ABSTRACT
In order to understand the affective significance of the wan’r frame to park singers, this chapter contrasts wan’r-oriented singing with more marginal deployments within Jingshan Park of revolutionary songs as overt political expression. While it has been common for scholars to analyze collective singing in China’s public spaces as a form of politics, I show how wan’r, as playfulness, does away with the politics inherent in the repertoire. I discuss how and why remaining outside of politics matters to wan’r-seeking retirees, when the same repertoire can serve a politics of nostalgia in a different corner of the park. The description of contrasting gatherings also helps refine a relatively monolithic view of “singing red” practices among the Chinese elderly people.
