Changing Identities in Contemporary China - Essay Example

Author: Professor’s name: Class: Date of submission: Introduction In many years, in the Chinese traditional thought, to establish an official discourse that could be used as the society order has remained the main challenge for various stakeholders including thinkers, policy makers, Chinese imperial examinations that are designed to create the bureaucrats that are responsible for managing the government. The situation has necessitated for both intellectual and literacy competence by the administration which has to ensure compliancy by intellectuals and policy makers in studying and coming up with a system that will be used to govern the country in the postmodern society without compromising the fundamental values of the people and the state. Developing the postmodern discourse society in China, is being done at two levels that of the government and academic institutions. Like many other countries in the Asian continent, China is yet to highly develop and to be an independent civil society (Chow and Rey 35). Modernization and translation of the Chinese context into modernity has remained a major agenda for the country for many years and its being supported by intellectuals who are advisers on political systems, econometrics and philosophy. Yu Keping, Hu Angang and Wang Hui, are some of the intellectuals that the Republic of China has engaged to look on the default system that is good for the country. Over the last two centuries, China has been confronted with all forms of modernity from the west and it has raised many questions on their objective. The aim of this essay is to discuss contemporary Chinese context with regard to tradition and conservatism, and modernization and westernization and thereafter evaluate the tension between tradition and modernisation in the age of globalisation in China. Tradition and conservatism According to Karl Mannheim, conservatism like ‘ism’ had originated late in the 18th and the 19th century in the West countries. By then it was not easy to separate conservatism from neither liberalism nor radicalism even though conservatism was considered as an opposing tradition to both liberalism and radicalism. In the modern China, however, as presented by two scholars Hu Shih and Chen Tu-hsiu, conservatism to them to some extent is modernization. In China people who opposed new ideas by the intellectuals were regarded as the opponents of western culture and values from the beginning. However, in the modern China society, scholars have come to accept that there is no evidence that shows that conservatives are actually monolithically anti-Western (Shambaugh and David 243-248). This has been demonstrated on how several conservatives have developed great interest towards western education. Many of the studies that have been done in the modern China, conservatives are regarded as the opponents of new intellectuals. Even though they do not accept the new ideas by the intellectuals, some of the conservatives exhibit some level of disagreement even among themselves. Conservatism practices in the contemporary China differ from one group to another and they do have different approach of focusing on the idea of modernization. This means that even in current society what is valued by one group of conservatives does not necessary mean that the other group is of the same view. Conservatives even in the modern society still do not agree on the ‘true’ value of the Chinese culture. In the modern China, the conservatives believe that their tradition is founded on the recognition of “learning as of essence while westernization is founded on the idea that ‘learning is a function’. This belief has persisted for many years and has continued to pose a great challenge to modernization in the current society. Since it is evolvement, it has resulted into two distinct forms. However, the one that has been well received by the conservatives is the “spiritual China–material West”. As argued by its promoters, during the May Fourth Period, China as a nation was not so much interested in material things but recognized the importance of achieving higher levels of spiritual well-being. This idea was considered by many conservatives as a fundamental culture of the people even though it was associated with slow development in scientific field and technological advancement. However, it was seen as conservative culture that had seen many conservatives attain higher levels of spirituality than their western counterparts. On the other hand, the conservatives have considered the west as people who are materialistic but do not regard the importance of spiritual well-being. This is the reason as to why the conservatism China believes that the west only managed to develop in science and technology because that is where they put more of their emphasis rather than in spiritual well-being (Kam 23). Perhaps this practice of being materialistic, is the reason as to why there was World War I. according the conservatism culture, the idea of being so materialistic is the reason as to why there are so may wars allover the world that have been activated the greedy culture of westernization. This is the reason as to why the conservatism China still believes that their country would have fallen into the same problem if they were to embrace the so called ‘westernization’. In the contemporary society of China, what is regarded as an important culture of modernization and that can be imported into the country is science while upholding the Chinese culture. According, to the conservatives, observing cultural values, is the only way to prevent the republic from falling into the same problems as the west. With this regard therefore, conservative culture is considered as a superior culture to westernization since it has managed to see the country through all challenges and that it is carrying a bright future for mankind. It is with this regard that the Chinese intellectuals have gone as far as searching for different cultural teachings that can be used to ‘save the west’. The believe that learning was for essence has been so common among the conservatives till they now believe that their values should be shared by everybody as away of getting into modernization. According to Hu Shih and Liang Shu-Ming, all conservatives share some common characteristics and they all believe that their culture is superior to any culture across the globe. According to the dual, even though there are some areas in which the western culture is superior to conservatism, the conservatives believe that in overall, their culture is the most superior as opposed to ‘material’ culture. Even though the conservatives could criticize some of the traditions, these criticisms are intended at building and protecting the culture. Even though the conservatives are not against the introduction of the western culture, they still maintain that every culture must follow the Chinese culture. For many years, conservatism has remained to be a stumbling block to the evolvement of new doctrines like communism in the contemporary society. The conservatism activities have been considered in the modern society as a resistance to revolutionary powers like that of French Jacobins. In china, the conservatives have been very hostile to the communist government of china because of their perception on the western culture and how they handle it. The conservatives in the modern China still are of the view that the communist government is so lenient to the western culture and that it is not doing enough to protect and uphold the country’s culture. Even though the conservatives have never been at war with China, they have never taken China to be that serious and therefore they have never considered communism to be a very serious culture. Given that conservatism is associated with aristocracy and inherited privileges, it has never been easy for them to allow the entry of new players into the political arena. Given that China is emerging as a great power, it is almost clear that the conservatives are likely to be convinced to allow the country take its rightful stage in the world map even though it will appear as if it will compromise its culture. And since it will not be so appealing, limiting the country’s participation in the global stage, it will be very vital for the conservatives to develop a key insight to the foreign policy which for many years has been given very little attention. In general terms, conservatism is unique in away that it does not condone the entry of the western culture into its territory since it recognizes itself as more superior culture to the rest. In China some of the conservatives have idolized intellect and new science because of its perceived effect on culture. In the current society, the Western culture is proving inevitable and it has started showing some impact and it is now the responsibility of the country to do what it can to preserve its culture or emulate the new culture of westernization. Given the global set up, the conservatism culture is experiencing major challenges since it is predominantly based on a mere conventional analysis of comparing the east and the west or tradition against modernity without actually putting into consideration the long-term impact of each culture. Modernisation and westernization The process of modernization in West was as result of historical and cultural practices that yielded a lot of enlightenment which caused very different histories and cultures from those that practiced in China. The western modernity has been progressively brought into China’s history and culture by different forces including those of arm, thus interfering with the experience that has been there for over a century thus making it very difficult to explain China’s reaction without considering this fact in mind. The same scenario was also experienced in Japan. The high resistance of European modernity was the major cause of colonialism in the Past Asian and the current relationship with the imperial powers something that has sparked a lot of questions about the ‘Asian Values’. It is universally accepted from the Asian point of View that these enlightenment values were a source of the major imperialism and catastrophic consequences that prevail currently. Like many other Asian states, China is holding a critical view towards these enlightenment values (Wang 83). Modernization by the West is considered as a ‘new world order’ that has caused post-Cold war between the west and the east powers. Modernization and westernization in the contemporary China is considered as a paradigm with very dangerous adversary that can be easily identified and defined in such away to reflect how some neoconservative strategists are trying to convert China into the future. This has resulted into an inevitable enmity between with US thus causing a standoff between the two powers. This is because the Chinese people believe that the US is interested to impart their cultural values in the name of civilizations. However, the people of China still they do believe that their cultural values are ideal and superior to the rest. To them modernization is all about Westernization and there is nothing new it can bring to the people of china. The China republic is convinced that the US is using the idea of modernization to spread it is values across the world and thereby fulfills its prophecy of dominating the world. The process of modernization is also considered as Cold War paradigm that is geared towards achieving short term visions by the West. The Western interests are carried in the modernization values and these interests are aimed at fulfilling the imperial needs in the post-colonial era. To a greater level, modernization is directly related with post-colonisation and it is purposed to ensure continuation of the imperialistic activities in the name of Westernization. In addition, modernity in the contemporary Chinese society is considered as a process of ensuring that capitalist market economies are consolidated and that liberal democracy is a promoted as away of attaining economic, social and political modernization. On the other hand, China is interested in liberalizing the world economy which is independent of the social needs in order to achieve the same economic transformation as the West. The powers’ objective is currently overriding the overall objective of the transnational organizations such as the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In order to achieve this revolutionary objective, China is following the example of the world’s big enlightenment regime, the US. No doubt that it was going to pass after many scholars and thinkers of enlightenment who included: Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, predicted that in the future all world nations will come to embrace western culture and values. This is because these thinkers had been convinced that no cultural diversity was permanent and that any culture was deemed to change to meet the prevailing demands. This has been greatly been supported by the way in which the contemporary China is doing business deals with several western countries implying that the country is willing to compromise some of its traditional believes in order to fit in the global market (Liu and Lydia 53). The thinkers had predicted that it will come a time when all nations will subscribe to universal civilization where all the past traditions and cultures will be superseded. This is because the establishment of a single global market is a creation of a single universal civilization whereby each player must act and behave in accordance to enlightenment practices. However, for China to participate actively in the global stage, the scholars are of the view that China has to modernize but not through repeating modernity. This is because repeating modernity; it will mean that the country will be doing exactly what is being done by the imperialist powers. The process of modernity was used to justify imperialism by creating several institutions that will be used to develop the economy without considering the importance of embracing those values that are advantageous to the countries that are already wealth. In other words, China must adopt its own systems that enhance civilizations without necessarily following the style of the imperialist powers. Currently, China is advocating for values that are postmodern as away of creating opposing forces to the imperialist values of modernity. The Chinese people are advocating for the possibility of modernizing their culture without necessary referring to those values that had originated from those countries that have started questioning them. This way the people of China believe that they could reach a higher level postmodern without going through the challenges that west went through over centuries according to Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward”. The two schools of thought, “postmodernity” and “postcolonialism”, have flourished since 1990. The two schools have been combined to give rise to a new term ‘post studies’ as described by Xu Jilin. In the studies, the ‘ant-Western’ theorists are on the verge of accepting the mainstream direction created by the Western intellectual geneology. They believe that the western modernist could be used as an important thought for building the postmodern China society. The western modernization process is a very important resource for modernizing China. The contemporary Chinese society is of the view that the universals of modernists is a combination of different products from western histories and cultures that separated great gulf from China's contemporary culture and historical tradition (Umbach and Frank 57-84). This gap between the western histories and Chinese discourse has made it absolutely difficult to distinguish between the western mainstream and the postcolonial theory. By looking at the western modernization, the Chinese believe that they are inspired to reach a level of modernization that would fit into the Chinese conditions. Unlike the past, the current scholars are not interested in confronting the western learning processes but apply the idea of ‘use aliens to control the aliens’. This means the Chinese people are expected to use the western marginal values to resist the Western mainstream discourses. From the external and sociological perspectives, the ant-Western trend is associated with several changes within the environment both at home and abroad. For many years China has been considered by the West as one of the disfavored countries in the world. But with the sudden takeoff of the country’s economy, the first step by the Chinese has been to say no to values that originate from the privileged people whom for long time it has aimed to overtake. In the 1980s, the Chinese contact with the West was very minimal and consequently there were very conflicts of interest that involved China and other countries in the global arena. This is because the intellectuals had created a flattering image about the west so that westernization could get the suitable psychological support. However, with the entry of China into the global political and social economical stage, conflicts started to emerge with the West which were even more direct. Much of the opposition on the country’s entry into the international stage was from the United States. Given the entry of China into the WTO, and its ability to host the Olympic Games, trade conferences and the Yinhua incident and other several events has made many intellectuals lose faith on the western culture and values. The intellectuals have argued that however, beautiful relationships have seemed to be among the Western countries, there is some disquiet among several countries who feel that there are unequal power relationships (Kam 83). This scenario has been considered by China to be as a result of westernization which it was not interested in. the intellectuals are of the view that there is need for China to differentiate their approach from that of the West. This way the Chinese are able to explore a new stand that values the national culture. Tradition, modernisation and globalisation in China In many years, China as a country has had its share of challenges with regard to the various traditions that exhibit very strict conditions. Apart from a communist country, China is also dominated by conservatives who are of the view that the country’s cultural practices and values are the best amidst of the era of globalisation. Despite, the enormous stride the country has made in terms of economic growth, country has undergone very tough ways in political, social and economic development. In the contemporary China, the tension between traditional and modern values is very high given that the world is living in the globalisation era. This is because as of one the great economy in the world, China is interested in taking its rightful position in the international stage. The tension arises as to how to deal with values in order to allow modernity which is compatible with the global civilisation. This clearly implies that China must give up on some of its traditional values are opposed to modernity. This is because the country must consider putting into practice some of the values that will not conflict with other world players and thus causing conflicts. The global dominance is primarily constituted of the western powers and therefore the arena is dominated by several believes and values that are build on the western system. This means that the global space is widely dominated by the ideas from the west which for long China has considered being materialistic and not considerate of the values that are important in building the social well-being of their citizens (Kam 23). The Chinese people are very much aware that their tradition is not the alternative to the western system and therefore it cannot challenge its exclusive legitimacy but rather give up some of values to fit into the international context. On the other hand, given the nature of the Chinese System where social communities work as different units and that are connected by different networks which overlap both horizontally and vertically, is very contradictory in the west because of its bureaucracy. This is because this tradition in the globalisation era is believed by the West that such system of organisation is malicious and it carries self interests where people tend to benefit from resources by use of partisan ways. So giving up this system for globalisation is a very big challenge and it is likely to come into clear conflict with the fundamental values of the People of the Republic of China which is build on communism. In China, democracy is led by a unified and neutral group which is formed and build on the principle of meritocracy. In the group labour is divided in such away to prevent mistakes and correct some of them in case there are some. However, according to the west, the process of electoral democracy is the order of the day. This means that power is well spread among all parties and that it majority who have the responsibility to rule. This system has been carried over to the global arena where liberalism is allowed (Chow and Rey 54). This means freedom is given to every individual to actively participate in the international activities. Since global stage is dominated by the western values, then it’s evident that for China to compete effectively, it must accept some of the systems used by their western counterparts in areas of governance and democracy. Some of the important decisions such as leadership at the global level have been influenced by the western system whereby even the leadership of the important world organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is by people who are elected by the member states meaning that the dominant west will always carry the day. This implies that China’s tradition is a possible prey to the Western systems in matters that involve leadership and governance. Given that modernity in the Chinese context has been imposed by the European modernity since the 19th century by use of force of arms and unequal treaties as well as extraterritoriality, the Chinese thinkers were expected to bring in new terms and ideas through translation. The whole process of importation occurred in the historical and cultural contexts. These contexts were quite different in its make and they did not reflect that context that had led to the European enlightenment. With this regard therefore there was lack of enough cultural equivalents that could be used to promote mutual understanding between the two cultures. Given that modernity could sensor some of the words that could be used by the Chinese officials, the situation has led to asymmetrical relationship between the Chinese tradition and modernity at the global stage (Liu and Lydia 45). This situation has been felt at the ground where the conservatives and the locals are now feeling that their culture has been cheated on by the western in the name modernization. In the contemporary China, conflict between tradition and modernity at the global stage is also eminent in the field of worship. Lack of cultural understanding has been considered as a major source of conflict to the people of China especially in their religious believes. Since the 16th century, the missionaries from Europe had started streaming into the country in the name of Jesuit missionaries who were considered to be the first European Sinologists to arrive into China. However, since then their attempts to make more Protestant and Catholic converts, has not bore much fruits since there was a believe that this was a strategy by the western powers to invade the culture of the people. The missionary teachings were believed to be provocative to traditions of the country that was dominated by Buddhism. To my view, modernity at the global stage is likely to affect the traditional ways of life whereby people are likely to freely mingle and share ideas. At the global stage students are travelling into the western countries whereby they have managed to learn new theories about the western culture and thereby creating a comparison between the two levels of cultures. It is believed that the students have implicated both negatively and positively to the culture of the Chinese people since they believe that different cultures have some important lessons to learn regardless of their origin. Conclusion In concluding this essay it is important to note that several lessons have been learned with regard to tradition, conservatism, modernization and westernization in the case of the Contemporary Chinese context. First, conservatism practices in the contemporary China differ from one group to another and they do have different approach of focusing on the idea of modernization. Second, the western modernity has been progressively brought into China’s history and culture by different forces including those of arm, thus interfering with the experience that has been there for over a century thus making it very difficult to explain China’s reaction without considering this fact in mind. In addition, in the contemporary China, the tension between traditional and modernity values is very high given that the world is living in the globalisation era. In general terms, the current era of globalisation has necessitated for total world civilisation which supersedes all other cultures regardless of their origin. Reference Chow, Rey, The protestant ethnic and the spirit of capitalism, Columbia University Press, New York, 2002. Kam Louie, Theorising Chinese Masculinity: Society and Gender in China, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Liu, Lydia H., The Clash of Empires. The Invention of China in Modern World Making, Cambridge, MA & London: Harvard University Press, 2004. Shambaugh, David, “China and Europe: The Emerging Axis”, Current History, 2004. Vol. 103, No. 674, pp. 243-248. Umbach, Frank, “EU’s Links with China Pose New Threat to Transatlantic Relations”, European Affairs, Washington, European Institute, 2004. Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 57-84. Wang Hui, China’s New Order. Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition, Theodore Huters (Ed.), Cambridge, MA & London: Harvard University Press, 2003. Read More