From Shanghai to Hong Kong: Spatial Migration and Female Identity Construction in Love in a Fallen City
Abstract
Love in a Fallen City takes Bai Liusu's relocation from Shanghai to Hong Kong as the main narrative line. The spatial transformation not only promotes the plot, but also participates in the construction of her female identity and life choice. In view of the fact that there are few comprehensive studies on spatial migration, female identity and war intervention, this paper draws on Lefebvre's theory of spatial production, and uses the methods of close reading of texts, comparison of two cities and analysis of relevant scholarship to analyze the power relations and functional changes in the spaces such as Bai mansion, Repulse Bay Hotel and Babington Road Residence. The study found that the Bai household in Shanghai fixes Bai Liusu's social position through family ethics, economic control and relatives' scrutiny; although Hong Kong has expanded her scope of action with mobility and anonymity, she remains constrained by money, class, colonial order and gender relations. Migration gives her limited ability to observe, reject, and choose, but her dependence only shifts from family to marriage. The war interrupts the urban order, changes the functions of hotels, roads and houses, and promotes the characters to rebuild their relationships in daily life. This paper holds that Bai Liusu has not been completely liberated, but has undergone a limited reconstruction of identity in the restriction; the novel thus links women's situation, urban experience and war memory, making space an important mechanism to promote narrative and construct identity.
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