Solveig Stornes ‘I want to improve myself’ Underemployed rural graduates in urban areas of China Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the M.A. degree Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen June 2012 1 2 ‘The Struggle of the Ants’ To be forgotten in the corner of the world Not my fault Has been buried by no means wasted I live in the cave Busy back and forth every day Do not care about other people how to say Ant small but broad minded Insists on being self Afraid of the wind I am not afraid of the wind Raindrops wet my dream Go ahead I go forward, The footprints me not ignorant Against the wind I am against the wind Way forward, although heavy I will be propped up with tentacles Rain patch of the sky Performed by: ‘the Ant Brothers’ Written by: Li Liguo and Bai Wanlong 3 4 Acknowledgements First and foremost I wish like to thank the people in Xiwang Cun who let me follow them in their daily lives and shared their experiences and life stories with me. Professor Leif O. Manger has been my supervisor, and I am deeply grateful for our inspiring discussions, commitment to my project and his support in this process. My respectful thanks go to Jon Pedersen at FAFO’s Beijing Office, who provided me with thoughtful comments and interesting inputs in Beijing. His colleague at CASTED were also very helpful providing me with critical comments and forcing me to sharpen my arguments during my fieldwork. I would also like to thank them for introducing me to Professor Lian Si who provided me with interesting perspectives. I am grateful to the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies (NIAS) for granting me a scholarship to Copenhagen for two weeks. The importance of the input and inspiration I got during my stay have been a driving force throughout this thesis Other people who deserve special thanks are Henriette, Anne and Davis, Lili and Joon. I have benefited greatly from discussions with Ole Johannes Kalland and Thomas Sætre Jakobsen, who were my ‘anthropological brother in arms’ during fieldwork. Rebecca and James you also deserves a big thanks for frequently challenging my perspectives. Eoin Daffy and Howard Lopez deserves a special thanks for reading through parts of this thesis. I also happy to have spent the last two year with my fellow students on the 8 th Floor. I am grateful for their nuance and constructive critique and good times we had together. Finally, I extend my most sincere gratitude to my parents, family and friends for supporting me and believing in me on another of my adventures. And last, but not least, I am forever grateful to Nikolai Rypdal Tallaksen for supporting me and not only putting up with it all, but also taking a genuine interest, reading and commenting upon numerous drafts. Solveig Stornes, Bergen, Norway, 15 th June 2012 5 6 Abstract The thesis presents an ethnographic study of a phenomenon that was unknown of and even unthinkable fifteen years ago in China, underemployed and unemployed rural graduates living on the fringes of both the city and society itself. Through the facet of one urban village on the outskirt of Beijing I uncover how the rural graduates’ situation, often called ‘the ant tribe, is a picture on what ambiguities lies within the Chinese society. Their position becomes problematic when they establishing themselves in informal settlements at the periphery of the city. Here the rural graduates live together with other migrants and in a sense bringing civilization to the uncivilized and illegible part of the city. Not only is their situation a crack in China’s narratives of education and modernity, but it’s also directing attention to the growing pressure on urban housing, need for change in household system and social inclusion for people that also want to take part in the economic development in China. It is through analysing the rural graduates situation that we come to comprehend how the Chinese state manifest itself in the structures where the rural graduates live, but also how it is conceived and reflected upon in people`s everyday practise in creating a meaningful life. “Improve myself” have become the phrase among the youths in achieving this goal. During the course of this thesis I want to argue for a new rationality of governing and subject formation in China, where the subjects have become self-governing. Which has also lead to a change among young rural graduates towards a more individualistic lifestyle and perception of life in contrast to earlier collective communities. This can be observed in renewed focus on the self, the consumer patterns, but also how the individual is establishing networks founded in themselves in a new relation to the collective. 7 8 Contents ‘The struggle of the ants’………………………………………………………………………………..3 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………….5 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Theoretical and methodological perspective s ...................................................................... 11 Educational history of China .................................................................................................... 12 Rural graduates in urban areas ................................................................................................. 14 State and governmentality ........................................................................................................ 18 Self-conduct and suzhi - human quality .................................................................................... 19 The individualization thesis ..................................................................................................... 21 A rising individual .................................................................................................................... 23 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 24 Limitations and advantages in the field .................................................................................... 25 What follows ............................................................................................................................ 28 1 Xiwang Cun – an urban village .......................................................................................... 30 Conceptualisation of urban villages in China .......................................................................... 31 Xiwang Cun .............................................................................................................................. 34 Structural organization and daily life ....................................................................................... 35 Luan and Anjing – the power of representation ....................................................................... 38 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................. 40 2 A quest for human quality .................................................................................................. 42 Wenming, wenhua and suzhi with Confucian roots ................................................................. 42 Break and continuity- Wenhua suzhi under Mao ..................................................................... 43 Reform and revival of the suzhi discourse ............................................................................... 44 Suzhi facilitated by the party-state ........................................................................................... 44 ‘The ant tribe’, what is in a name? ........................................................................................... 46 Unifying and homogenizing ............................................................................................. 47 Poor, struggling ‘ants’ ...................................................................................................... 47 Abnormalising .................................................................................................................. 49 The management of productive bodies .................................................................................... 50 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................. 52 3 ‘I want to improve myself’ .................................................................................................. 54 ‘Excessive population ’ and otherness: motivational drives ..................................................... 55 Being successful in the labour market ...................................................................................... 58 Negotiating an improved identity through consumption .......................................................... 61 Improve your abilities – improve yourself ............................................................................... 65 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................. 66 4 The symbolism of fast-food ................................................................................................. 67 The emergence of a new consumption culture in China .......................................................... 68 9 KFC – meeting place and test ground ...................................................................................... 70 Tensions in new, appropriated social space ............................................................................