“娘炮風”流行引爭議

Many Chinese girls love “small, fresh meat”, which refers to young, effeminate male stars. However, it turns out that not everyone is a fan of them.

不少中國女孩都喜歡“小鮮肉”—— 年輕柔弱的男星。然而，並不是所有人都喜歡這樣的人。

On Sept 6, an article published by Xinhua News Agency described some male stars as too effeminate.

9月6日，新華社發文稱一些男星太“娘”了。

This came after CCTV was criticized for inviting several young male stars to perform on First Class for the New Semester, an educational TV show for primary and secondary school students, which aired on Sept 1.

此前，央視因邀請幾位“小鮮肉”男星上中小學教育節目《開學第一課》而備受爭議。該節目已於9月1日播出。

Afterwards, many parents left comments online, saying the stars in the show had a bad influence on their children.

節目播出後，不少家長在網上留言，稱節目裏的明星會對孩子產生不良影響。

The popularity of effeminate male stars is partly down to the influence of Japanese and South Korean pop culture, Fan Xiaoqing, an expert on South Korean movies at the Communication University of China, told China Daily.

中國傳媒大學韓國電影專家範小青在接受《中國日報》採訪時表示，“娘炮”男星的流行一部分是受日韓流行文化的影響。

However, the “femininity” of males isn’t a recent social phenomenon. In fact, being effeminate was popular among Chinese men during the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties, especially among aristocrats and scholars, according to China Daily.

然而，男性的“女性化”並非是個近期的社會現象。據《中國日報》報道，事實上，男子的陰柔之風曾在魏晉南北朝的貴族士大夫中盛行。

Indeed, the debate about effeminate male stars has been going on for a while.

而關於“娘炮”男星的爭議的確已經持續了一段時間。

In July, Hong Kong singer-actor Nicholas Tse said during the singing reality show Sing! China that he feels tired of seeing effeminate male stars.

今年7月，香港歌手、演員謝霆鋒在歌唱真人秀《中國新歌聲》中表示，已經有點厭倦現在的“娘炮”男星。

“It isn’t that they’re not good, but we should discover ourselves, rather than imitate. Men should get their hormones back,” he said during the show.

“不是說人家不好，而是說我們應該找回自己，不能一直追着別人的尾巴。男生也該找回男生該有的荷爾蒙，”他在節目中表示。

His opinion was shared by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. “Some young actors are feminine and they should be more manly,” he said during the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2017.

中國導演馮小剛也有同感。“一些年輕演員，身上沒有一點男人氣概，娘們氣嚴重，”2017年6月，他在上海國際電影節上如此說道。

However, others have a more open mind toward this phenomenon. “It’s stereotypical to think all male stars should be masculine, like Jackie Chan. As society diversifies, there are more options for fans to choose from,” Liang Yurou, 19, a college student from Fujian province, told China Daily.

然而，也有人對這一現象持更爲開放的觀點。“認爲所有男星都應該像成龍那樣血氣方剛是種刻板印象。隨着社會不斷多元化，粉絲們也有了越來越多的選擇，”來自福建的19歲大學生樑雨柔（音譯）在接受《中國日報》採訪時表示。

Deng Xiquan, head of the Youth Research Institute at the China Youth and Children Research Center, believes such a phenomenon is completely natural.

中國青少年研究中心青年研究所所長鄧希泉認爲，這樣的現象十分正常。

“It’s only a central issue temporarily and will be replaced by a new youth culture at some stage. If a man has feminine beauty, this doesn’t mean that he lacks responsibility,” Deng told China Daily.

“這只是個暫時的焦點，某些時候會被新的青年文化所取代。就算男性有陰柔的一面，也不意味着他缺乏責任感，”鄧希泉在接受《中國日報》採訪時表示。

Deng’s opinion was echoed by the People’s Daily. “A man’s strength should be judged on the basis of their inner qualities – not their physical appearance,” it wrote.

鄧希泉的觀點與《人民日報》的觀點相呼應。“從對於熱血男兒的推崇，也可以看出，外形不是問題的關鍵，內涵才更深刻地決定着人們對一個人的評價，”《人民日報》寫道。