characteristics and historical significance of the Hong Magazine.