ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the marginalised masculinities in post-socialist China, exploring their resistance to and realignment with hegemonic masculinity. Beginning with a contextualisation of hegemonic masculinity and its opposition in post-socialist China, this study investigates various forms of grassroots manhood, such as matrilocal husbands in online literature, rural men on digital platforms and ethnic masculinities on social media. These examples illuminate the practices of spectatorship and the dynamic power struggles behind these representations. In doing so, we discover that these new images are co-constructed by the forces of the female gaze, consumer culture, online platforms and digital labour. The chapter concludes that the evolving and multifaceted nature of Chinese masculinity not only responds to the diverse range of Chinese feminisms, but also engages in a constant process of commodification, co-option and conformity with hegemonic masculinities in post-socialist China.
