Paul Bevan on Scents of China. A Modern History of Smell by Xuelei Huang
Writing about smell is certainly nothing new. It even made the headlines recently with a controversy surrounding an Oxford DPhil dissertation, ‘Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose’. Xuelei Huang’s excellent book has seen no such controversy and is the first to concentrate exclusively on smell in China. In her own words, Huang tells the reader, ‘[…] this book undertakes an eccentric history of smell in modern China, an all-pervading yet uncharted realm that intimately interacted with other terrains of social life.’ The result is an enlightening study concerning many different aspects of smell, and, as Huang’s introductory words suggest, it explores and interacts with many other aspects of life in China, focussing in particular on nineteenth- and twentieth-century history.
The introduction to the book is an accomplishment in itself, as it draws on many aspects of olfactory studies and the history of smell more generally, and, most pertinently, on scents in China. Having said this, it might be argued that this introduction attempts to squeeze in far too much information, and runs the risk of losing the reader before the book has even had a chance to get started. Even so, if the reader persists they will eventually be richly rewarded.
Xuelei Huang Scents of China. A Modern History of Smell (Cambridge University Press, 2024)
The book is divided into three parts, each consisting of two chapters. Huang’s excellent and truly groundbreaking study begins in earnest with an examination of smell in all its forms as it appears in Cao Xueqin’s classic novel of manners, The Dream of the Red Chamber. Huang informs the reader that this chapter ‘explores the material culture of perfume and the spiritual, philosophical, and social subtexts of smell’. Entitled, ‘Aromas of the Red Chamber’, it is gripping reading from start to finish. The Dream of the Red Chamber seems to have been approached from every conceivable angle since the early nineteenth century, and this has given rise to the field of Hongxue (‘Redology’). Huang’s new perspective on this is one that to my knowledge has been all but unexplored, though it naturally is closely related to studies on botany and food, many examples of which have been written. This chapter provides a new and refreshing way to look at one of the most studied books in Chinese literary history.
Moving from the perfumed world of The Dream of the Red Chamber to a ‘sickening miasma of poisonous Chinese stench’ is certainly a shock to the system and nothing less than a full-frontal attack on the senses. Cacophonous music, outlandish physical appearance, strange smelling food, and the sweet sickly aroma of opium, are all common targets of the writings of Western visitors to China in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is these writings that are discussed in this chapter, which brings Part 1 to an end.
Chapter 3, which begins Part 2, makes an attempt to expel these rank odours from the readers’ nostrils. This chapter, ‘Deodorising China’ is an exploration into the various attempts made to control foul odours in Chinese cities, in this case Shanghai, from sewage to stagnant water. To quote Huang, ‘it undertakes a comparative study of three deodorization projects, conducted respectively by Western colonial administrations from the 1950s to the 1990s, by reform-minded Chinese Gentry of the late Qing and early Republic and by the communists in the 1950s [...]’. This is another fascinating chapter, examining the many attempts that were made to control everyday smells in Shanghai, a particularly interesting case due to the different approaches in civic administration that were practiced in the International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Chinese City.
Inevitably, a reader of a book that covers such a wide array of themes will gravitate to the areas that coincide most closely with their own fields of interest. Chapter 1, ‘Aromas of the Red Chamber’ and Chapter 4, ‘Re-perfuming China’, are the two chapters that appeal most to this reviewer. ‘Re-perfuming China’ draws on trade statistics, a variety of advertisements, and the examination of corporate archives, to look at sophisticated perfumes from Paris available from Shanghai’s department stores, scented soap imported from England, and the various face creams that were manufactured in China during the first decades of the twentieth century. Sales and sales figures of perfumes and scents are discussed alongside the advertising campaigns that produced an impressive array of advertising material, which could be seen all over Shanghai.
Chapter 5, which begins Part 3, ‘The Bouquet of Eros’, investigates the ‘phenomenon of olfactophilia emerging in Chinese fiction during the literary revolution of the 1920s’. Here the subject of sex and the various bodily odours associated with it became a focus for a short time in literature, and, to a lesser extent, advertising during the Republican Era. In the sixth and final chapter, ‘The Politics of Smell’, the discussion is brought into the communist era and looks at how the rural roots of some leaders affected people’s views on smell, with regard to both behaviour and speech. As Huang tells us, ‘In the lexicon of Mao-era politics, class enemies are “dog shit” and labour camps are “cowsheds”.’ Huang explores a number of smell-related keywords that are prevalent in Mao Zedong’s writings, communist party documents, and the media of the time.
This is a remarkable book that will be enjoyed by many for a wide variety of reasons. It is highly recommended for those interested in all aspects of smell studies, those who have a specific or general interest in China (in whatever field and from many and various angles), and for the general reader, all of whom will come away from reading the book with much food for thought. It will no doubt prove to be an indispensable resource for researchers looking at diverse aspects of Chinese history and culture, and there should be a place for it on the shelves of every library.
Paul Bevan is a writer, Sinologist, historian, and literary translator. From 2020 to 2023 he worked as Departmental Lecturer in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford. From 2018 to 2020 he was Christensen Fellow in Chinese Painting at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He is currently a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Paul’s most recent books are translations of The Adventures of Ma Suzhen: An Heroic Woman Takes Revenge in Shanghai (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), and Murder in the Maloo: A Tale of Old Shanghai (Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books, 2024). He has written two monographs: A Modern Miscellany – Shanghai Cartoon Artists, Shao Xunmei’s Circle and the Travels of Jack Chen, 1926-1938 (Brill, 2015), and ‘Intoxicating Shanghai’: Modern Art and Literature in Pictorial Magazines during Shanghai’s Jazz Age (Brill, 2020). Paul’s third monograph, Shanghai’s Shadow Waltz - from Hollywood to Hongkew: A New-sensationist Fantasia, is in the final stages of preparation.