Ethnicity in Print Media: Alternative Framings of the Short Story “The Gray Robe”

Prior research on ethnic minority literature has primarily focused on “ground-level” analysis, namely close reading of literary texts by authors registered as members of one of the ethnic minorities officially recognized by the PRC. In this paper, instead, I consider the “external” framings assigned by publishers to a case study: “ The Gray Robe,” a short story by the Hui Muslim author Shi Shuqing. Publishers have framed this story as “ethnic literature” but also as “regional,” “Chinese,” and “Chinese Muslim” literature. These competing framings, I claim, are not simple promotional devices. Rather, they highlight the latent discourses that posit a civilized literary center versus an unrefined literary periphery. Investigating how publishers package literary works for readers’ consumption enables an understanding of the tacit power dynamics within the modern literary field of China.