Pub Date : 2023-02-12DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2023.2174800
Binglian Guo
ABSTRACT This study systematically examines, deconstructs, and maps the quotidian nationalist discourse among Chinese netizens and analyzes their ‘liking’ behavior on the social media platform, Zhihu, in order to investigate what and how they talk about nationalism. The analysis of the quotidian expression of nationalism marks a shift from the previous practice of relying on high-profile nationalist movements as evidence which may create an incomplete or inaccurate impression that much of Chinese nationalism is virulent and over-zealous. This study finds that Zhihu users are critical nationalists who are competitive but judicious. The existence of levelheaded nationalists in China’s online space suggests the limits of strident nationalist contagion and nationalist mobilization.
{"title":"Critical Nationalists: A Discourse Analysis of Quotidian Nationalist Expression Among Chinese Elite Urbanites","authors":"Binglian Guo","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2023.2174800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2023.2174800","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study systematically examines, deconstructs, and maps the quotidian nationalist discourse among Chinese netizens and analyzes their ‘liking’ behavior on the social media platform, Zhihu, in order to investigate what and how they talk about nationalism. The analysis of the quotidian expression of nationalism marks a shift from the previous practice of relying on high-profile nationalist movements as evidence which may create an incomplete or inaccurate impression that much of Chinese nationalism is virulent and over-zealous. This study finds that Zhihu users are critical nationalists who are competitive but judicious. The existence of levelheaded nationalists in China’s online space suggests the limits of strident nationalist contagion and nationalist mobilization.","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":"32 1","pages":"914 - 931"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47690440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-29DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2023.2172554
Shuanping Dai, Markus Taube, Jie Liu, Gang Liu
{"title":"Innovation Network Formation and the Catalyzing State: A Study of Two Innovative Industry Clusters in China","authors":"Shuanping Dai, Markus Taube, Jie Liu, Gang Liu","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2023.2172554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2023.2172554","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43428398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-26DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2023.2172553
Zhao Simon Xiao Bin, Wong David Wai Ho, Shao Chen Han, Liu Kai Ming
{"title":"Rising Income and Wealth Inequality in China: Empirical Assessments and Theoretical Reflections","authors":"Zhao Simon Xiao Bin, Wong David Wai Ho, Shao Chen Han, Liu Kai Ming","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2023.2172553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2023.2172553","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48597705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-23DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2023.2167054
Chi Zhang, Yiben Ma
ABSTRACT Patriotic campaigns and mass mobilization draw on existing xenophobic attitudes of the public, reinforcing the ‘us vs. them’ dualism between China and ‘the West’. However, patriotic campaigns are not always top-down, state-led, nor are they always primarily driven by political ideology. Patriotic content appeals to a growing nationalist audience who consumes a mixed feeling of perceived victimization at the hand of foreign aggression and the pride arising from being a Chinese citizen. This paper argues that the profitability of patriotic content circulating on social media exacerbated the tension between market-driven grassroots patriotism and state-led patriotic campaigns. The tension grows out of, and is manifested in, the online popular debate around economically driven, grassroots ‘patriotic’ content that can challenge the state state-led patriotic rhetoric. While the state sometimes strategically co-opts some patriotic contents into its own patriotic narratives, it also delegitimises other undesired ones through labels such as ‘high-level black’ (gaoji hei) or ‘low-level red’ (diji hong). These labels were initially used to differentiate meticulously crafted political satire and parody from incompetent, illogical and vulgar propaganda pieces that unintendedly blemish the state’s patriotic campaigns, but later evolved into an exercise of power to distance the CCP from undesired patriotic content.
{"title":"Invented Borders: The Tension Between Grassroots Patriotism and State-led Patriotic Campaigns in China","authors":"Chi Zhang, Yiben Ma","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2023.2167054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2023.2167054","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Patriotic campaigns and mass mobilization draw on existing xenophobic attitudes of the public, reinforcing the ‘us vs. them’ dualism between China and ‘the West’. However, patriotic campaigns are not always top-down, state-led, nor are they always primarily driven by political ideology. Patriotic content appeals to a growing nationalist audience who consumes a mixed feeling of perceived victimization at the hand of foreign aggression and the pride arising from being a Chinese citizen. This paper argues that the profitability of patriotic content circulating on social media exacerbated the tension between market-driven grassroots patriotism and state-led patriotic campaigns. The tension grows out of, and is manifested in, the online popular debate around economically driven, grassroots ‘patriotic’ content that can challenge the state state-led patriotic rhetoric. While the state sometimes strategically co-opts some patriotic contents into its own patriotic narratives, it also delegitimises other undesired ones through labels such as ‘high-level black’ (gaoji hei) or ‘low-level red’ (diji hong). These labels were initially used to differentiate meticulously crafted political satire and parody from incompetent, illogical and vulgar propaganda pieces that unintendedly blemish the state’s patriotic campaigns, but later evolved into an exercise of power to distance the CCP from undesired patriotic content.","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":"32 1","pages":"897 - 913"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41765496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-04DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2163586
Sungmin Cho
ABSTRACT This study revisits the question of whether China's economic development has brought democratic changes within the country or not. While the modernization theory suggests that economic development should lead to democratization, scholars claim that China has not made democratic progress despite its economic growth. By comparing these two competing perspectives and examining the evidence behind each assessment, I argue that there has been a certain degree of democratic progress in China, in terms of increasing social aspirations for a more open and free society among the Chinese people. I explain why and how scholars reach different conclusions about democratic progress in China, and emphasize the importance of understanding discrepancies between (1) the lack of change in the state’s system, (2) oscillation between liberal and illiberal policies, and (3) progressive changes in society. This article draws on previous studies and data from the World Value System, Varieties of Democracy, and Asian Barometer projects. It also discusses how Chinese people's local understanding of democracy affects the assessment of modernization theory's applicability in explaining China's case.
{"title":"Does China’s Case Falsify Modernization Theory? Interim Assessment","authors":"Sungmin Cho","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2022.2163586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2163586","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study revisits the question of whether China's economic development has brought democratic changes within the country or not. While the modernization theory suggests that economic development should lead to democratization, scholars claim that China has not made democratic progress despite its economic growth. By comparing these two competing perspectives and examining the evidence behind each assessment, I argue that there has been a certain degree of democratic progress in China, in terms of increasing social aspirations for a more open and free society among the Chinese people. I explain why and how scholars reach different conclusions about democratic progress in China, and emphasize the importance of understanding discrepancies between (1) the lack of change in the state’s system, (2) oscillation between liberal and illiberal policies, and (3) progressive changes in society. This article draws on previous studies and data from the World Value System, Varieties of Democracy, and Asian Barometer projects. It also discusses how Chinese people's local understanding of democracy affects the assessment of modernization theory's applicability in explaining China's case.","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":"32 1","pages":"1034 - 1052"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48613380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2052445
Suzanne Ogden
ABSTRACT China has made Yunnan Province its ‘Southern Gateway’ and the hub of its transportation corridors and energy-water nexus in Southeast Asia by incorporating the Greater Mekong Subregion into its ‘Belt and Road Initiative.’ China’s Lancang River (Upper Mekong) hydropower development generates costs and benefits for downstream countries. China dominates the Greater Mekong Subregion through institutional development, technological expertise, and financial investment; yet, despite asymmetrical power relationships, China’s Mekong neighbors guard their sovereignty and maintain substantial bargaining power. China is most successful when it embraces the ‘preferences’ it shares with them. An ongoing debate likewise undermines Beijing’s dominance among China’s stakeholders, who contest the developmental model versus the environmental sustainability model, as well as the meaning of ‘environmental protection.’
{"title":"The Impact of China’s Dams on the Mekong River Basin: Governance, Sustainable Development, and the Energy-Water Nexus","authors":"Suzanne Ogden","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2022.2052445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2052445","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT China has made Yunnan Province its ‘Southern Gateway’ and the hub of its transportation corridors and energy-water nexus in Southeast Asia by incorporating the Greater Mekong Subregion into its ‘Belt and Road Initiative.’ China’s Lancang River (Upper Mekong) hydropower development generates costs and benefits for downstream countries. China dominates the Greater Mekong Subregion through institutional development, technological expertise, and financial investment; yet, despite asymmetrical power relationships, China’s Mekong neighbors guard their sovereignty and maintain substantial bargaining power. China is most successful when it embraces the ‘preferences’ it shares with them. An ongoing debate likewise undermines Beijing’s dominance among China’s stakeholders, who contest the developmental model versus the environmental sustainability model, as well as the meaning of ‘environmental protection.’","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":"32 1","pages":"152 - 169"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41540476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-21DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2159756
F. L. F. Lee, C. Chan
{"title":"Political Events and Cultural Othering: Impact of Protests and Elections on Identities in Post-Handover Hong Kong, 1997–2021","authors":"F. L. F. Lee, C. Chan","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2022.2159756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2159756","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42188178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2153017
Kege Li
{"title":"In the Pursuit of the Constructed Truth: Courtroom Questioning as a Persuasive Genre of Talk","authors":"Kege Li","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2022.2153017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2153017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45992545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2153016
Guangyu Qiao-Franco, Rong-hui Zhu
{"title":"China’s Artificial Intelligence Ethics: Policy Development in an Emergent Community of Practice","authors":"Guangyu Qiao-Franco, Rong-hui Zhu","doi":"10.1080/10670564.2022.2153016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2153016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47894,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary China","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42731637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}