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Communication, Culture and Workers' Radicalism in Post-Mao China

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Communication, Culture and Workers' Radicalism in Post-Mao China LIVING WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY LEGACY: COMMUNICATION, CULTURE AND WORKERS’ RADICALISM IN POST-MAO CHINA By Guoxin Xing M.A. (Political Science), University of Regina, 2005 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Guoxin Xing 2011 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2011 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for ―Fair Dealing.‖ Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Guoxin Xing Degree: PhD Title of Thesis: Living With The Revolutionary Legacy: Communication, Culture and Workers’ Radicalism in Post-Mao China Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Enda Brophy Assistant Professor, School of Communication ___________________________________________ Dr. Yuezhi Zhao Senior Supervisor Professor, School of Communication ___________________________________________ Dr. Shane Gunster Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Communication ___________________________________________ Dr. Robert Hackett Supervisor Professor, School of Communication __________________________________________ Dr. Richard Gruneau Internal Examiner Professor, School of Communication Dr. Yiching Wu External Examiner Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto Date Defended/Approved: June 27, 2011_________________________________ ii 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 (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 STATEMENT OF ETHICS APPROVAL The author, whose name appears on the title page of this work, has obtained, for the research described in this work, either: (a) Human research ethics approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Research Ethics, or (b) Advance approval of the animal care protocol from the University Animal Care Committee of Simon Fraser University; or has conducted the research (c) as a co-investigator, collaborator or research assistant in a research project approved in advance, or (d) as a member of a course approved in advance for minimal risk human research, by the Office of Research Ethics. A copy of the approval letter has been filed at the Theses Office of the University Library at the time of submission of this thesis or project. The original application for approval and letter of approval are filed with the relevant offices. Inquiries may be directed to those authorities. Simon Fraser University Library Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada Last update: Spring 2010 ABSTRACT China in the reform era has seen its expanded industrial labour force fragmented along cleavages such as localities, industrial sectors, ownership patterns, gender and generational gap, and above all, a hukou system that creates a deep fissure between urban workers and rural migrant workers. Accordingly, varieties of contending political ideologies have influenced the nature, directions, dynamics and trajectories of labour politics and labor movements in post-Mao China. However, current scholarship in labor studies tends to focus on Chinese workers‘ resistance along with trade unionism and theorize the formation of their insurgent identities in terms of labour and industrial citizenry. This one-dimensional and unilinear liberal perspective often characterizes workers‘ invocations of China‘s revolutionary and Maoist socialist legacies as either the signs of nostalgia or the tactical weapons of struggles for livelihood. This dissertation takes issue with this emergent academic orthodoxy, which purports to bid farewell to China‘s revolutionary and socialist past and declare the end of class in Chinese politics. It foregrounds fragmentary groups of Chinese workers whose class-consciousness is counter-hegemonic and alternative to trade unionism. Drawing on a formational approach to class analysis and foregrounding communication and culture as a pivotal site, this dissertation investigates a sectional posture of Chinese workers‘ autonomous communication activities and their everyday cultural practices of resistance, largely obscured and suppressed by China‘s repressive regime of media representation. The multi-faceted research encompasses fieldwork, discourse analysis and case studies on communicative and cultural activities involving both urban industrial workers and rural migrant workers. The inquiry sheds light onto the continuing relevance of China‘s revolutionary and Maoist socialist legacies to the subjectivity and agency of segments of the Chinese working class. The findings point to contestation, rather than consensus, as the defining feature of working-class subjectivity formation and serve as a caveat for any generalization regarding the nature of labour politics in a deeply fractured post-Mao Chinese society. The dissertation recovers the ―missing links‖ in Chinese political studies, labour studies, and communication studies. Keywords: revolutionary legacy; radicalism; workers‘ resistance; counter-public sphere; insurgent identity Subject Terms: China; class; labor politics; culture, media and communication iii DEDICATION This project is Dedicated to my wife, kids and father-in-law For their love and patience for the accomplishment of the thesis And In memory of my mom, an illiterate Chinese village woman who expected a son of PhD degree iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is impossible to accomplish my doctoral program and dissertation without the support of many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my senior supervisor Prof. Yuezhi Zhao for her excellent guidance, meticulous academic caring and provoking encouragement. Without her assistance, support and guidance which are always available, abundantly helpful and invaluable, the process would be much longer and tortuous. Prof. Zhao has set up a model for my academic journey by her courage, integrity, sincerity and commitment. I am indebted to my supervisor Robert Hackett. During my doctoral studies, Bob has given a lot of sincere and generous support and encouragement for my comprehensive exams, research assistantship, dissertation proposal and drafts of my dissertation. I would also like to thank my supervisor Shane Gunster for his warm-hearted support and meticulous overview of my research. The provoking and meticulous questions he put up with are very valuable for clarifying my theoretical frameworks and inspiring future research plan. Prof. Rick Gruneau has impressed me when I took his methodology course, one of the best courses I have experienced in the school. I feel honoured to have Rick worked as my internal examiner. Special thanks go to Rick for his willing to participate in my oral defense committee and for providing many valuable suggestions, even doing some edit-proofing jobs for me when he overviewed my dissertation draft. I am indebted to friends and ordinary workers I met in Zhengzhou. Without their sincere and generous help, accomplishing my fieldwork could not be smooth. I would v like to thank John MacDonald and Sharon MacDonald from the WBC family for their love, care and support during my studies. Thanks also go to Cathy Walker, Ian Chun, Xinren Li, Lin Yao, Yun Wen, Ying-Fen Huang, Rob Hershorn, Rob Prey and David Newman for their friendship, help and academic inspiration. I would
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