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Modern Chinese National Identity and Transportation Modern Chinese national identity and transportation by Hai Yu Liu B.E., Shandong University, 2016 Extended Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Communication (Dual Degree Program in Global Communication) Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Haiyu Liu 2018 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2018 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Hai Yu Liu Degree: Master of Arts Title: Modern Chinese national identity and transportation Program Co-Directors: Yuezhi Zhao, Adel Iskandar Alison Beale Senior Supervisor Professor Adel Iskandar Program Director Assistant Professor Date Approved: August 14, 2018 ii Abstract As an imported concept, ''nation'' is used ambiguously in Chinese context. Even in the communication strategy formulated by the government, there is always a mixing that includes ethnic groups and nation-states. This essay discusses ''nation'', ''state'', and ''nation-state'' separately yet together to figure out their relationship. Whether the nation is imaginary or an ideology, it is the people’s view of their national identity that matters. Understanding national identity is a key to complex questions of the “nation” because national identity not only exists in every member's mind within a nation, but also interacts with all kinds of social elements (eg. religion, geography). As a multidimensional concept, national identity includes languages, sentiments and symbolism in the field of education, communication and transportation. Following the demand of modern society, a series of new concepts rise in respond to the proper time and conditions. On the other hand, new-born technologies facilitate the development and spread of these notions, for instance, nation. In many nations, especially China, transportation plays a leading role in the age of reform. It is the technologies which provide the main impulse of the transportation. Meanwhile, transportation is also a universal carrier of national resolve. For instance, it is the railway system and the freeway network system that build the basis of political power and shape the structure of economic change in many countries. These elements show up in everyday life as the infrastructure or context and thus, exert a subtle but essential influence on national identity. In order to clarify the process of Chinese national evolution, then, transportation and national identity are proper entry points. Key words: Chinese nation; national identity; transportation iii Acknowledgements I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Alison Beale, who influences me a lot in academics and the thoughts of world throughout the past year. She has offered kind attention and constructive suggestions for my capstone, especially in the discussion about transportation in China. I can actually feel myself improving every time after talking to her. And I would like to thank Dr. Yuezhi Zhao, who has provided such an amazing opportunity for me. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Adel Iskandar, who has dedicated himself to this program with unbelievable patience and enthusiasm. I also want to give special thanks to our TA Xiaoxing Zhang who encouraged and inspired me a lot with valuable comments, and Program Coordinator, Dora Lau who helped me a lot in school affairs. A lot of thanks to my cohort, I really enjoy this year with all of you. Finally, I would like to thank my family and my friends for supporting me to experience such a wonderful year in Vancouver. iv Table of Contents APPROVAL ............................................................................................................................... II ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ V LIST OF ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................. VI CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 5 2.1 NATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY ............................................................................. 5 2.2 TECHNOLOGY THAT SHAPES PEOPLE'S IDENTITIES ............................................ 8 CHAPTER 3. NATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY .............................................................. 11 3.1 NATION IN CHINESE CONTEXT ................................................................................ 11 3.2 THE NATION OR THE STATE? .................................................................................. 16 3.3 PEOPLE AND THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY THAT MATTERS .................................. 21 CHAPTER 4. TRANSPORTATION AND IDENTITY ............................................................ 25 4.1 INDUSTRIALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY THAT SHAPE IDENTITY ...................... 25 4.2 RAILWAY SYSTEM ..................................................................................................... 29 4.3 AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY .......................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 40 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 41 v List of Acronyms PRC People's Republic of China CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union ROC Republic of China GDP Gross Domestic Product NDRC National Development and Reform Commission vi Chapter 1. Introduction The ''nation'' has had considerable influence around the world since it emerged as a new type of politically basic unit. However, there are always plenty of controversies when talking about the term "nation", whether in an academic way or not. Experts did a series of researches covering all the process of it, from the very beginning to every turning point. For instance, just trying to make a consensus about the rough time of the first appearance of ''nationalism'' has already provoked a large-scale debate. When historians debate whether nationalism emerged during the early Partitions of Poland (Lord Acton), during the American Revolution (Benedict Anderson), the English Revolution (Hans Kohn) or even Fichte's 1807 Addresses to the German nation (Kedourie). (Smith, 1991, p. 85) As for the discussion about turning points, the foundation of the first nation-states is one of the most contentious topics. Snyder (1964, p.26) argued that nation-states have spread in Western Europe as one of the legacies of the French Revolution. On the contrary, Anderson (1991) analyzed the Spanish colonies in South America and the Caribbean to showcase how the horizontally limited pilgrimage and print capitalism influenced native Hispanics' imagination about their nation-state. So, it is thus evident that concepts about ''nation'' are particularly controversial. Similar debates happen in the East, too. Due to the cultural and linguistic differences and translation context, the term ''nation'' is even more complicated in Chinese. Sometimes, ''nation'' is used to describe an ethnic group in some political slogans. For instance, "fifty-six nations", which refers to the fifty-six main ethnic groups living all around China. Every single community is acknowledged by the government to maintain its specialty in tradition and lifestyle, as well as an equal relationship with others. In the meantime, ''nation'' also represents all people living in PRC. In other words, there is a great ''Chinese nation'' corresponding to the nation-state founded in 1949. However, this ''nation'' is created both spatially and 1 temporally. The development of all the people within the land is included in its narrative. In order to clarify a series of puzzles of "nation" whether inside and outside modern China, we should pay more attention to the people and thus their national identity. As an artificial concept to define a community, ''nation'' is based on the "people" even in the very beginning. No matter how the pioneers organize or construct a nation, it always rests on the human's consciousness and activity. Even before the French Revolution, Sieyes (1963) regarded the nation as ''body of associates, living under a common law, and represented by the same legislature''. Furthermore, the nation's development and even existence rely on the sentiment and acceptance of folks. Weber (2009, p.176) posited that "a nation is a community of sentiment which would adequately manifest itself in a state of its own; hence, a nation is a community which normally tends to produce a state of its own''. So, we cannot simply understand and explain nation as "an ideology or form of politics". It is a sophisticated social phenomena about politics, economy, culture, ethics, class, religion, etc. Nation and nationalism "must be related to national identity, a multidimensional concept, and extended to include a specific language, sentiments, and symbolism" (Smith, 1991, p.vii). Therefore,
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