Pet Pride: The Reception of Hollywood Dog Stars in Republican-Era China

Abstract “People are lesser than dogs!” This refrain, often repeated in Republican-era publications with a mix of humor and bitterness, encapsulates the ambivalence at the heart of reactions to American “dog stars” ( gou mingxing 狗明星) in China. On the one hand, dog stars like Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart embodied American modernity and cinematic advancement – canine performance was framed as a kind of technology still lacking in China. This led to numerous attempts in films throughout the Republican period to capitalize on “China’s first dog star,” usually marketed explicitly in comparison with Hollywood’s dog stars. On the other hand, however, reports of the sensational excess of American dog stars’ treatment prompted anxieties about the boundaries between animals and humans, especially economically disadvantaged and racialized humans. Dog stars, much like the highly mythologized “Dogs and Chinese Not Admitted” sign, became relevant for thinking about injustice and its relation to (in)humanity. It is in this context that we should understand dog roles in the politically charged films Sports Queen ( Tiyu huanghou 體育皇后, 1934) and The Desert Island ( Langtaosha 浪淘沙, 1936). Based on documentary research supplemented with close reading, this paper brings recent trends in animal studies into conversation with transnational studies.