Table of Content

20 January 2021, Volume 41 Issue 1

Previous Issue    Next Issue

Language, Substitute and Exemplar: The Mythology of The Metal-bound Coffer

ZHAO Bingxiang

2021, 41(1):  1-42. 

Asbtract ( 967 )   HTML ( 560)   PDF (4514KB) ( 1005 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This paper uses the death of Socrates in Plato's Dialogues as reference to examine the chapter "The Metal-bound Coffer"(jinteng) of the Book of Documents and Zheng Xuan's annotation on the chapter "The Owls"(chixiao) of The Book of Odes. By comparing the story of the Duke of Zhou with the death of Socrates in Plato's Dialogues, the paper analyses the structural, social and individual significance of the texts. First of all, the types of ritual and language style in The Metal-bound Coffer are examined. As the substitute of King Wu, the Duke of Zhou was a pledge of the royal family, but because of his special role as the regent for his nephew King Cheng, he also easily became a scapegoat. Second, the Warring States scholars' writing showed that the Duke's regency had caused a great controversy in political philosophy at that time. Third, in his annotation of The Mental-bound Coffer and The Owls, Zheng Xuan portrayed the Duke as a moral exemplar, emphasizing on his susceptibleness of being made of a scapegoat but much more so on his strong character to overcome adversaries. On the whole, the stories of Socrates and the Duke are the result of a transformation from collective scapegoating to individual one. Socrates lived an "aloof" life, but his life style was difficult to be accepted by Athenians who did not develop an Indian"renunciation". However, unlike ancient Greeks, "retirement/seclusion" was popular philosophical position and political gesture in ancient China. To counter the image of the Duke as a tirannos, Zheng Xuan highlighted his political retirement(of seclusion), not once but twice in his writing. Through his annotation, Zheng praised the Duke's extraordinary political and military achievements and established him as a moral exemplar in Chinese history, and all this was accomplished through the Duke of Zhou's own poems as well as those written for him by others.

Reconstructing Historical Narratives for Multi-ethnic China: A Study on the Historical Views of Nationality and Ethnicity in China during the 20th Century

WANG Juan

2021, 41(1):  43-78. 

Asbtract ( 899 )   HTML ( 79)   PDF (3584KB) ( 736 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

For modern China, the fundamental issue concerning Minzu is to find a way to position multiple ethnic groups appropriately in the system of nation-state, both institutionally and ideologically. As a part of this endeavor, Chinese intellectuals during the 20th century made great efforts to reconstruct historical narratives on how a "multi-ethnic China" had manifested and consolidated over time. This paper outlines three narratives after a systematical analysis of the important works on national and ethnic history during this period. The first narrative appeared in the early 1900s came from the writings on history of China, in which China and "ethnic Han" were interchangeable and the formation of "China" was described as a fierce competition for survival between Han and non-Han people. The second narrative came from the new-type "ethnic history" developed in the 1920s and 1930s, in which the conception of "China" was distinguished from that of "ethnic Han" and the principle of ethnic equality became a consensus. Meanwhile, the concept of "amalgamation" and "assimilation" emerged as important terms, and the formation of multi-ethnic China was depicted as a process of continual ethnic fusion. The last narrative was shaped by the framework of historical materialism. Since the 1940s, a new theoretical perspective had been promoted by Marxist historians. On the one hand, their anti-Han-chauvinism political standing compelled them to oppose a Han-Centered narrative; on the other hand, their belief in Marxist universal development stages of human society allowed them to place ethnic Han in the dominant and advanced position in Chinese history. Although these three narratives are quite different in framework and viewpoints, nevertheless they share one thing in common:the theoretical recognition and anxiety of two contradictory notions:Ethnic Han deserves a dominant position of the nation and all ethnic groups should be equally treated. This tension reflects the fundamental paradox of modern China as "a nation-state of multiple ethnicities." To this day, this paradox still constitutes a basic valid framework for understanding the issues concerning Minzu.

Becoming “Best Practice”: The Discursive Construction of Policy Experimentation

WANG Luhao, LIN Hailong

2021, 41(1):  79-119. 

Asbtract ( 799 )   HTML ( 74)   PDF (21372KB) ( 866 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

As a policy process that generates and disseminates policy knowledge,policy trial experiments have drawn extensive attention from scholars in many fields,however,the related research has failed to address how policy knowledge is constructed during the process of from pilot trials to official implementation(congdian daomian "point-to-surface"). This paper examines a science and technology policy case study by analyzing discourse networks to reveal how the experiences of a single trial could become "best practices" in the process of discourse dissemination. We notice that once the pilot experiment is told,it enters a complex discursive construction process. First,there is a dynamic construction process of the pilot experiment by discourse variation and intertextuality. On the one hand,pilot trial units,mass media,and academic experts engage in interpreting the experiment according to their own editing rules. On the other hand,through interactions among various interpretations over the period of expanding policy implementation,a discourse consensus on policy knowledge would gradually emerge,which is then adopted as official policy discourse. Second,the study explores the impact of different editing rules on the construction and diffusion of policy knowledge,the discursive order and rules that make up the interpretive framework of policy knowledge,as well as the complexity of social practices behind the process of intertextuality. Lastly,the study offers a new perspective explaining why sometimes policy experimentation fails to be widely adopted. When the discursive interpretation becomes so essential to the construction of pilot experiences,it may lead to the actual lessons being lost in translation. By introducing a new research angle of discourse,this study provides some new insights on the studies of policy experimentation and policy knowledge.

“Image Making”: The Storytelling in Xinfang Events

ZHAO Yang

2021, 41(1):  120-149. 

Asbtract ( 1102 )   HTML ( 95)   PDF (3228KB) ( 1016 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

The existing mainstream "structure-system" research of xinfang (petition) pays more attention to the analysis of the facts and the relevant laws and regulations. However, unlike other public governance issues, even if the facts are clear in xinfang events, the understanding and interpretation of the facts by petitioners and the government vary greatly, resulting in constant changes and contrasts of the images presented by the two sides. This makes it difficult to classify the governance of xinfang issues, and calls for an analysis of "context-narrative" in order to clarify the matter.
With the help of symbolic interaction theory, this study proposes a research perspective of "image making" to analyze the process of petitioners and local governments engaging in creating positive images for their own ends to be presented to the higher level of authorities. The discussion of this image competition is placed within the context of the Chinese bureaucratic petition system. Focusing on a xinfang case over demolition and relocation that lasted for several years in Ping town, Sichuan province, the study examines petition letters and official documents of the case and describes the competitive image making between the land-lost farmers and the local government. The study finds that xinfang itself is a process of"storytelling" and the key to successful narratives lies in situational judgment and image making. The social traditions, the petition system, and the political environment are structural elements that are used by petitioners and the government to shape an "compound image" of all the parties involved. This "image making" in xinfang makes it difficult to solve substantive problems and promote institutionalization of the system, and in fact, it may have increased the burden of local governance. Finally, this article also offers a discussion on the theoretical implication of the "image making" perspective.

The Triple Meaning of Mandevillean Maxim and the Modern Transformation of “Civil Society”

ZHAO Yutao

2021, 41(1):  150-177. 

Asbtract ( 649 )   HTML ( 40)   PDF (3072KB) ( 260 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

This article offers a systematic clarification of the meaning of Bernard Mandeville's notoriously famous motto-"Private Vices, Public Benefits". As the earliest theoretical attempt to analyze the principles of modern commercial society, the Mandevillean maxim is often misunderstood, being interpreted as moral defense or satire of evils, or a popularized version of Hobbism. Sometimes, it is also regarded as a prototype of modern social sciences, especially of the theory of spontaneous order. In fact, Mandeville used this maxim to answer three different questions, embodied in three different forms. Firstly, for the origin of society, it is the fear of the individual that supports political power and gives the rise of political society. Secondly, for the origin of moral virtue and politeness, it is the pride of the individual that leads to self-discipline and a civilized way of life. Thirdly, for the origin of economic prosperity, it is the individual's pursuit of luxury that promotes economic activities,which in turn strengthens the power of the nation. A consistent idea of Mandeville's maxim is to artificially establish a "civil society" on the basis of men's self-love. The three different forms of this "civil society" point to the triple meaning of the concept, namely, political society (a unity of political power), civil society (civilized social relations) and bürglische gesellschaft (commercial life based on material exchange). It represents a conceptual transformation from Hobbism and natural jurisprudence to Scottish political economy and modern social science. An adequate appreciation of the Madevillean maxim will benefit our comprehensive understanding of the relationship between individuals, society and the state.

Internet Involvement, Information Consumption and Political Participation in Urban China

WANG Xinxi, MENG Tianguang

2021, 41(1):  178-206. 

Asbtract ( 1095 )   HTML ( 116)   PDF (5655KB) ( 1185 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Whether the Internet promotes political participation has always been a hot topic among academia. However, the current research lacks an effective classification of Internet usage, nor does it analyze its impact on different political participation. Based on the data from the China Urban Governance Survey (2015 & 2018), this study offers an examination of Internet usage behavior of urban Chinese from the perspectives of Internet involvement and information consumption, as well as a comparison of different patterns of Internet use on conventional and unconventional political participation. The result of this study confirms the "empowerment hypothesis" of Internet use and shows that both "group-involvement-social information oriented" Internet use have a positive effect on conventional or unconventional political participation of urban Internet users. However, the study fails to support the "time displacement hypothesis." It shows that the "individual-involvement-entertainment oriented" mode of Internet use has no negative effect on the conventional and unconventional political participation of Chinese urban Internet users. Similarly, the "group-involvement-entertainment oriented" Internet use has no significant effect on unconventional political participation. Taken together, the study shows that in general, Internet use has promoted Chinese urban netizens' political participation but there are significant differences between different types of Internet use. As a revolutionary medium, Internet not only provides citizens with the convenience of obtaining and communicating information but also brings more challenges to the state governance. How the government should deal with different kinds of political participation in the Internet age will be an important research topic in the future.

Gentry,Community and Modernization: Comparison between Chinese and English Gentry Theories

HUANG Ziyi, ZHANG Yahui

2021, 41(1):  207-235. 

Asbtract ( 844 )   HTML ( 49)   PDF (2904KB) ( 859 )  

References | Related Articles | Metrics

Max Weber and Richard Tawney both analyzed the British social structure and its modernization from the perspective of "gentry". They made analogies between China and Britain on this basis. Fei Xiaotong was influenced by their thinking. In the process of transition from the Middle Ages to the modern time,the gentry,as a rising power,had gradually become an important part of the British social structure and a crucial modernization force. The concept of gentry changed constantly in history,eventually encompassing people from both traditional to modern,and rural to urban. The traditional British gentry was prominent landowners who obtained the post of Justice of Peace by virtue of wealth and prestige. British gentry was the core contributor of the transition from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft,not only connecting Gemeinschaft with modern politics but also village communities with modern markets. By contrast,the Chinese gentry were administrators and supervisors of the imperial political body,and they,at the same time,assumed the leadership of autonomous local groups and acted as an auxiliary force for self-governing local communities. When modernization brought changes to the old political system in China and the rise of a new type of gentry,it was difficult for the new and the old gentry to integrate. Conflicts were guaranteed over progress.
Fei expanded his gentry research by comparing gentry groups between the British and the Chinese. This paper explores Fei's work to find out its Western theoretical background and the prototype of its Chinese experience. Theoretically,Fei's work represented a continuity of Tawney and Weber's social comparison,but empirically,it was based on the Chinese traditional administrative system in rural Yunnan. We attempt to explain the ways that Fei sublated Tawney and Weber,and the tension rising from applying the gentry theory to the Chinese experience.