Table of Content

24 March 2015, Volume 35 Issue 2

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Reflection upon Mores and Reconstruction Movement： Dilemma of the Yongjia Conservatives during the PostTaiping Restoration

HOU Jundan

2015, 35(2):  1-28. 

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The law of power in“XiaQi”(chivalry) destroyed the hierarchical structure of the Imperial and produced a social equalization so that the traditional governance was involved in crises. It was on the reflection upon the crises that the reconstruction prompted by literati during T'ungchih and Kuanghsü periods was based. Confucian classics studies played an important role in shaping the elites’ ideology and individual wills. Besides， associations of literati and network of kinship contributed to the spread of these academic studies. Different judgments about the reality between people with different social statuses caused the conflicts in the practices of social transformation. Taking the higherranking group of literati in Wenzhou province for instance， they chose a conservative scheme of reconstructing patriarchal clan system and Confucian academic traditions in order to realize moralization in the imperial political structure. Unfortunately， this conservative reconstruction had an impact contrary to the initial contention of moralization. Scholartyrant and prominent clan monopolized local rural society. Estate occupied by the prominent clan indicated that the scholartyrant plundered finite land resources in the local mountainous society. Meanwhile， academic atmosphere was corrupted by those disciples following the higherranking masters so that aristocratic politics became the principles dominating the private school of the prominent clan. Furthermore， immorality among the close relatives in the prominent family also ruined the local customs. Superficially， it seemed that conservative moralization was obstructed and local affairs managed by the literati failed， but there was a new historical opportunity for the transformation of social structure in modern China. Social organizations that were based on the general individual mind structures would play a fundamental role in the modern democracy in China.


The Formation of Modern Chinese Notion of “Society”

CUI Yingling

2015, 35(2):  29-57. 

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There had been three stages of concept reengineering and three times of changes after the concept of “society”entered China：At the first stage，foreigners in China used translational Chinese concept “hui”(“association”)，emphasizing the characteristics of assembly and collection. Yan Yongjing，as a representative of Chinese people，used “folk scene” and “people of State” to translate “society”， putting more emphasis on“people”，“folk”，“scene” and “for people”. In the second stage，the modern Chinese intellectuals preferred “qun”(“group”) as the corresponding Chinese translation of “society”，which represented a modern inclination to the idea of “group” rather than “individual”. It was composed of three aspects：Firstly，trying to balance individual rights and group rights，“qun” still put more emphasis on the rights of group；Secondly，it advocated to become a good group by using the strength of human nature，such as benevolence，love，and so on.And thirdly，it emphasized on achieving a rich and strong nation by various social change and means.The notion of “group” represented strong tension，responsibility and positive social participation of the intellectuals facing a national crisis. In the third stage，Chinese scholars mainly used “shehui” to translate “society”，which established the basis of common values of modern Chinese concept “society”. As the result of exploring ideal society and ideal government systems，the new concept of “society” replaced “group” eventually due to two reasons：one was the spread of new thoughts，especially the thoughts of “socialism” and “revolution”，and the other was the scholars pursuit of ideal society and state. From “association”，“group” to “society”，the shift profoundly embodied that the Chinese intellectuals finally have returned to their own traditions：actively involving in the responsibility of real social transformations and concerning about the ideal feelings of the Human ultimate future，namely the consciousness of “Tianxia”.


The Ideal Pedigree of “Liberty” and “Dictatorship”：The Evolution of PoliticSociety Theory around the French Revolution

PAN Dan

2015, 35(2):  58-80. 

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Liberty and dictatorship are two respects of the French Revolution，the political culture of which was branded with radicalism. But there is also a school of moderate French political thinkers，including Montesquieu，Benjamin Constant，Mme de Stal and Tocqueville，who tried to seek a balance point among various radical tendencies，and whose common point was to emphasis the social dimension while discussing the political issues.As for Montesquieu，he divided the state nature into three different types according to the social pattern in different historical stages，and his discussion of the relationship between the nature and the principle underlined the interactive mode between the politic and the society. As an heir to Montesquieu’s discussion on the differences between the ancient social pattern and the modern one，Benjamin Constant clarified the difference between “the Liberty of Ancients” and “the Liberty of Moderns”，the connotation of which should be discussed in a Republic built in a great country，and the fundamental principle of which is Popular Sovereignty. Mme de Stal，soul mate of Constant，investigated on how to construct a republican system，with which people can realize the Liberty of Moderns，and which she named “the Dictatorship of Institutions”，the aim of which was to satisfy the circumstantial demands，and at the same time to influence the mores consciously，and to erect a solid social infrastructure for the consolidation of republican system. However，far from entering into the stability，the French Republic failed into depotism again and again due to the fragile social infrastructure.With regards to Tocqueville，who no longer confined himself to influencing the mores with the aid of state construction，approached the topic directly from the respective of mores，and tried to explore how to improve the democratic society，and how French Republic could get rid of the despotism.


“Silent Revolution” is Exaggerated Rhetoric：Some Idea Exchange with Liang Chen，Li Zhongqing，et al.

YING Xing，LIU Yunshan

2015, 35(2):  81-93. 

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This paper questions the point of Liang Chen and Li Zhongqing，who state that China has accomplished a “silent revolution” in the field of higher education in 50 years after the founding of the PRC.The proportion of workers and peasants’children who attend university shows two different trends before and after the reform，so it should not be simplified to “a revolution in 50 years”.Before the reform，the equality of higher education was surrounded by thick atmosphere of class struggle，so it is “equality within the class”.The practice of using political means to restrict and deprive the education right of some citizens and force some other citizens attend the university，should not be defined as progressive educational revolution.After the reform，though the promoted key middle school system allows a few rural students to enter universities，it is not a good solution to urbanrural educational inequality，but will further solidify the inequality.Among the ways which provide rural students with accesses to universities，the key middle schools and county schools with centralized resources have instrumental rationality to some extent.However，this instrumental rationality lacks moral support of value rationality，and therefore leads to unsustainability and high cost of the system.This paper also questions the concept and data used by Liang Chen and Li Zhongqing.Vague concepts such as “cadres” and “children of workers and peasants” are used in their study，thus cause problems in the quality of their data.


Construction and Analysis of Big Historical MicroLevel Data：A Brief Discussion with Examples of Data Gathered from University Student Registration Cards

LIANG Chen，DONG Hao

2015, 35(2):  94-108. 

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Along with boosting public and professional interests in “big data”，construction and analysis of largescale microlevel data from voluminous historical sources become available and promising.Big historical microlevel data facilitate interdisciplinary and longitudinal social scientific research，of which implications are far beyond historical but related to a better understanding of change and continuity in human behavior and society.While China has one of the world’s best and largest collections of historical documents surviving to date，practice in construction and analysis of historical microlevel data remain limited.We therefore share our experience from an ongoing research project that uses more than 150 000 individual student registration cards from two Chinese elite universities to study the evolution of social inequality in higher education between 1950 and 2000.We hope to stimulate broader academic interest，discussion，exploration，and collaboration in research using big historical microlevel data for the betterment of social sciences and humanities.


Household Division of Housework for DoubleIncome Family: Economic Dependence, Gender Ideologies, or Emotional Express?

LIU Aiyu，TONG Xin，FU Wei

2015, 35(2):  109-136. 

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 Based on the analysis of sampling data of Third National Women’s Status Survey in 2010，this paper finds that household division of housework in urban China displays a characteristic of “women do much more than men”.Household division of housework is influenced by the economic dependent relation between the couple，time spent on paid work and gender role attitude，and with quite different mechanisms for male and female.For male，economic independence and success is the best indicator for time spent on housework，with those more dependent economically shouldering much more household work. The influence of gender role attitude on division of housework is significant statistically and independently regardless of other factors.No gender display exists for male.Economic dependency is not the best predictor for female’s housework involvement，and gender role attitude does not work independently as well. The interaction of economic dependency and genderrole attitude on household division displays very complex results for female, and the gender display appeared under such context has quite different patterns and effects.The effects of gender display decrease if women’s genderrole attitude is increasingly toward modern.The gendered division of housework is shaped by the economic status of labor market and social cultural expectation and their interactions as well. Genderrole attitude plays as an intermediate variable between economic dependency and household division.So we give an explanation why household division of housework in China remains women doing more housework than men despite the fact that Chinese female greatly improve their economic situation and pay as much time as male on productive work.


New Generation’s Trusts on Christianity and the Mediation Effect： Based on the Data in Yangtze River Delta

LI Feng

2015, 35(2):  137-165. 

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The massive entering of Christianity into China has been related to the invasion of Western countries into modern China and the involvement of China into the process of globalization.In order to save the nation，some social elites introduced scientism and cultural nationalism into China.As a result，Christianity was portrayed as superstition and yangjiao (foreign religion).The thoughts evolved to materialistic scientism and antiimperialism/antirevisionist nationalism.At the same time，they were ideologized and shared by all the people during the state regime construction.After reform and opening，China had embedded into the process of globalization，and the comprehensive national power is strengthening.At the same time，Christianity is growing rapidly.How do people think of it?Based on the classic cohort analysis and a cultural perspective in institutional trust study，this paper intends to answer：Is there any difference in terms of trust on Christianity between the new and the elder generations?Are the scientism and cultural nationalism still the mediator effect between the cohorts and their trust on Christianity? What is the trend of Chinese’s attitudes to Christianity? Using the data from the Survey about Religious Faith in Yangtze River Delta (2011)，this research finds：1) The new generation has more trust in Christianity than the elder one. 2) The scientism and cultural nationalism have the partial mediation effect between the cohorts and the trust in Christianity，but the effect is very weak. To some extent，from these findings we can infer that the spiritual transformation of new generation is developing toward a good way. Meanwhile，due to the limitation of the cross sectional data，the findings of the paper cannot be generalized as we don’t consider the factor of the individual life course.


Marketization，Political Values，and Chinese Residents’Trust in Government

CHI Shangxin

2015, 35(2):  166-191. 

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The marketization causes not only economic development，but also the change of residents’political attitude.This paper uses the data from CGSS2010，based on the multilevel models，to examine the change of Chinese residents’political values and its influence on their trust in government under the background of marketization.It finds first，the authoritarian political values are weakening obviously，but the democratic political values are not increasing greatly. Second，residents’ trust in government shows regional differences and there is a linear decreasing relationship between the levels of marketization and the trust in government.Third，it shows the authoritarian political values can prompt residents’ trust in government，but it will be weakened as the marketization process going on and the influences of democratic political values are not evident.This paper points out that the current residents’ political values may be experiencing a transition，namely from “authoritarism” to “democratism”.This “transitional” political value is different from the liberal and democratic consciousness of western developed countries，as it not only highly recognizes the traditional authoritarian，but also implies the modern democratic spirits.In other words，the modern factors produced by marketization reform have merged gradually into the core political value in Chinese tradition and have formed a bicultural political tendency constituted by tradition and modernity.It is the actual political value that exists in current China.Furthermore，rational thoughts have taken up a lead under the marketization reform.So the most direct way to enhance people’s  trust in government maybe is to transfer the governmental functions and improve their work performance.


The Circular State：A Case Study of the Symbolic Labor Governance System in Transitional China

CHENG Xiuying

2015, 35(2):  192-217. 

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The relationship between contentious politics and the state building is a classic topic in the study of social movements.Through detailed analysis of a tenyear struggle of a group of state workers to defend their pensions by active engagement with state agents，this paper attempts to explore the circular feature of the state and how this circular state functions to absorb the labor contentions.From August 1998 to October 2008，a group of retired state workers in H Steel Factory carried out radical street protests，persistent legal litigations and peaceful collective petitions to fight against their factory’s retention and reduction of their pensions.The trajectory of the workers’ struggles delineates a gradually formed state bureaucratic field of labor governance.This state is composed of three intersecting circles—a circle between different petition offices，a circle between petition offices and courts，and a circle between the local and the center. This system full of tensions within and between different circles produces the negotiation and bargaining relation between different levels and sectors in the state，which in turn leads to the circulation mechanism of social conflicts rather than a resolution structure. The institutional configuration of this circular state includes the double bind between decentralization and marketization and the mutual reference between the petition system and the legal system.The circulation of the workers’ case in this circular bureaucratic field，on one side elongates the struggles of the workers and prevents the radicalization of their resistance; on the other side，promotes the circulation and inculcation of the statist capitals among the workers.


The Institutional Analysis and Practical Logic of “Mixed Land Ownership”: Based on a Case Study of Z Village

YANG Lei，LIU Jianping

2015, 35(2):  218-240. 

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This paper explains the inner structure, complex relationships and enforcement mechanism of Chinese rural land property by using an analytical concept of “mixed land ownership”. With an institutionalism approach, this paper points out the system of mixed land ownership has four dimensions of property rights, that is, public governance, social relations and customs and ideas, all of which form an institutional arrangement with a strong binding. A typical case study of Z Village land compensation distribution shows that, rules of above four dimensions all have effects on the enforcement of mixed land ownership, and jointly determine the processes and effects of the enforcement of rural land ownership. Firstly, the implementation of rural land ownership shows the inner logic of uncertain rules, institutional rules of different dimensions competing with each other. This situation provides institutional spaces for stakeholders'strategic behavior, and they compete to obtain revenues of land ownership transactions, which result in intensified land conflicts. Secondly, due to mutual combination of institutional rules, the existing land ownership enforcement falls into the plight of multiple equilibriums, which lead to an unbalance of interests between state, collectives and farmers. If farmers cannot reach an agreement on distributing land revenues, the inner costs of land property rights transaction increases. Thirdly, in the process of determining the distribution rules on land revenues, the tension between contract and management rights and collective member rights is a fundamental contradiction and an important reason that would induce land revenues distribution conflicts among farmers. Finally, as the land contract and management system is increasingly stabilized, and farmers' ideas on land property concept are growing, household contract and management rights with the contractual nature have been recognized by more and more farmers. Therefore, during the economic and social transformation, on the one hand, the realities of governance path dependence and local regulations should be fully respected, and socialized governance mechanisms of land property rights system should be improved. On the other hand, to build a modern rural land property system that can balance interests of multi-stakeholders, and to give farmers more land rights and reduce transaction costs of agricultural land resource allocation should be encouraged.