In The Golden Age, Wang Xiaobo explicitly depicts the forbidden and punishable sex acts of Wang Er and Chen Qingyang. However, as “doing something is very different from liking it” the compulsive and obligatory nature of their trysts protects them from punishment from the state (117). This immunity is compromised when Chen confesses that being spanked by Wang awoke her masochistic desire, causing her to have sex for pleasure.
While this confession was punishable in the highest degree (warranting “being torn apart by five running horses or being minced by thousands of knives”), in a shocking turn of events, as “no one had the power to tear [them) apart… [the state] had no choice but to set [them] free” (117). The author gives little explanation as to why the couple is so easily released, but with a deeper reading of the text some possibilities arise.
In this paper we examine some reasons for the couple’s release, including the ineptitude of the state, society’s inability to confront impurity, government officials’ guilt about their hypocrisy, and Chen’s confession as a representation of the sadistic state. It is possible that in stating “no one had the power” to punish them, Wang Xiaobo means just that (117). The work farm’s team leader is shown to be both inept and corrupt, unable to control the villagers in a community meeting and then aiding Wang Er’s escape in order to avoid censure in a federal investigation.
Wang Er himself realizes that the military deputy does not have the power to castrate him, leading him to make his second escape with Chen. While on the run, the state is unable to locate the runaways and only apprehend them when they return to the farm of their own accord. In the end the state is unable to truly punish Wang Er, who resists their attempts at reeducation. The portrayal of the state as so powerless they cannot discipline the couple is Wang Xiaobo’s jab at the government that imprisoned him. Wang Xiaobo satirizes not just the state’s inability to deter sexual activity, but society’s inability as well.
Wang Er points out that although society is quick to accuse and vilify innocent people of being damaged goods, “as for real damaged goods, they just let them do whatever they want” (84). This social abandonment of truly damaged goods first occurs when Chen rushes to the injured Wang Er’s side, outing herself as his lover in front of the entire village, who proceed to both stop gossiping about and speaking to her. Later, when Chen upholds her image as “so ignorant that she had to be innocent,” the state contentedly denigrates her through confessions and denouncement ceremonies (112).
However, once she admits that she enjoys sex and declares herself truly damaged goods, they have no use for her and let her go. Not only is society prone to attack innocent individuals, but they are unable and hesitant to challenge truly impure people. This hesitance stems from fear of the damaged goods’ open rebellion and proud abandon of honor – to others, this is unimaginable and destabilizes their ideas of right and wrong. By portraying social norms as misguided and weak, Wang Xiaobo makes the point that social stigma cannot hurt sexually liberated people.
In fact, by breaking the stigma the couple baffles both their community and government officials, giving them no choice but to leave them alone. Therefore, succumbing to sexual temptation results not only in release from state punishment, but release from the judgment of others. In addition to society’s fear of open sexuality, Wang Xiaobo introduces two more driving emotions: guilt and jealousy. Wang Er believes that all humans are lead by the pursuit of pleasure, and that people who deny their natural urges “commit the sin of hypocrisy, which is more disgusting than greed, sensuality, or laziness” (67).
When confronted with the lovers’ integrity, the government officials (who take pleasure in reading the confessions and get erections during the denouncement ceremonies) are confronted with their own hypocrisy, and their inability to fulfill their desires (67, 83). Therefore, the officials may have released the couple in order to remove the temptation to commit similar acts, out of respect for the couples’ courage and moral high ground, or out of guilt for their hypocrisy. While Chen’s confession exposes every individual’s longing for pleasure, it also indicates the government as a source of her pleasure.
She enjoyed the denouncement ceremonies, pleased to do “all that people wanted her to do,” so thrilled by the rough treatment, bondage, and exhibitionism that she was consistently aroused and even kept her uniform as a memento (110). When Chen confesses her masochism, the government officials realize that instead of cruelly punishing Chen’s transgressions, the denouncement ceremonies erotically pleased her. In the end, she is released and her confession stricken because the state cannot be considered responsible for indulging the pleasure it seeks to eradicate. Furthermore, it was the state that lead her to sin in the first place.
The military deputy she spurned romantically sentenced her to the work farm and began the rumors about her being damaged goods. Tormented by these rumors and unable to prove her innocence (“If people say you’re damaged goods, then you must be damaged goods”), Chen is convinced to sleep with Wang Er to avoid getting a “raw deal” (62-63). Had it not been for the military deputy’s corruption and the resulting social humiliation, she never would have accepted Wang Er’s proposal. By confessing that a government official’s actions triggered her descent into masochistic gratification, Chen indicates the government as the source of her sin.
In order to avoid culpability for pushing a citizen to immorality, the state had no choice but to absolve her. While the state frees Chen to conceal their role in triggering and indulging her masochism, Wang Xiaobo also suggests a more nefarious intention. In her confession, Chen describes feeling like “a young bird clinging to its master,” like “she let go of herself” (117). This submissive awakening made her feel “happy because she did all that people wanted her to do” (110). Being constrained and punished by Wang Er made her feel subservient, selfless, and happy in serving her master.
This is a metaphor for the relationship between the state and its people. The state attempts to constrain its intellectuals to prisons and work farms, punishing them physically and mentally, all to pursue not simply subservience, but masochistic love for the state. By destroying Chen’s confession the state prevents the spread of this allegory, keeping the public in the dark about their sadistic system. On an individual basis, the government officials who read her confession recognize their similar transformation into state-loving masochists.
Both out of masochistic sympathy and a desperate need to quell their embarrassment, they release Chen. However, there is a massive difference between the officials and Chen: By pledging her allegiance to Wang Er and sexual pleasure, Chen resists entering the sadist-state/masochist-citizen relationship. The state is quick to cover up her evasion of their system, preventing public uprising by expunging her confession and setting her free. Wang Xiaobo’s work is all at once blatant and ambiguous, explicit and obscure.
Though he depicts sexuality in meticulous detail, the reader must dig for the metaphors in his absurdist satire. While the senseless release of Wang Er and Chen by the authorities is definitely meaningful, there are a number of ideas it could be exploring, from the ineffectual state to the uselessness of social stigma, the hypocrisy of “purity” or the sadism, censorship, and exploitation of the government during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Considering Wang Xiaobo’s careful, deep, yet eccentric symbolism, this brief event is likely indicative of many, if not all, of these social criticisms.
