FROM DECADENCE TO DISILLUSION: URBAN IDENTITY IN MIAN MIAN’S CANDY

Abstract

This paper analyses urban identity in Candy (2000) by Chinese author Mian Mian, a prominent figure among the so-called “post-70s” generation. The novel, banned in China shortly after publication, portrays a fragile love story set against the backdrop of two cities. Shenzhen, a fast-growing city emblematic of China’s post-Cultural Revolution economic boom, is depicted as anonymous, nameless, and lacking identity despite its wealth. In contrast, Shanghai—Mian Mian’s hometown—is portrayed as a city with a rich literary legacy, symbolizing modernity and the sexual freedom of urban Chinese women. After a brief overview of urban identity in Chinese literature, particularly in Shanghai, and situating Mian Mian within her literary generation, the study focuses on the representation of cities and how urban identity in the novel shapes characters and narrative. It also examines the novel’s experimental style, which combines simple, colloquial language with occasional shifts in narrator, mirroring the instability and fragmentation of identity in the urban landscapes it depicts. Shenzhen and Shanghai are compared: Shanghai, with its historical and cultural depth, and Shenzhen, a symbol of rapid economic development, depicted as a chaotic space of drug dealers, addicts, pimps, and prostitutes. Both urban settings reflect the vulnerability of the protagonists as they navigate trauma, drug addiction, sexuality, and the search for belonging in post-1989 China.