Faye Wong: stardom in Chinese popular music

Abstract

In 1994, "Faye's star persona had begun to transform the market logic", argue Anthony Fung and Michael Curtis in 'The anomalies of being Faye (Wong): gender politics in Chinese popular music' (2002, p.273). How does stardom work in the sinophone music industry? Does Faye Wong challenge market logic or reinforce it? What is the market logic of Chinese popular music? What is a pop music star? To answer these questions, I will first focus on Faye Wong's gender politics, coolness and childlike androgyny for a discussion of her theatricality and the construction of stardom across different media and then consider how Faye Wong's sound-image-text results from the more or less concerted efforts of a production team. Can her stardom hold these elements together?