Durham E-Theses Contentious Activities and Party-State Responses in Contemporary China Investigating China's Democratisation during its Modernisation YU, YING How to cite: YU, YING (2010) Contentious Activities and Party-State Responses in Contemporary China Investigating China's Democratisation during its Modernisation , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/528/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Contentious Activities and Party-State Responses in Contemporary China Investigating China’s Democratisation during its Modernisation Ying Yu Department of Politics University of Durham October 2010 Abstract The macroscopic picture of China today is highly contradictory: on the one hand there is an explicit scenario of modernisation initiated by the government and developing in unexpected depth and rapidity, and on the other hand an implicit but unrecognised scenario of democratisation nurtured by modernisation and actively involving different social forces. Due to the intensifying social problems – and perhaps even social crisis – that accompany the many transformations, such as the restructuring relationship between Party-state, society and individuals and the changing culture and value system, remarkable contentious activities have been launched by a wide range of social actors striving for their rights and interests. Underneath the dynamic character of contentions in China, this research will try to test the normative and ethical presumption that contentious politics promotes both robust civil society and representative government – the substance of democracy. I examine the contentious actions of the three significant social groups - the labourers, intellectuals and religious groups - and the Party-state responses to their politics, which are largely co-optation, toleration and control-repression. I also examine the important dynamic between centre and province with regard to their responses. My methods of documentation, interviewing and internet content analysis have been adopted in order to study these contentions and Party-state responses. The thesis concludes that the relationships between Party-state, society and individuals are restructured in contentions and interactions driven by modernisation. There are mounting democratic pressures and open demands from people with an increasing political consciousness, which challenge authority to different extents all over the country and will lead to China‘s democratisation in both bottom- up and top-down directions. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 3 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................. 6 List of Tables................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1– Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 An intellectual curiosity ........................................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Background ........................................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Identifying Topic and Statement of Significance ................................................................................ 11 1.4 Hypotheses and Questions .................................................................................................................. 13 1.5 Research Outline ................................................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2 – Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 21 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Key Words .......................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Modernisation .............................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.2 Democratisation ........................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.3 Contention and Party-state Responses ......................................................................................... 28 2.3 The Analytical Model ......................................................................................................................... 29 2.3.1 Axis 1: Contentious Politics ......................................................................................................... 30 2.3.2 Axis 2: Individual-Society-State Relationship and Democratisation ........................................... 34 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 44 Chapter 3 – Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 46 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 46 3.2 Research Paradigm, Methodology and Design ................................................................................... 46 3.3 Interview Design and Procedure ......................................................................................................... 49 3.3.1 Sampling design ........................................................................................................................... 49 3.3.2 Interview questions ...................................................................................................................... 51 3.3.3 Interview procedure ..................................................................................................................... 53 3.4 Analysis of Interview Data.................................................................................................................. 60 3.5 Documentation and Analysis of Internet Data .................................................................................... 62 3.5.1 Collection and coding of internet data for internet contentions. .................................................. 63 3.6 Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 64 Chapter 4 – Modernisation and Problems ..................................................................................................... 66 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 66 4.2 A Contour of China‘s Realities and Problems: Interview Results ....................................................... 67 4.2.1 The three dimensions of change: politics ..................................................................................... 68 3 4.2.2 The three dimensions of change: economy .................................................................................. 77 4.2.3 The three dimensions of change: social-cultural .......................................................................... 84 4.3 Evaluation and Attribution of Opportunities/ Threats for Contentions ............................................... 91 4.3.1 International environment and nationalism .................................................................................. 92 4.3.2 Double-edged sword of reform and people‘s new request ........................................................... 95 4.3.3 Central-local complexity and deconstruction of authorities ........................................................ 98 4.3.4 Mass media and the internet ...................................................................................................... 101 4.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 103 Chapter 5 – Civil Society and Mobilisation Structure ...............................................................................