Tensions on the B-Side: The Global Gramophone Industry and Quyi Performances in Early Twentieth-Century Beijing

Abstract:This article examines the encounter between the global gramophone industry and the local entertainment business in early twentieth-century Beijing via a recording project organized by Pathé Records in 1907. Modern media—dominated by global capital and technology—were a double-edged sword for the native participants. Beginning with the experience of the Chinese go-between for the project, Qiao Jinchen, the first part of this article elucidates the multiple dynamics that shaped the collection. The second part explores the experience of the underground women performers, whose artistic and professional pursuits were suppressed by the commercialization of their eroticism. Concluding with analysis of Liu Baoquan’s resistance to gramophone technology, the article speaks to the conflict between the human-centered nature of native folk performances, which originated in preindustrial society, and the industrialized pursuits of modern media. These multiple perspectives on the collection reveal the ambiguous face of modernity as ordinary people experienced it.