Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Communication Campaigns and National Integration in China S Market Economy Era Reviving The National Soul 1st Edition Yanru Chen (Auth.)
Communication Campaigns and National Integration in China S Market Economy Era Reviving The National Soul 1st Edition Yanru Chen (Auth.)
https://textbookfull.com/product/china-s-national-balance-sheet-
theories-methods-and-risk-assessment-1st-edition-yang-li/
https://textbookfull.com/product/market-integration-the-eu-
experience-and-implications-for-regulatory-reform-in-china-1st-
edition-niels-philipsen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-socialist-market-economy-in-
asia-development-in-china-vietnam-and-laos-arve-hansen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/limitations-of-national-
sovereignty-through-european-integration-1st-edition-rainer-
arnold-eds/
Big Data Technology and Applications First National
Conference BDTA 2015 Harbin China December 25 26 2015
Proceedings 1st Edition Wenguang Chen
https://textbookfull.com/product/big-data-technology-and-
applications-first-national-conference-bdta-2015-harbin-china-
december-25-26-2015-proceedings-1st-edition-wenguang-chen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/china-s-road-and-china-s-dream-
an-analysis-of-the-chinese-political-decision-making-process-
through-the-national-party-congress-1st-edition-angang-hu-auth/
https://textbookfull.com/product/usa-s-national-parks-1st-
edition-lonely-planet/
https://textbookfull.com/product/national-geographic-guide-to-
national-parks-of-the-united-states-national-geographic-guide-to-
the-national-parks-of-the-united-states-8th-edition-society/
https://textbookfull.com/product/national-geographic-history-
january-february-2016-1st-edition-national-geographic/
Yanru Chen
Communication
Campaigns and
National Integration
in China’s Market
Economy Era
Reviving the National Soul
Communication Campaigns and National
Integration in China’s Market Economy Era
Yanru Chen
Communication Campaigns
and National Integration
in China’s Market
Economy Era
Reviving the National Soul
13
Yanru Chen
Xiamen University
Xiamen
China
Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd. is part of Springer Science+Business Media
(www.springer.com)
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart?. . . 5
1.2.1 Ideological Schism—Is There an Identity Crisis?. . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.2 Party-State-Nation: Consequences
of Structural Differentiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.3 Historical Discontinuity—A Spiritual Vacuum. . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.4 Substantive Conflicts—Does the Nation
Seem Fair to All?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.3 Reaching the Soul of the Nation: Empirical Justification
for Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
v
vi Contents
8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
8.1 Changing Environment of Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
8.2 Comparative Analysis of Mechanisms of Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . 169
8.2.1 National Time and National Space: Grounded Concepts. . . . 171
8.3 Campaigns and the Construction of “Nation”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
8.4 National Integration—Concertedness; Continuity; Compatibility. . . 176
8.5 Role of the Media in the Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.6 “Communications and National Integration” Revisited. . . . . . . . . . . 182
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
List of Tables
ix
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Youngsters:
– I have found our national spirit of resistance against all adversities—I am proud
of being a descendant of such a nation.
– I have found our goal—goal for our generation.
– I realise our responsibility to history: we are to build our nation for a better
future; we are to make a new history.
– Shared wish: may there be eternal peace in the world and eternal prosperity in
our country.
(Source: CCTV news, 1 June 1995)
A first note to be made of the three features should regard the functions of the
media. Beyond the theoretical conceptions in the discipline of communication,
such as “gatekeeper”, “agenda-setter”, we see that the media’s function in relation
to national history can be thus captured: witness, memory, and reminder.
As is also seen from the brief unfolding of these past scenarios, there was a dis-
tinct and almost uniform expression of wish and will for the future of the Chinese
nation. Such expressions had been evoked by special events and ceremonies fea-
turing patriotic education.
Of the numerous features printed in or aired through the Chinese national
media, these particular three were selected to highlight the introduction to research
focus. The first featured a moment of the nation “looking forward” to an extraordi-
nary event; the second featured an otherwise mundane daily practice of “salute” to
the nation; the third featured a “reflection” upon the nation’s history.
The style of presentation chosen for this introduction helps to capture the main
thrusts in the well-orchestrated activities and news reports thereof during the
national patriotic education in the new era. From the above illustrations we can
read the following messages out of the minds of these targets of the campaign:
our nation is everything to me; I am proud to be part of this big family; our fore-
fathers had sacrificed all to make this nation, and our historical mission is to build
the nation and make it strong and competitive among the host of nations. At the
level of rhetoric, such elicited responses do seem to indicate some effect desired
by those who had orchestrated the campaign.
Feature three concluded with a good wish on the part of the youngsters who are
affectionately labelled by the media as the “flowers of our nation” and the “hope
of our future”. It was a direct echo to the Chinese national government leaders’
stated goals for the nation in broadest terms typically pronounced on diplomatic
occasions: we seek peace and progress, which should also be the predominant
theme of development for all the other countries of the world. Could such a media-
staged expression be taken as an indication of “effects” of the government-initi-
ated patriotic education campaign on the youthful targets, who have never lived in
periods of great national security crises such as war times nor experienced cycles
of engulfing national political turmoil such as the Cultural Revolution? Or the
young people, after having been exposed on a voluntary and/or compulsory basis
to the repeated media messages featuring the themes and goals of this campaign,
which was officially launched in 1993, have internalised the political language
deemed most proper to speak into a TV camera?
1.1 Introduction 5
On the surface, the experts were airing concerns about individual morality.
In essence, they implied that the people are bearers of the national soul and should
individual morality be eroded, the nation will be deprived of its soul, i.e. a spiritual
regulating force that holds the nation together and keeps it going.
Some experts at the forum seemed to hold such an assumption: what used to
work in educating us to love our nation decades ago should still work today on
a different generation. At the forum, media professionals who had participated in
the production of the 100 movies selected for airing featuring the patriotic theme
also gave their view based on personal experience and reflection. They held in
high regard these movies, some black and white made in the 1950s, as good agents
of education, the content of which was said to have inspired in them a patriotic
passion.
Echoing their observation, educators at secondary and tertiary levels thus
expressed their view at the same forum: children know so little about our nation’s
culture and history. The national heroes we admired and emulated when at their
age are now totally forgotten. The kids are dreaming of instantaneous rise to fame
and gain, like the pop stars. And the media have a fair share of responsibility for
this tendency. The 100 selected movies depict the heroic deeds of our predeces-
sors and had educated a whole generation of youth decades ago. They are what
the children need today to expand their reference frame, to understand their nation
better.
In sum, a gloomy air floated above the spiritual state of the nation’s youth,
and the general populace, for that matter. What happened to the “spirit” or
“soul” of the nation? To explore the disintegrating forces, begin with the deepest
background.
The above discussion unfolded a concern with the lack of a cohesive force holding
the nation together. Winding its way into expression through cultural producers,
it had its deeper root grounded in ideology, and has not eluded the attention of
China’s national leaders.
A move towards market economy in China had been a topic of academic and
political debates since the mid-1980s (Ding 1994; Shih 1995; Solinger 1993), and
steps had been taken in a small way since then to experiment with the idea (Ogden
1989). It was only in late 1992, after the CCP’s 14th National Congress, that such
a transition on a national scale was officially pronounced in policy terms, with the-
oretical justification based on Deng Xiaoping’s theory of “building socialism with
Chinese characteristics” (CCPCC 1993).
As a point of departure, the official adoption of a market economy policy,
accompanied by corresponding changes in policies on matters of political
thinking, cultural values, social life, etc., could be anticipated to spiritually
unsettle the nation’s population to varied extents.
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 7
The final question is crucial and central as it gave rise to the larger patriotic
education campaign, part of which is being studied. Invariably, the editorials in
People’s Daily and commentaries issued by the official Xinhua News Agency
addressing the importance of a cohesive force drawing the people together for a
national goal would make an emphatic note in summary form. Specifically, the
message is that the further the nation advances into constructing a market econ-
omy, the more pressing and relevant it is to uphold, advocate and propagate social-
ism, collectivism, and patriotism. Noteworthy is the fact that in certain emulation
campaigns promoting role models who personify devotion to and sacrifice for the
nation, the keynote used to abstract their spiritual essence to the level of philo-
sophical values and outlooks on life is patriotism. Further, the ideal of patriotism
is stretched to cover a wide range of virtues labelled “traditional” and “Chinese”.
(Chen 1999)
How to interpret this unprecedented emphasis on patriotism that is not coupled
with other ideologies as was the case in the past?
At the ideological level, the previous isms have basically vanished from the
Chinese media and hence from the national vocabulary. A spiritual vacuum
appears in the spiritual sphere of national life. Once lifted as a force to rule, it
cannot be restored or reinstated, for the minds of the people have been exposed
to all the alternatives open to them, the influence of foreign cultures included.
Yet given the above reasons, the need for the state to keep harping on the same
chord of a lofty socialist ideology still exists. Since the early 1990s, the Party and
state leadership have been invoking the famous slogan “only Socialism can save
China”. Even just a few months before Deng Xiaoping’s famous inspection tour of
Southern China which ultimately set the economy free for the market, the national
media were still alerting the population to the danger of peaceful (subtle) evolu-
tion (transformation) towards capitalism (Cheng 1994).
A possible role of the media is to be used as an instrument to perceptually rec-
oncile the two conflicting ideologies, i.e. socialism and the pragmatism accom-
panying market economy. The argument is that market economy, by virtue of its
prerequisites, tends to undermine the already declining, if not defunct, faith in
socialism (Gregor 1995). The paradox is that this spiritual erosion can in turn con-
tribute negatively towards the building of market economy at its fledgling stage. In
order to fully develop market economy and maximise output to increase national
wealth and strength, it is still necessary for at least some members of the popula-
tion to work on a self-sacrificial basis for the national goal (Li 1993), because the
government at this stage does not yet have the financial capacity to offer full mate-
rial reward for all the work that needs to be extracted.
Therefore, for a pragmatic reason of mobilising the population to work for a
material goal, the government is confronted with the challenge to project an image
and a message through various means of education that socialism (ideology) and
market economy (policy) can be integrated in action.
Perhaps it is on this logical ground that patriotism can be used to gloss over the
ideological schism.
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 9
1.2.1.1 Defining Patriotism
should be taken as the Party and the state’s effort at appealing to the people in the
name of the nation. But what is the nation?
Historically, this term in the context of China’s recent past used to encompass
the package of Party, state, military, and the people. This has been the standard
mention used by China’s national leaders and media when they refer to the entire
population on important occasions. Disputably, political philosophers contemplat-
ing the definition of nation had over time equated it with either the people or the
government (Fitzgerald 1994). Surely, by modern democratic definition, the peo-
ple represented by the government constitute the nation. Perceptually, the formula
should look as follows which might come closest to representing the currently
most salient contour of China:
Nation = People + Government
In other words, the Party and the military have faded from the media lime-
light—understandably, though, given the pragmatic nature of economic reform
and revival which exhibits itself in most policies from the state. This direction
of this formula has yet to be tested in the three case studies, which will reveal
whether it is well grounded, and whether the combination is vertical (top–down),
horizontal, or circular, or otherwise.
Here we are again confronted with the issue of ideological legitimacy. To politi-
cal scientists, nation is a sociopsychological concept referring to a self-conscious
and self-differentiating community bound together by common history and soli-
darity, while state is a legal concept referring to an internationally recognised
political entity possessing tangible territorial, demographic, and governmental
attributes. One of the major functions of the state is to express a sense of political
and social identity of its citizens (Dittmer and Kim 1993).
It goes without saying that Marxism has always been associated with the
Communist Party. It is also an established fact that the ideological affiliation of
China today as is pronounced in diplomatic interactions with other nations is still
socialism. But given the corruption among some Party officials, which is now
taken as a fact, some pessimistic Western scholars observe that the CP has to a
deplorable extent been discredited (Ogden 1989; Ding 1994). And following the
collapse of the Communist Bloc, some pessimists have hastened to announce
Communism as an ideological failure. To the Chinese public, it is presumably dis-
credited as well, even though by sound logic ideology should be separated from its
bearer—political organisations.
If the validity and reliability of an ideology reside solely in its workability in
practice, the current ideology being promoted by the Chinese government is a
pragmatic one—patriotism. In Chinese, the words ideology and ism are used inter-
changeably, and patriotism is a universal ism that transcends not only spatial but
also temporal boundaries, i.e. valid in any given period in history. In so doing, the
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 11
state is essentially de-ideologising the nation, which might lead partially to restor-
ing its own credibility by reducing the association with Stalinist Communism and
increasing the perceptual link with a non-partisan ideology—patriotism.
By now it becomes clear that the farthest backdrop on China’s national stage
today is the above-analysed ideological conflict. To be more accurate, it is tension
between the orthodox socialist ideology and the unorthodox market economy pol-
icy. In the language of researchers, it is the incompatibility between theory and
methods. To adapt Festinger (1957)’s theory of cognitive dissonance and extrapo-
late it somewhat inappropriately to the national scale, there are only two possi-
ble ways to conflict resolution: modify the ideology or modify the policy—at least
perceptually through the media, so that the two would appear to be integrated. Or,
an evasion of solution is to gloss over by way of manipulating the interpretation
of facts reported through the media, akin to inflating or discounting the weights
of certain evidence in historical research and justifying errors in hard-core social
scientific research through statistical means.
For China today, the option of evading the solution is more reliably discernible
in practice, as the ensuing chapters will show. How can it be done? National cam-
paigns, by virtue of their orchestration and firm direction, will inevitably become
a conveniently malleable database or generator of national knowledge featuring
whatever theme they serve to highlight, rendering other issues relatively obscure.
The media’s involvement throughout the process can only make it more intriguing
a subject for analysis.
If the relationship between intellectuals and the state is a barometer of the political
climate of a nation, what does the following statement imply: “Chinese intellectu-
als can no longer regard Party, state and nation as one” (Dittmer and Kim 1993,
p. 268).
China’s increasing structural differentiation between the Party and the state
and the society has been noted by a few scholars as an inevitable phenomenon of
economic modernisation (Watson 1992; Wu 1996; Yeh 1992).
As was briefly explained above, China is more than the sum total of all
the Chinese people. Moreover, it is more than the aggregate of party, state, and
society. Drawing on the Durkheimian notion that a social entity has its own life
and organisational needs distinguishable from the sum of its constituent parts,
Kim and Dittmer (1993) argue that national identity is the characteristic collec-
tive behaviour of the national system as a whole, in interaction with other sub-
national, national, and international systems, flowing from the totality of shared
attributes and symbols of a solidarity political group known as the nation-state.
It involves national essence—the core sentiments and symbols of the state—with
which a mass of people most commonly identify and on this basis they contract to
12 1 Introduction
live together and act in concert to defend their common identity. It is this essence
we have to get at, perhaps through studies of such cases as the bid for Olympics,
where China as a nation was “manifestly” interacting with other nations (as
opposed to other less noticed interaction such as business cooperation).
National identity theories seek to define the conditions for the state–citizenry
relationship both in terms of what the state is and in terms of what the state does.
Analogous to personal identity, national identity cannot be constructed or enacted
in isolation. It becomes fully activated when faced with external threats or oppor-
tunities (Dittmer and Kim 1993). This axiom justifies the selection of three
national campaigns for this study.
Identity mobilisation encompasses the enactment of a nation’s national essence.
It can link the symbolic and behavioural dynamics of a people, their nation sate,
and the world at large (Dittmer and Kim 1993).
Accepting the premise that national identity enactment is changing and situa-
tion specific, this study builds on the argument that national campaigns are one
major type of such situations which tend to facilitate the enactment of a nation’s
identity, which is the basis for national integration apart from state coercion.
This disquisition on national identity is cited to shed light on the relation-
ship between the structural elements of the Chinese nation. Works are few which
specifically address the structural differentiation in China accompanying economic
reform and liberalisation (Saich 1995), but are nonetheless illuminating.
At a theoretical level, Perry (1994) raises the question whether the post-Mao
economic and political reforms have been producing a significant change in the
relative power of state and society in favour of the latter. Goldstein (1994), on the
other hand, attacks China’s political institutions and observes that they are becom-
ing less coherent, less legitimate, and less effective.
Liu (1992) makes the point in a more forthright manner. He maintains that the
departure of Mao Zedong from the Chinese political stage marked the end of myth
making in China, and a true China emerged from behind the mask of pseudo-
model nation, revealing all its diversity and individual dynamism. Instead of one
country, we now see regions, provinces, communities, and social groups differing
significantly from one another in their socio-economic profiles. He argues that in
the midst of such profound change, communications, being both the vehicle and
the essence of political, social, and economic process in any society, provides a
strategic point to observe, analyse and assess China’s development.
Liu (1992) concludes that the liberating effect of communication in China
since the 1980s reveals the true state of China’s development and integration—“a
diverse, plural, and partly segregated society” (p. 140). The past nationalism cre-
ated by ultra-Leftist propaganda turns out to be artificial, and important groups in
society, such as intellectuals, new entrepreneurs, and the public in various ways
declare their alienation from the state. Occupational, ideological, and social iden-
tifications have been established by newly rising social groups such as dissidents
and migrants. These are what Liu considers as the potential building blocks of a
new nationhood, which will be much more substantial and enduring than the
artificial ones created by propaganda.
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 13
According to Link (1994) in his writing on national identity, many Chinese intel-
lectuals feel distraught with the lack of a “point of purchase” in their spiritual life
in the money-first ethos that has recently prevailed in China. He observes that the
era is long gone when ideological pronouncements from the centre were accepted
at both rhetorical and practical levels. White (1995) observes that with the weak-
ening of party organisations and the virtual demise of study groups at the grass-
roots level, which used to serve as the transmitter of a central ideology, most
individuals and institutions are free to ignore the once prevalent unifying core.
Moreover, with the moral authority and political power of the centre diminished
to some extent, local work units and governments are far more independent than
before (Wu 1996). What does such independence mean? At least in part it means
that the previous thread of ideology woven into the fabric of national life and
dominant in regulating individual relationship with the state is no longer function-
ing. Individualism, however, had never been a point of purchase in the life of the
majority of Chinese people, and it has proven less than something they can hold
on to today.
An ensuing problem is that there is no publicly accepted set of moral values to
define proper behaviour. Intellectuals speak of an ideological crisis and a spiritual
crisis, lamenting that the traditional moral ideologies are no longer playing their
due role in China (Link 1994).
And for individuals, a sense of emptiness within can be as much of a prob-
lem as the lack of external symbols. Kim and Dittmer (1993)’s work touched
upon a series of three belief crises—the crisis of belief in Marxism, the crisis of
faith in socialism, and the crisis of trust in the government, which they consider
to be chipping away at the acceptance of the People’s Republic as an authentic
socialist state. The question of how the Chinese nation should act out its identity
14 1 Introduction
will be put to test in the study of the first of the three cases, China’s bid for year
2000 Olympics.
What about the “make-money” ideology? While affirming its benefits as a
short-term ideology to develop a poor country, Link (1994) disclaims it as a stop-
gap that leaves deeper and inevitable questions such as: what makes China distinc-
tive? Does China really need, in a modern world, another moral–social–political
cosmological core both to set it apart and to hold it together? This question has
entered scholarly reflection by both Western and Chinese social scientists (e.g. Lin
1994; Zhang 1995). Without evading this question, a quick review of the change
and continuity in the national identifying core in China’s recent history might be
helpful.
Such a unifying core binding the masses together during the pre-1949 revolu-
tionary era was an ideal, a simple ideal that all people should be fed and clothed
and employed, and that under the leadership of the Communist Party (Wou 1994).
It continued into the mid-1950s, during which period an eager push at the ideal to
its extreme distorted China’s underdeveloped reality and led to a national catas-
trophe. In the ensuing 10 years till the outburst of the Cultural Revolution in
1966, the aggravated Chinese reality in the midst of political struggles and incited
class hatred, which retarded national development, gradually deviated from the
ideal. Another 10 years that followed witnessed national turmoil in all scales and
spheres, which paralysed the national economy in the midst of a clash between
China’s national ideal and national reality (Zhang 1995). To what extent, if at all,
has the past ideal of common prosperity been revived and revitalised to re-charge
the population with zeal for development after Mao? That is another way of ask-
ing whether an ideal or ideology is functioning as the identifying core in China
today.
Given the fact that the mature segment of China’s population had previously
been intensely indoctrinated with the socialist ideology, the government cannot
afford to cognitively disorient them thoroughly from their old norms. It is not so
true that a popular faith in the old isms still exists, but it is true that a good number
of the people, including officials, cherish strong nostalgia for certain past values
and virtues, ways that are reminiscent of the benefits of past socialist ideology. So
there is a pressing need to integrate the past with the present, to provide a sense of
historical continuity in order to justify the new policy to the population, especially
those members who have suffered from the side effects of such policy and become
disillusioned with the increasingly fierce competition and increasingly indifferent
attitude towards interpersonal relationships.
On the one hand, the drive for a modernised future is strong and compelling.
On the other hand, the nostalgic pull from at least part of the history left behind
is lingering. It may best be found by locating what objects invoking memories of
the past are most keenly pursued and cherished. In the words of a China watcher
(Cheng 1994), one of the symbols unifying the attention of the largest num-
ber of Chinese people in the early 1990s had been the late Mao Zedong, repack-
aged in popular cultural activities and products. The phenomenon has not found
unanimous explanation. One explanation that has found more echo than do others
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 15
is this: the popular sentiment expressed seemingly towards Mao as is now sym-
bolised in cultural products is but a guise for the inexpressible nostalgia for the
less materialistic bond between people during his time. This explanation must be
accepted with much caution. More reflection on China during the Mao era would
suggest that this is a distorted picture of the past, indicative of an attempt to grasp
some uniting sentiment that can hold the people together, who are now pushed by
the market force into highly individualistic pursuits of gains and, on such competi-
tive grounds, are more likely to be foes than friends.
An alternative explanation could be that current China in transformation is
undergoing a new round of identity redefinition. According to Liu (1992), national
spiritual “disintegration” could encompass several dimensions: (1) national iden-
tity in crisis; (2) legitimacy of government in question; (3) the government having
difficulty initiating and sustaining economic development.
Before addressing the question of which one of the above best describes the
Chinese case, we may reason by concession and ask other questions: what was
the main source of China’s identity 10 or 20 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years
ago? In the recent past, ideology was the source of identity. In the further past
before the Communist revolution, culture was the source of identity.
A third-generation overseas Chinese in Singapore with a basic amount of
knowledge of China’s history thus answered the question regarding identity:
“For an old nation like China, people do not really need to be told what they are.
Culture and history are so ingrained in their life that it will live by itself” (Personal
interview, 15 December 1995, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore).
Upon first hearing, that comment almost devastated the central argument under-
pinning this study, to the extent of overthrowing its main thrust. However, second
thoughts reminded us that the long history of unsettling class struggles and revolu-
tion had disconnected the people from their cultural tradition and historical legacy
(Chu and Ju 1993). At the current historical juncture when a vacuum appears in
the nation’s spiritual atmosphere and hence in the hearts and souls of the people,
it would be a legitimate juncture for resorting to the history and culture of the
Chinese nation for a possible source of identity.
Enough disquisition has been produced on national identity, but for this study a
workable and simple definition should be “what we are as a nation, ideologically,
historically, and spiritually”. Further, we look into what functional components
the nation encompasses—the government and the people are bearers of national
identity. Again, disputing definitions on linguistic grounds alone is much ado
about nothing. The core of the matter lies in the source of such definitions—by
academics? by the media? by national governments? by the people who exercise
their common sense? Further pursuit of this topic can easily distract our atten-
tion into the area of cultural anthropology and defeat the focused effort. As such
definitions bear on this project, if the discussion on ideological schism strikes
the point on “what should our nation believe in”, the issue of historical continu-
ity could hopefully lead to a new look at “how have we come to be what we are
today?”
16 1 Introduction
An article in Weekly Digest (22 May 1995) contrasted two figures: one million
people, out of the 1.2 billion in China, had achieved the status of millionaires or
above, while another 70 million people were still struggling below the poverty
line, not counting the 12 million urban poor. News appeared frequently in the
popular media such as evening newspapers and entertainment magazines on how a
few individuals rose to stardom overnight, while millions of hard workers who till
the field and work the assembly lines remained obscure. It is no longer news now
to see new towns being established in the generally prosperous coastal provinces,
while the livelihood of the residents in the generally backward inland regions and
provinces is being threatened by deserts inching towards them, their economic
development hampered by lack of advantages exclusively enjoyed by the coastal
provinces. That was one main reason why, in the year 2000, the central govern-
ment called for a major development of Western China in the twenty-first century.
Increasing social inequality, a natural result of economic reform, is yet increas-
ing as the newly unleashed market force gathers momentum. In the absence of an
economic equaliser, resentment arises from the population formerly conditioned
by planned economy and accustomed to egalitarianism. Geographically or socially
disadvantaged, the poorer sectors of the population air a loud cry for fulfilment of
basic needs. Maintaining the psychological equilibrium of the nation becomes a
pressing task. The question is how it can be done.
The official policy of fine tuning the relationship between “reform, develop-
ment, and stability”, which has become a household phrase, though referring to
both political and social stability, has a stronger emphasis on the latter. The pro-
nounced guideline for national propaganda through the official media was set in
1993 to cultivate a sense of national unity (CCTV news, 1 January 1993).
What symbol, what action, what spirit, could be used by the media as a vehicle
to “unite” the prosperous and the poor, the greater and the lesser, the advanced and
the backward, for national development, a goal being attained under the leadership
of the current government which eagerly seeks allegiance?
From a daily record kept of national media events over a period of years since
1992, three cases emerged that are relevant to this study. To recapitulate, they
include the bid for Year 2000 Olympics in 1993, the commemoration of Mao’s
100th birthday at the end of the same year, and the celebration of the 50th anni-
versary of victory in anti-Fascist war. Here are superficial rationales before further
analysis. The first case involved the entire nation in concerted action, the media
being the centre stage presenting China acting as a nation. For the second case, the
media were both a locale and a stage for the re-enactment of the national memory
of a great man who made the great nation (a little overstatement, but symbolically
justified). The third case was a special national occasion staged through the media
for the purpose of reinterpreting history to serve the present and revive the national
spirit of unity against adversity, with which the population might be equipped for
the future.
1.2 In Search of China’s National Soul: Is the Nation Falling Apart? 17
China as a nation is never indifferent towards its ideological and spiritual crises.
On the part of the intelligentsia, according to Lin (1994), national soul searching
involved voluntary confessions about weaknesses in China’s national character,
lamentations about such defects, heightened concerned consciousness about the
welfare of the nation, and reorientation of China’s “soul” towards modern human-
ism. All of these tend to be reflected in the intellectual discourse exploring the
identity and destiny of China. Such a quest has its historical antecedents in the last
part of the nineteenth century after China’s desperate military defeat in the hands
of strong foreign powers, which provoked the Chinese intellectuals to search for a
strong “core” to prop up the nation. The quest, on and off, took a winding path in
the century that followed, depending on the changing relationship between intel-
lectuals and the state.
On the part of the public, a spontaneous Mao Craze, especially in the way of
mass popularity with songs and souvenirs from Maoist era in the early 1990s, has
been interpreted as a sign of nostalgia for the Maoist days, even for the Maoist
ideology which stressed equality in distribution (Liu 1992; Cheng 1994). To
stretch the interpretation a bit further, it might be said that the Chinese people
were groping for a point of purchase to fill their spiritual void.
On the part of the state, one after another round of non-political campaigns
have been launched since the early 1980s when the crisis of belief was first posed
as a serious challenge to the nation. The pronounced goals were to either weed
out undesirable external influences on the ideological atmosphere of the nation or
to strengthen the domestic bond of affection and devotion to the nation (Gregor
1995; Rosen 1993; Shi and Zhang 1991).
No clear evidence suggests a distinct policy formation process for the current
national patriotic education campaign involving the media, the government, edu-
cational institutions and others. But there was a deluge of concerted calls from all
sectors of society through the media in the beginning of each year since 1993 that
18 1 Introduction
marked the national start of the programme. The role of communication and how
it interacted with national integration during the three campaigns selected is the
central concern of this book. But it must be noted again that no claim was made
by the state or the media that any of the three campaigns was a planned part of
the programme. Meanwhile, several other campaigns have been launched since the
time this study was conducted, and they will be duly but briefly examined in the
Epilogue.
The four areas of tension previously discussed are areas in which the country
might be torn apart spiritually. The government may not conceive of the issues in
these terms. But it makes sense to say that national integration can be conveni-
ently translated into creating a sense of oneness of the nation among the entire
population. For China, it may encompass one official ideology (the theory of
building socialism with Chinese characteristics), one overarching policy (market
economy), one official sacred canon (Deng Xiaoping’s works), one (set of) pre-
dominant ideology (patriotism, socialism, collectivism), one national goal (pros-
perity for all), etc.
But above all, a sense that the nation is spiritually united in perfect strength for
a unified mission may be more directly relevant to integration. The media can play
a part in injecting such a sense into the people by presenting carefully selected
stories in favour of this theme. But presumably, a more effective way is to organ-
ise national campaigns or events in which certain national symbols can be readily
used as universal appeals to the whole population. Further, such campaigns/events
must invite the participation by virtually the entire population. So in the first place
there must be some elements about the campaigns to which every citizen can
relate himself. Then of course these elements must have a direct bearing on the
Chinese nation, be it history, culture, economic strength, political sovereignty, or
whatever else. Needless to say, such campaigns must have a strong and distinct
spiritual dimension, since they in part serve to divert the population from an obses-
sion with material pursuits.
In other words, these events, organised mostly through the media, in part by the
media, and in part for the media, could serve as foci of national attention and par-
ticipation, which ideally should give the people a strong sense of being an integral
part of the nation.
The background for all these events is the larger ongoing patriotic education
campaign, and one baseline belief supporting the theory to be advanced through
this study is this: one main purpose and/or effect of the campaign is to generate
and propagate knowledge about the nation. How does it work? Before approach-
ing these questions, a reflective look at the existing literature on relevant topics is a
must, as well as is an attempt at theory building.
References 19
References
CCPCC. (1993). Resolution on building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Beijing: People’s
Publishing House.
CCPCC. (1996). Resolution on building socialist spiritual civilisation. Beijing: Foreign
Language Press.
Chen, Y. R. (1999). Creating a new man, creating a new nation: The media and the making of
role models in China’s market economy era. Journal of International Communication, 6 (2):
90–105.
Cheng, C. Y. (1994). China’s economic policies after the CCP 14th party congress. Journal of
Developing Societies, X (1): 7–17.
Chu, G. C. & Ju, Y. (1993). The Great Wall in ruins: Communication and cultural change in
China. State University of New York Press.
Cody, E. (1997, January 31). Beijing campaigns for a spiritual civilisation. International Herald
Tribune, p. 4
Ding, X. L. (1994). The decline of communism in China: Legitimacy crisis, 1977–1989.
Cambridge University Press.
Dittmer, L. (1992). Sino-Soviet normalisation and its international implication, 1945–1990.
Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Dittmer, L., & Kim, S. S. (1993). In search of a theory of national identity. In Dittmer, L. & S. S.
Kim (Eds.), China’s quest for national identity (pp. 1–31). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Doob, L.W. (1964). Patriotism and nationalism: Their psychological foundations. New Haven
and London: Yale University Press.
Festinger, L. (c1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Fitzgerald, J. (1994). The nationless state: The search for a nation in modern Chinese national-
ism. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs.
Goldman, M. (Ed.). (1987). China’s intellectuals and the state: In search of a new relationship.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Goldstein, A. (1994). Trends in the study of political elites and institutions in the PRC. The
China Quarterly, 139, 714–730.
Gregor, A. J. (1995). Marxism, China, & development: Reflections on theory and reality. New
Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Kim, S. S., & Dittmer, L. (1993). Whither China’s quest for national identity? In Dittmer, L.,
& S. S. Kim. (Eds.), China’s quest for national identity (pp. 237–289). Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.
Li, P. (1993). Report on government work. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Li, Y. J. (1981). On patriotism. Collection of speeches. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Lin, T. Q. (1994). A search for China’s soul. In W. M. Tu (Ed.), China in transformation (pp.
171–188). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Link, P. (1994). China’s “core” problem. In W. M. Tu (Ed.), China in transformation (pp. 189–
205). Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Liu, A. P. L. (1992). Communications and development in post-Mao mainland China. In B. J.
Lin & J. T. Myers (Eds.), Forces for change in contemporary China (pp. 120–141). Taipei:
Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University.
Ogden, S. (1989). China’s unresolved issues: Politics, development, culture. NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Perry, E. J. (1994). Trends in the study of Chinese politics: State-society relations. The China
Quarterly, 139, 704–713.
Rosen, S. (1993). The effect of post-4 June re-education campaigns on Chinese students. The
China Quarterly, 310–334.
Saich, T. (1995). China’s political structure. In R. Benewick & P. Wingrove (Eds.), China in the
1990s (pp. 34–50). Macmillan Press Ltd.
Selden, M. (1993). The political economy of Chinese development. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
20 1 Introduction
Shi, H. Jo., & Zhang, Y. H. (1991). Communication and development in China. In F. L. Casmir
(Ed.), Communication in development (pp. 177–198). New Jersey: Ablex.
Shih, C. Y. (1990). The spirit of Chinese foreign policy: A psycho-cultural view. London:
Macmillan.
Shih, C. Y. (1995). State and society in China’s political economy: The cultural dynamics of
socialist reform. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Shirk, S. (1993). The political logic of economic reform in China. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Solinger, D. (1993). China’s transition from socialism: Statist legacies and market reforms.
Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Su, S. Z. (1994). Chinese communist ideology and media control. In C. C. Lee (Ed.), China’s
media, Media’s China (pp. 75–88). Boulder: Westview Press.
Vohra, R. (1994). Deng Xiaoping’s modernisation: Capitalism with Chinese characteristics!
Journal of Developing Societies, X (1), 46–58.
Watson, A. (Ed.) (1992). Economic reform and social change in China. London & New York:
Routledge.
White, G. (1995). The decline of ideocracy. In R. Benewick & P. Wingrove (Eds.), China in the
1990s (pp. 21–33). Macmillan Press Ltd.
Wou, O. Y. K. (1994). Mobilising the masses: Building revolution in Henan. Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press.
Wu, A. C. (1996). The political implications of the CCP’s “Socialist market economy” proposal.
In B. J. Lin & J. T. Myers (Eds.), Contemporary China in the post-cold war era (pp. 22–40).
Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Yeh, M. D. (1992). The party-state and society in mainland China: A brief review. In B. J.
Lim & J. T. Myers (Eds.), Forces for change in contemporary China. Taipei: Institute of
International Relations, National Chengchi University.
Yu, F. T. C. (1963a). Mass persuasion in communist China. London & Dunmow: Pall Mall Press.
Zhang, G. (1997, January 31). Ten trends of development in China’s spiritual civilisation. Lianhe
Zaobao, p. 14.
Zhang, L. F. (1995). Lopsided development and countercurrent: Ideal distorted reality (1949–
1956). In Y. M. Li (Ed.), Social changes in China in transformation: Reports from unofficial
sources in mainland China. Taipei: Times Cultural Publishing Enterprise Ltd.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Inhoudsopgave
VOORWOORD. VII
GEBEZIGDE LITTERATUUR. XI
INHOUD. XIII
LIJST VAN ILLUSTRATIES. XV
VERBETERINGEN. XVI
I. INDIANEN-BEVOLKING VAN WEST-INDIË. 1
Inleidende beschouwingen. 1
Inhoud der verhalen 7
Lijst der in dezen bundel opgenomen mondelinge
overleveringen der Indianen. 14
Indianen-Vertellingen. 66
1. De sage van Haboeri (W.) 66
2. De oorsprong der eerste menschen (C.) 73
3. De oorsprong van het menschdom (W.) 75
4. De oorsprong der Caraïben. (C.) 76
5. Hoe de Caraïben gekweekte planten leerden
kennen. (C.) 77
6. De dochter van den geestenbezweerder. 79
7. Hoe lichaamspijnen, dood en ellende in de wereld
kwamen. (C.) 81
8. Het hoofd van den Boschgeest en de nachtzwaluw.
(A.) 83
9. De vrouw, die een Boschgeest nabootste. (A.) 84
10. De Geest van een schimmelplant* redt een 86
Indiaansch meisje. (C.)
11. Een jagoear, die in een vrouw veranderde. (A.) 89
12. De man met een Baboen-vrouw. (A.) 91
13. Schildpad, die Boschrat er in liet loopen. (C.) 94
14. De bedrieger bedrogen. (C.) 95
15. Tijger en Miereneter. (C.) 96
16. Hariwali en de Wonderboom. (A.) 98
17. De legende van den Ouden man’s val. 103
18. Amanna en haar praatzieke man. (C.) 105
19. De zon en zijn beide tweelingzoons. (C.) 107
20. De Legende van den Vleermuis-berg. (M.) 111
21. De Uil en zijn schoonbroeders vleermuis. (W.) 112
22. De Lichtkever en de verdwaalde Jager. (C.) 114
23. De bina, de weder in het leven geroepen vader en de
slechte vrouw. (W.) 116
24. Hoe een jong Warrau-Indiaantje uit de handen der
Caraïben ontkwam. (W.) 119
25. Sluit de oogen en doe een wensch. (C.) 121
26. De gelukspot. (W.) 122
27. De honigbij en de zoete drank. (W.) 124
28. De piaiman en de stinkvogels*. (A.) 125
29. Hoe het ongeluk over de menschen kwam. De
geschiedenis van Maconaura en Anoeannaïtoe. (A.) 131
30. De kolibri, die tabak brengt aan den eersten piaiman.
(W.) 140
31. Het ontstaan der vrouwennaties. 145
32. Het gebroken ei. 146
33. De geest van den pasgeborene. 146
34. De huid van den Reuzenslang of Hoe de vogels hun 147
tegenwoordig gevederte kregen.
35. Een waarschuwing voor de vrouwen. (A.) 148
36. Hoe een man van zijn luiheid genezen werd. (W.) 155
37. Zwarte Tijger, Wau-oeta en de gebroken boog. (W.) 157
38. De Legende van Letterhoutstomp. 162
39. De Legende van Arimoribo en Jorobodie. (C.) 165
40. Uitdrijven van een priester uit den Indiaanschen
hemel. 170
41. Uitdrijving der Indianen uit den Hemel der Paters. 174
42. Bezoek van Caraïben aan Macoesiland. (C.) 178
43. Legende van Paramaribo. 179
44. De Legende van Post Sommelsdijk. 180
45. Einde van den Indiaanschen broederoorlog. (A.) 182
46. De groote bloedzuigende vleermuis. (A.) 183
47. Legende van Mapajawari of de uitroeiing der
menscheneters. (C.) 184
48. Migratie-legende van den Kasi’hta-stam der Creek-
Indianen, 189
II. West-Indische neger-folklore. 197
Inleidende beschouwingen. 197
De Surinaamsche Anansi-tori’s en hare oorsprong. 203
LIJST DER NEGERVERTELLINGEN. 235
Inhoud der Surinaamsche Negervertellingen. 237
De anansi-tori en het bijgeloof. 246
VERTELLINGEN DER SURINAAMSCHE
STADSNEGERS. 258
1. Anansi, die een half dorp verovert. 258
2. Spin en de Prinses. 266
3. Het huwelijk van Heer Spin. 271
4. Anansi, Tijger en de doode Koe. 273
5. Anansi en zijn kinderen. 276
6. Hoe Spin zijn schuldeischers betaalt. 277
7. Een feest bij de Waternimf. 281
8. Anansi en Kat. 282
9. Spin en Krekel. 285
10. Heer Spin als Geestelijke. 286
11. Heer Spin als roeier. 287
12. Spin neemt Tijger gevangen. 289
13. Heer Spin en Hond. 291
14. Tijger’s verjaardag. 293
15. Spin voert den Dood in. 295
16. Spin wedt, Tijger te berijden. 297
17. Verhaal uit het leven van vriend Spin. 299
18. Anansi als Amerikaan verkleed. 303
19. Heer Spin en de Waternimf. 305
20. Anansi, Hert en Kikvorsch. 306
21. Heer Spin als landbouwer. 308
22. Anansi en de Bliksem. 310
23. Ieder volwassen man moet een rood zitvlak hebben. 315
24. Hoe Anansi aan schapenvleesch wist te komen. 318
25. De geschiedenis van Fini Foetoe, Bigi bere en Bigi
hede. 321
26. Legende van Leisah I. 323
27. Legende van Leisah. II. 325
28. Verhaal van het land van „Moeder Soemba”. 327
29. Boen no habi tangi. 330
30. Geschiedenis van Kopro Kanon*. 332
31. De Meermin of Watramama. 335
32. De Boa in de gedaante van een schoonen jongeling. 337
33. Het huwelijk van Aap. 339
DE ANANSI-TORI DER SURINAAMSCHE
BOSCHNEGERS. 342
Hoe Heer Spin door zijn bekwaamheid als
geneesheer de mooie dochter van den Landvoogd
wist te krijgen. 345
NEGER-VERTELLINGEN UIT HET WEST-INDISCHE
EILANDENGEBIED. 350
Curaçaosche Negervertellingen. Cuenta di Nansi. 350
Nansi en Temekóe-Temebè. 354
Creoolsche folk-lore van St.-Eustatius. 360
Braha- Nanci en Braha-Toekema. 362
Neger-vertellingen van Jamaica. Nancy-Stories. 367
1. Annancy in Krabbenland. 371
2. Reiger. 373
3. Annancy, Poes en Rat. 377
BIJVOEGSELS. 379
I. NEGER-SPREEKWOORDEN. 379
Suriname. 379
West-Afrika. 381
II. AVOND OP HET WATER in Sierra Leone 384
Spin, Olifant en Hippopotamus. 389
III. DIEREN-FABEL, 393
Wie zijn Krokodil’s verwanten? 393
VERKLAREND REGISTER. 396
A. 396
B. 397
C. 399
D. 400
E. 400
F. 400
G. 401
H. 401
I. 402
J. 402
K. 403
L. 406
M. 407
N. 408
O. 408
P. 409
R. 411
S. 411
T. 413
V. 414
W. 415
Y. 416
Z. 416
Colofon
Beschikbaarheid
Dit eBoek is voor kosteloos gebruik door iedereen overal, met vrijwel
geen beperkingen van welke soort dan ook. U mag het kopiëren,
weggeven of hergebruiken onder de voorwaarden van de Project
Gutenberg Licentie in dit eBoek of on-line op www.gutenberg.org ↗️.
Metadata
Titel: Mythen en
sagen uit
West-Indië
Auteur: Herman Info https://viaf.org/viaf/45474713/
van
Cappelle
Jr. (1857–
1932)
Illustrator: Willem Info
Antonius https://viaf.org/viaf/3295167202597667930008/
Josef
Backer
(1901–
1971)
Aanmaakdatum 2023-11-14
bestand: 20:38:53
UTC
Taal: Nederlands
(Spelling
De Vries-
Te Winkel)
Oorspronkelijke 1926
uitgiftedatum:
Codering
Documentgeschiedenis
2023-10-19 Begonnen.
Externe Referenties
Bladzijde URL
n.v.t. https://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-CARI-918-CAPP
n.v.t. https://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:948616
n.v.t. https://www.delpher.nl/nl/boeken/view?
identifier=MMKB02:000123099:00004
Verbeteringen
Afkortingen
Overzicht van gebruikte afkortingen.
Afkorting Uitgeschreven
N.B. noorderbreedte
N.B. Nota bene
N.E. Neger-Engelsch
Ned.-Indië Nederlandsch-Indië
W.-I. West-Indië
Z.O. zuidoostelijke
Z.O. zuidoost
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHEN EN
SAGEN UIT WEST-INDIË ***