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Title:
A Study on the Café Space as a Modern Experience in Chinese and Japanese Literature of the 1920s and 1930s ― Based on a Trans-East Asian Perspective
Abstract:
This paper explores the unique cultural landscape of the 'café' in the modern urban settings of China and Japan during the 1920s-30s. It aims to reveal the modern signs within the literary works of this period through a "trans-East Asian perspective." In both countries, cafés became integral to the urban experience, reflecting each city's engagement with international influences and consumer culture. In Shanghai, cafés emerged as new cultural spaces distinct from traditional tea houses (茶館), providing experiences of modernity and urbanity that were previously unavailable in traditional Chinese cities. These cafés symbolized the blending of foreign and Chinese elements, reflecting the hybrid urban culture of Shanghai. Conversely, Japan's café culture developed alongside the positive reception of the modern era, where capitalist
urbanization led to the proliferation of cafés as spaces for entertainment and leisure. Beyond their roles as hybrid urban spaces, cafés also became important spaces for reconstructing female subjectivity. An important point is that in the literary depiction of café spaces, upper-class women are primarily represented in China, while in Japan, lower-class women are more often highlighted. In Shanghai, cafés functioned as social hubs for various people, offering a modern atmosphere shaped by European cultural influences. The physical changes in the concession areas, combined with intrinsic elements of Chinese culture and the consumption habits of Shanghai residents, allowed cafés to expand into public spaces for the city's urban population. However, those who enjoyed and consumed the elegance of café culture in China were predominantly intellectuals and the middle class. For this group, cafés served as spaces for discourse, provided a modern lifestyle, and offered a sense of belonging. Meanwhile, in 1920s Japan, the rapid wave of capitalism following the Great Kanto Earthquake led to a quick expansion of entertainment-focused urban consumerism, with jobs like waitressing becoming common in the city's daily landscape. In China, female writers such as Lin Huiyin played leading roles in the literary scene. She was a regular at Shanghai's Café 'Renaissance' and the 'Xin Ya Tea house(新雅茶室)', and she led her own literary salon, which served as a bridge for writers entering the literary field.
Lin Huiyin's experiences are well reflected in her work "Hua Ting Fu Ren(花厅夫人)". In contrast, Japanese female writer Fumiko Hayashi, in her "Horoki(放浪記)", depicted the social image of increased waitressing and the lives of women living in the lower strata of urban society during the 1920s. As seen from the comparison of these two authors, while Shanghai cafés were spaces where women led cultural production and were recognized as cultural agents, Tokyo's cafés were revealed as spaces where women's bodies became aware of and experienced modernity. This analysis suggests that cafes functioned as a space for cultural capital production and public debate in Chinese literature in the 1920s and 30s, while in Japan, they gradually transformed into a private urban environment, moving from the progressive public spaces of the Daisho period to the Showa period.
