For an academic project, I am researching perceptions of Japanese goods (consumer goods, cultural goods, etc.) in post-war Chinese-language literature.
I’m interested in how writers depict Japanese goods: who uses them, what kinds of values they carry, and what they suggest about the characters who own or consume them.
I’m currently building a corpus of texts. I expect to focus primarily on Taiwan and Hong Kong, but I would also be very interested in works from mainland China (though I suspect examples may be less common).
I am not looking for books that focus specifically on Japan or Japanese products. Rather, I’m looking for works of fiction in which Japanese goods are mentioned in passing or as part of the narrative.
For example, in the short story 秋思 by Bai Xianyong, included in 台北人 (1971), the wife of a civil servant takes pride in owning Japanese goods and mastering Japanese-style ikebana. This seems to provoke disdain from the narrator, a rival Taipei socialite.
I can read Chinese (especially traditional Chinese). Recommendations of works that have not been translated are absolutely welcome.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions!
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