DOCSLIB.ORG

THE UNTAMED OUTSIDE: IMAGINATION and PRACTICE of AGRARIAN COMMUNE in PEOPLE's REPUBLIC of CHINA a Dissertation Presented to Th

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE UNTAMED OUTSIDE: IMAGINATION and PRACTICE of AGRARIAN COMMUNE in PEOPLE's REPUBLIC of CHINA a Dissertation Presented to Th THE UNTAMED OUTSIDE: IMAGINATION AND PRACTICE OF AGRARIAN COMMUNE IN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Xiangjing Chen August 2017 © 2017 Xiangjing Chen THE UNTAMED OUTSIDE: IMAGINATION AND PRACTICE OF AGRARIAN COMMUNE IN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Xiangjing Chen, Ph. D. Cornell University 2017 This dissertation examines the historical practices and literary representations of “agrarian commune” from 1949 to the contemporary time in People’s Republic of China, focusing on its ambiguous role in the heterogeneous formation of Chinese modernity. Current Chinese literary studies have not explored the literary imagination of “agrarian commune” and its relation to modernity. Combining the Marxist political- economic analysis of China’s socio-economic reality with the textual analysis of literary works, this study seeks to explore how this “non-capitalist” formation of “commune” articulates with the “capitalist sector” in the uneven structure of China’s national economy in a complex way: on the one hand, it creates an “internal border” within China and serves for the internal primitive accumulation for the state; on the other hand, it produces the resisting elements that continually contest and disrupt the logic of capitalism, and opens the possibility for alternative practice of the “common life” that transcends the logic of capital and state. This study unpacks the complexity of “commune” in different periods through the reading of literary works. Chapter One focuses on the “collectivization movement” in socialist period and explores Zhao Shuli and Liu Qing’s divergent conceptions about the “agricultural cooperative” in relation to the state. Chapter Two focuses on the “underclass literature” that captures the living conditions of rural migrants under the “household contract responsibility system” in the era of market economy and global capitalism. Chapter Three examines the recent effort of reviving the “commune” and “common life” in the “New Co- operative Movement” promoted by New Left intellectuals after the year 2000, focusing on Wang Anyi and Liu Jiming’s novels. By looking into the different ways that the collective land ownership interacts with capital and the state throughout different stages of modern China, this study shows how the rural “outside” plays both a “productive” and a “subversive” role in the global uneven structure of capitalism, thereby enriching the discussion of “uneven development” in Marxist scholarship, and filling a blank spot in current Chinese literary studies regarding the rural modernity. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Xiangjing Chen was born in Nanning, China. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Chinese Modern Literature from Peking University in 2007 and 2010, and entered the PhD program of Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture at Cornell University in 2011. While her research field is Chinese literature, her research interest covers various theoretical and historical topics across disciplines, including modernity of East Asia, Chinese socialist culture, Marxism, and translation theory. She passed her defense in June 2017, and will start working as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of World Literatures and Cultures at Tsinghua University, China in the fall of 2017. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without the intellectual guidance and academic support of my teachers at Cornell University. I am most profoundly indebted to my chair Professor Naoki Sakai, whose critical insights and erudition have fundamentally inspired and shaped this project. Although I do not specialize in his field of Japanese intellectual history, his rich knowledge on translation theory, modernity of East Asia, Japanese intellectual history, and critical theory have greatly opened my mind and enabled me to explore questions about China and Asia from new perspectives, and always inspired me to think of questions from a higher level. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my committee members Professor Brett de Bary and Professor Chen Jian. I benefited a lot from Professor Brett de Bary’s instructions on translation theory, Japanese literature, and Japanese language, and learnt a lot from her academic rigorousness and sophisticated reading of text. Moreover, her generosity and kindness has helped me through the most difficult moments before and after I transferred into the Department of Asian Studies. Professor Chen Jian in the Department of History has given me support that far exceeds the obligation of a minor member. He not only gave me a lot of substantial advice and knowledge about Mao Zedong and China’s socialism, but gave me full support in every sense; he is a patient reader of my chapter drafts, and is always responsive to my inquiries. Without the instructions, suggestions, and feedbacks of my dissertation committee as well as their ardent support and generous help, I could not have completed this dissertation. vi I would like to give my special thanks to my Japanese teachers Yukiko Katagiri, Misako Suzuki, and Sahoko Ichikawa, who not only have taught me the Japanese language indispensable for relevant research, but also have made my school life at Cornell University much more fun and memorable. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues at Cornell for their precious friendship and intellectual support during my stay in Cornell, especially Ning Zhang, Jinjing Zhu, Junliang Huang, Clarence Lee, Sujin Lee, Nari Yoon, Wahguan Lim, Shiau-Yun Chen, Jack Chia, Jahyon Park, Junning Fu, Cheow-Thia Chan, Kun Huang, Shu-mei Lin, Qilin Yang, Andre Keiji Kunigami, Andrea Mendoza, Ryan Buyco, Andrew Harding, and Paul McQuade. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their unconditional love and support through all these years. And especially thanks to my husband, Xie Jun, who has given me tremendous support, love, patience, as well as his professional advice and intellectual support, without which this dissertation could not have been completed. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: What Is Commune? ……………………………………………………. 1 Marx and the Ambiguous Commune .………………………………………………1 Commune as Alterity ……………………………………………………………….9 Discursive Positions about Chinese Commune for Later Marxists………………...15 The “Outside,” or the Positionality of Asiatic Mode of Production ……………… 44 Agrarian Commune in People’s Republic of China: An Outline …………………. 51 Chapter 1 The Common in Socialist Literature on Collectivization ………………….56 Zhao Shuli’s “Sanliwan Village”: Indigenous Commune in Rural Society ……… 64 Liu Qing’s “The Builders”: A Modern Subject that Transforms the Community …87 “Departmentalism”: Collective versus State ……………………………………. 104 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….118 Chapter 2 The Indispensable and Impossible Family in Post-Fordist China ………. 120 Dissolution of the Common ……………………………………………………. 120 Small-Holder-Migrant and “Double Labor Market” ……………………………. 128 The Indispensable and Impossible Family ……………………………………… 139 Family in Small Holership: Unremunerated Labor ……………………………… 146 Precarious Life and Crisis of Labor Power in Underclass Literature …………….156 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………… 174 Chapter 3 “Exodus” of Labor and “New Common” Toward the Future …………… 176 Seeking the Common from within Capitalism …………………………………... 180 Anonymous Multitude and the World of Common in Wang Anyi’s Novel ……..193 Reconstructing a Human World: Imagining New Co-operative in the 21st Century .................................................................................................................. 204 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………… 222 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………. 224 viii ix INTRODUCTION WHAT IS COMMUNE Marx and the Ambiguous “Commune” “Commune” is a controversial term in Marxist discourse, denoting multiple meanings and indicating a complex turn of Marx’s thought. A systematic articulation seems to be necessary to capture the difficulty and hesitation of Marx in contemplating the highly theoretically charged and extremely ambiguous “commune” in Marx’s thoughts. Generally speaking, we can hastily say that in some places, as in “The British Rule in India” (1853), “commune” denotes an archaic form of social formation as pre-capitalist mode of production, which is regarded as prior to the rise of capitalism and could be developed into the capitalist mode of production. However, in other places, such as Grundrisse, although “commune” is still regarded as an archaic one, it is designated as a mode of production outside the “history”, that it is intimately linked with the stigmatized term of “oriental despotism” as well as the “Asiatic Mode of Production” which generated controversial debates in later socialist states. But, thirdly, there is a positive way of understanding “commune,” when Marx in his later years discussed Russian Commune or “Paris Commune,” it is imagined to as the base of “communism” that could overcome the capitalism, and is consciously linked to the struggle of Paris Commune and therefore linked to the imagination of an alternative future or another temporality. This demands us to pay more attention to particular junction of these three paths. That is the point in Grundrisse, where Marx denotes various kinds of precapitalist 1 social formations that are characterized by the incomplete development of private property and individual in modern sense. The three major types of “commune” – clan
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Local Authority in the Han Dynasty: Focus on the Sanlao
    Local Authority in the Han Dynasty: Focus on the Sanlao Jiandong CHEN 㱩ڎ暒 School of International Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Technology Sydney Australia A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Technology Sydney Sydney, Australia 2018 Certificate of Original Authorship I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. This thesis is the result of a research candidature conducted with another University as part of a collaborative Doctoral degree. Production Note: Signature of Student: Signature removed prior to publication. Date: 30/10/2018 ii Acknowledgements The completion of the thesis would not have been possible without the help and support of many people. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Jingqing Yang for his continuous support during my PhD study. Many thanks for providing me with the opportunity to study at the University of Technology Sydney. His patience, motivation and immense knowledge guided me throughout the time of my research. I cannot imagine having a better supervisor and mentor for my PhD study. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Associate Professor Chongyi Feng and Associate Professor Shirley Chan, for their insightful comments and encouragement; and also for their challenging questions which incited me to widen my research and view things from various perspectives.
    [Show full text]
  • China Perspectives, 55 | September - October 2004 the Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century 2
    China Perspectives 55 | september - october 2004 Varia The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century Chen Lichuan Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/417 DOI: 10.4000/chinaperspectives.417 ISSN: 1996-4617 Publisher Centre d'étude français sur la Chine contemporaine Printed version Date of publication: 1 October 2004 ISSN: 2070-3449 Electronic reference Chen Lichuan, « The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century », China Perspectives [Online], 55 | september - october 2004, Online since 29 December 2008, connection on 28 October 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/417 ; DOI : 10.4000/ chinaperspectives.417 This text was automatically generated on 28 October 2019. © All rights reserved The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century 1 The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century Chen Lichuan EDITOR'S NOTE Translated from the French original by Nick Oates 1 From the beginning of the 1980s to the middle of the 1990s, three movements took centre stage on the Chinese intellectual scene: radicalism, conservatism and liberalism. This article sets out to retrace the debate between liberalism and neo-leftism by relying exclusively on the polemical texts of the Chinese writers1. How can we present an intellectual debate that is a process of questioning and clarification and that does not arrive at a consensual conclusion? How can we render intelligible the concepts debated in extracts from the original texts? How can we evaluate the impact that this debate has had on a society undergoing a profound transformation? These are just some of the difficulties with which we were confronted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chinese Liberal Camp in Post-June 4Th China
    The Chinese Liberal Camp [/) OJ > been a transition to and consolidation of "power elite capital­ that economic development necessitated further reforms, the in Post-June 4th China ism" (quangui zibenzhuyr), in which the development of the provocative attacks on liberalism by the new left, awareness of cruellest version of capitalism is dominated by the the accelerating pace of globalisation, and the posture of Jiang ~ Communist bureaucracy, leading to phenomenal economic Zemin's leadership in respect to human rights and rule of law, OJ growth on the one hand and endemic corruption, striking as shown by the political report of the Fifteenth Party []_ social inequalities, ecological degeneration, and skilful politi­ Congress and the signing of the "International Covenant on D... cal oppression on the other. This unexpected outcome has Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" and the "International This paper is aa assessment of Chinese liberal intellectuals in the two decades following June 4th. It provides an disheartened many democracy supporters, who worry that Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."'"' analysis of the intellectual development of Chinese liberal intellectuals; their attitudes toward the party-state, China's transition is "trapped" in a "resilient authoritarian­ The core of the emerging liberal camp is a group of middle­ economic reform, and globalisation; their political endeavours; and their contributions to the project of ism" that can be maintained for the foreseeable future. (3) age scholars who can be largely identified as members of the constitutional democracy in China. However, because it has produced unmanageably acute "Cultural Revolution Generation," including Zhu Xueqin, social tensions and new social and political forces that chal­ Xu Youyu, Qin Hui, He Weifang, Liu junning, Zhang lenge the one-party dictatorship, Market-Leninism is not actu­ Boshu, Sun Liping, Zhou Qiren, Wang Dingding and iberals in contemporary China understand liberalism end to the healthy trend of politicalliberalisation inspired by ally that resilient.
    [Show full text]
  • Generations, Legitimacy, and Political Ideas in China: the End Of
    GENERATIONS, LEGITIMACY, AND POLITICAL IDEAS IN CHINA The End of Polarization or the End of Ideology? Nora Sausmikat Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between political ideas and life stories, i.e., the influence of biographical learning on political orientation. It focuses on the political discussions among intellectuals and politicians who belong to the birth cohort of the late 1940s and early 1950s, the so called Zhiqing genera- tion, and describes embedded and developed stereotypes of political identity and legitimation. This paper investigates the relationship between political ideas and life stories—the social and historical foundations of some seem- ingly new political ideas with the prefix “neo-” currently being discussed by intellectuals in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The analysis is based on interviews the author conducted in 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2001 and the study of writings of intellectuals of the ex-Red Guard and Zhiqing genera- Dr. Phil. Nora Sausmikat is a Research Associate at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Department of Political Science/East Asian Studies, Duisburg, Germany. Email: [email protected]. A draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian Studies in Chicago in March 2001 and at the International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS) 2 conference in Berlin in August 2001. The author would like to thank all interviewees for their frankness and openness during the interview series. She also greatly respects valuable advice given during the revision process by Lowell Dittmer, Carol Lee Hamrin, David Fraser, Jonathan Unger, Timothy Gluckman, He Baogang, and the anonymous reviewers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Chinese International Relations Theory and Implications for China’S Foreign Policy
    World Order with Chinese Characteristics: The Development of Chinese International Relations Theory and Implications for China’s Foreign Policy By Stephen N. Smith A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Political Science Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2020, Stephen N. Smith vi Abstract This dissertation critically examines the development of Chinese International Relations theories in the wake of China’s rise, the perception of international order held by China’s Communist Party and government elites and scholars, and the mutual implication and constitution of domestic ideas and foreign policy. The question at the heart of this project is: How do Chinese international relations scholars understand international order and how is this related to China’s approach to international order? In answering this question, this dissertation will argue that social conditions shape the development of international relations scholarship according to locally meaningful ideologies. In making this claim, I argue against the field of international relations as a universal discipline engaged in the objective analysis of an autonomous realm of global politics. Instead, I argue that as a socially conditioned body of knowledge, international relations theory is fundamentally a discourse about who and what the nation is and what its role in global politics should be. For the case used in this dissertation - China and the development of Chinese theories of IR - this has involved a reconstitution of China’s role in international and regional order in an attempt to breakaway from Western discourses and ascribe a new locally meaningful identity to the nation and its relation to others.
    [Show full text]
  • China's New Leftists and the China Model Debate After the Financial
    a report of the csis freeman chair in china studies China’s New Leftists and the China Model Debate after the Financial Crisis 1800 K Street, NW | Washington, DC 20006 Tel: (202) 887-0200 | Fax: (202) 775-3199 Authors E-mail: [email protected] | Web: www.csis.org Charles W. Freeman III Wen Jin Yuan July 2011 ISBN 978-0-89206-655-1 Ë|xHSKITCy066551zv*:+:!:+:! a report of the csis freeman chair in china studies China’s New Leftists and the China Model Debate after the Financial Crisis Authors Charles W. Freeman III Wen Jin Yuan July 2011 About CSIS At a time of new global opportunities and challenges, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to decisionmakers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., CSIS conducts research and analysis and devel- ops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. Founded by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke at the height of the Cold War, CSIS was dedicated to finding ways for America to sustain its prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world. Since 1962, CSIS has grown to become one of the world’s preeminent international policy institutions, with more than 220 full-time staff and a large network of affiliated scholars focused on defense and security, regional stability, and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global development and economic integration. Former U.S. senator Sam Nunn became chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees in 1999, and John J.
    [Show full text]
  • China and New Left Visions
    China and New Left Visions China and New Left Visions Political and Cultural Interventions Edited by Ban Wang and Jie Lu LEXINGTON BOOKS Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published by Lexington Books A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com 10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom Copyright © 2012 by Lexington Books All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data China and new left visions : political and cultural interventions / edited by Ban Wang and Jie Lu. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-7391-6516-4 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7391-6518-8 (electronic) Socialism in literature. 3. China--Politics and government--2002- 4. China--Politics and government- -1976-2002. I. Wang, Ban, 1957- II. Lu, Jie, 1958- DS779.46.C428 2012 951.06'1--dc23 2012017616 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: China and New Left Critique ix Ban Wang and Jie Lu I:
    [Show full text]
  • Swimming Against the Tide: Tracing and Locating Chinese Leftism Online
    SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE: TRACING AND LOCATING CHINESE LEFTISM ONLINE Andy Yinan Hu B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2004 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Communication O Andy Yinan Hu 2006 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2006 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME: Yinan Andy Hu DEGREE: TITLE: SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE: TRACING AND LOCATING CHINESE LEFTISM ONLINE EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Prof. Alison Beale Prof. Yuezhi Zhao Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Communication Prof. Pat Howard Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Communication Prof. TimothyCheek Examiner Professor, Centre for Chinese Research, UBC Date: SIMON FRASER UNIWR~~brary DECLARATION OF PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection, and, without changing the content, to translate the thesislproject or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work.
    [Show full text]
  • With Or Without the Chinese People?
    With or Without the Chinese People? Emilie FRENKIEL How do Chinese intellectuals construe social instability? This essay maps out the debate on democracy in early 21st century China and explains how, despite diverse viewpoints, widespread elitist views describe common citizens as obstacles to rapid democratization. The debate on political reform in Chinese universities reveals, within the boundaries dictated by (self-)censorship, the academic elites’ aspirations for change in their great diversity and the main obstacles to drastic political change. Therefore, undertaking the mapping of this debate allows us to have a grasp of the various conceptions Chinese academics have of the current regime, to identify the fault lines that have materialized since the June Fourth repression, and to make sense of their disagreements. Analysing these scholars’ discussions, which both have an impact on political elites and public opinion and reflect their respective earnings and fears even if in a distorted manner, is an engaging angle to grasp the diversity of approaches to the issue of China’s democratization but also of social instability, which is often put forward as an obstacle to democratization. This essay is based on twenty qualitative interviews with academics who have taken part in the debate on the political reform yet to come 1 . It explores representations of democracy and instability among Chinese intellectuals, and aims at understanding the connection between the two. Representations of Democracy To Chinese intellectual elites (apart from paternalistic and elitist exceptions like Pan Wei, Kang Xiaoguang or Jiang Qing) the political horizon of China amounts to its regime and society’s democratization (minzhuhua).
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnic Policy in China: Is Reform Inevitable Ethnic Policy in China: Is Reform Inevitable?
    James Leibold James Ethnic Policy in China: China: in Policy Ethnic Inevitable? Is Reform Studies 68 Studies Policy 68 Policy Studies Ethnic Policy in China: Is Reform Inevitable Leibold East-West Center Ethnic Policy in China Is Reform Inevitable? About the East-West Center The East-West Center promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. Established by the US Congress in 1960, the Center serves as a resource for infor- mation and analysis on critical issues of common concern, bringing people together to exchange views, build expertise, and develop policy options. The Center’s 21-acre Honolulu campus, adjacent to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is located midway between Asia and the US main- land and features research, residential, and international conference facilities. The Center’s Washington, DC, office focuses on preparing the United States for an era of growing Asia Pacific prominence. The Center is an independent, public, nonprofit organization with funding from the US government, and additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and govern- ments in the region. Policy Studies an East-West Center series Series Editors Edward Aspinall and Dieter Ernst Description Policy Studies presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner. Written for the policy community, aca- demics, journalists, and the informed public, the peer-reviewed publi- cations in this series provide new policy insights and perspectives based on extensive fieldwork and rigorous scholarship.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 China: July 2-10, 2002 Patsy and I Flew from Chicago to Denver to San
    1 China: July 2-10, 2002 Patsy and I flew from Chicago to Denver to San Francisco to Shanghai, arriving in Shanghai at 10 in the evening of July 3, having set out from home at 4:30 a.m., July 2--a journey of nearly 30 hours. Some excitement along the way. An hour out of San Francisco the pilot announced that we were experiencing trouble with one engine, and would have to dump our fuel (200,000 lbs) and return to San Francisco--which we did. We were told not to worry if we saw fire engines and emergency vehicles standing by. All went smoothly. We were given dinner coupons, and a new plane, which set out about five hours later than our first departure. We'd been told to just take a cab to our hotel, which was only a few minutes from Pudong Airport. We had only the pinyan spelling of the hotel name, though, not the characters, so our cab driver was confused. We were taken for a long ride to an elegant hotel--not ours--where, fortunately, there was an English speaking attendant who was able to get us another cab back to the correct hotel, which was, indeed, only minutes from the airport. (An interesting experience, roaring along a highway in a cab, in a totally foreign country, unable to speak even one word of the language, knowing we were going to the wrong place, not knowing where, in fact, we were going.) As we were checking in, we were met by Ying Yaping, an assistant to the President of Hangzhou University, who had been at the airport of meet us.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Q. S. Tong
    Introduction Q. S. Tong By any measure, China’s economic reform is of world- historical sig- nificance. Since it formally adopted the open- door policy in 1978, the coun- try has been undergoing radical socio- historical transformations that have created not only unprecedented wealth, new freedoms, and possibilities, but also, for us, analytical and interpretative difficulties that are derived from widespread and significant inconsistencies, discontinuities, and contradic- tions that characterize the everyday life of China at the present moment. One cannot fail to note that concurrent with the remarkable advances in living standards and the rise of China’s national power is a whole range of social and moral regressions. The proliferation of corruption, so deeply and palpably woven in the fabric of its social life at all levels, for example, demands an understanding of the internal mechanisms that have pro- duced, nurtured, and sustained it. Widening and deepening chasms in Chi- nese society, such as inequalities between urban and rural communities1 1. During the period of reform, especially the last two decades, the Chinese government has concentrated the state resources on the development “of the urban- industrial sector, particularly in coastal areas, with rural and agricultural investment lagging behind. State- boundary 2 38:1 (2011) DOI 10.1215/01903659-1262527 © 2011 by Duke University Press Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/article-pdf/38/1/1/396516/b2381_01Tong_Fpp.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 2 boundary 2 / Spring 2011 and the gaps between the rich and the poor, present a major challenge to our understanding of the foundational ideology of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that had once envisioned a utopian sociopolitical space, a classless structure in which forms of inequality would be reduced to the minimum and eventually eliminated.
    [Show full text]