Contemporary Chinese Society - appunti

CONTEMPORARY CHINESE SOCIETY

a.a.2019/2020

Università Ca Foscari di Venezia

Corso di laure magistrale in Lingue, economie e

istituzioni dell’Asia e dell’Africa mediterranea

Curriculum Language and Management to China

Society: it describes both social life and units into which social life is organized, lives of all human

beings are social and involve relationship to others, idea of boundaries and relationships ->

dynamism and change

At the same time, a person may be said to be member of one society and not another -> ideas of

boundedness, cultural distinctiveness

Institutions: organizations having power to make decisions which have influence on our life,

deeply embedded patterns of social practices or norms that play a significant role in the

organization of society. Include different areas of social activity, from the family to basic aspects

of political life. In some cases have organized structure, becoming institutions in a something

closer to the common usage of the term.

Institutions are not about organizations but are about:

- Values (individual cognitive attitudes, individual emotions, things that we know about the world,

psychological, individual and internal level)

- Relations (social and political interactions among people, ecological interactions human-nature,

based on different interest perception of future and also eco-system and ecological institutions,

we can explain change by looking at the relations, individual collective and external level)

- Norms (shared understanding, collective patterns of behavior, how we should behave, not

written, collective and internal level)

- Rules (policies laws and regulations, always formalized in regulations, laws and policies,

collective and external level)

Dimension of change in social institutions: social transformation for sustainability

From 1970s onwards

Modernity: refers to a specific time in history, shift from the tradition European societies of

Middle Ages to the political, cultural, and economic forms that characterize Western and arguably

industrialized societies more generally in the present day.

Modernization: it is a process always going on in different time and places, between 1950s and

1960s, a useful lens to predict the way social and economic development takes place.

Modernization Theory: pattern of evolution of human society, from the traditional society, social

classes very stable to society, no access to technology and importance of religion to industrial

society to society based on high mass consumption. Modernization theory explained

development as the result of the systematic rationalization of a society's technology, social

structure, and values. The development of a dynamic market-based economy was also accorded

a large role in this process as a generator of wealth at the societal level and as a distributor of

wealth across the society.

Change is not generated by one single event, it’s cumulative.

Change of social institutions: events triggering change in contemporary china (1800-1920s)

Organization: it has a scope which very often is about an objective that must be reached, the

organization is structured based on this objective. They have formal rules.

Institution: it has a broad field, it focuses on a specific issue.

Defining social institutions:

We tend to focus on other aspects of organizations (technology, micro-management, employees)

but there are also “soft aspects” about the mission of a company [optional paper on moodle]

Regulative dimension: bases its authority on legal system policies and rules; legal obligation fear

and coercion are the drivers of change [Have to]

Normative dimension: not about legal obligation but moral obligation; based on moral and

ethical systems, work roles habits and norms; changes are pushed by moral obligation, duty and

responsibility [Ought to]

Cognitive dimension: based on cultural system, values, beliefs and assumptions; social identity

and personal desire are the drivers of change, change values are internalized [Want to]

deepest level of change

Precipitating jolts are also called critical events which are social, technological or regulatory

situations that trigger the need for change, for something new and better.

Deinstitutionalization Preistitutionalization:

and from formal change to deeper change.

Theorisation is about the cognitive aspect, how we see things

Reinstitutionalization: new solutions emerges and are fully accepted

never ending cycle.

From the last stage you can go back to the the first one, it is a

Exogenous events: critical events that happen from somewhere outside the system (storm,

earthquake, fall of the Soviet Union) change in collective behavior

2 different dimensions which are more responsive to these events:

of people change in values.

and When the two changes happens and values are legitimized in a

society then you have changes in formal institutions.

In the previous model there was first a change in rules and formal institutions and then in values.

There are different interpretations of things.

There will always be actors that strive and push for change.

dissatisfaction of people.

Often change is based on the

People can use their allegiances to try to change things. capital,

In management studies, the concept of dissatisfaction relates to not only economic

capital (money) but also social capital and human capital.

The starting point is a critical event that can generate dissatisfaction among people and give

impulse to change. [dissatisfaction after the WWII]

Crisis -> opportunity for people to express dissatisfaction (example of coronavirus) 天命

China: the system turns natural disaster into an even greater manmade catastrophe ->

To maximize the possibility that change can be accepted, you frame critical events and change

into a well-accepted notion, concept or belief (tianming).

Transformative change (radical, abrupt, durable) is often sustained by change in the individual

cognitive and emotional sphere. Radical changes are sustained by change in beliefs.

This implies that events are insignificant to some may generate a thirst for change in others.

The iceberg model:

- events (reality that surrounds us, real things that you can see, touch and act upon)

- patterns of behavior

- system structure (norms and rules)

- mental models (emotional level, the deepest level)

Change in mental models means change in aspirations and desires -> actual changes

Degree of openness of China throughout time

Events that lead to change in China:

First contacts with foreigners during the Yuan dynasty

Zhang He (explorer), Matteo Ricci (Gesuit)

China was very open until the 19th century, it has a lot of trade exchanges with countries far away

Opium wars

- started by England due to the unbalance in trade between the two countries, sell

opium in China to reestablish the trade balance

- Invasion of colonial powers

This two events lead to technological development (weapons) -> autorafforzamento (自强运动)

China always thought itself to be advanced in term of technology (gun powder, press and paper)

Ferdinand Van Verbiest Kangxi,

(Gesuit) and he understood the drawing by Van Verbiest which

was a prototype of a steam engine (many years before Europe)

中学为体 西学为用

Changes in China can be explained with this expression -> Chinese wisdom as

the basis and Western knowledge as an instrument for technological development

War with Japan

- (1894-5): China was defeated

Legal reforms in Japan: not just about technology but about institutions and relationships

between people

People that understood that China needed change:

孙中山:

Sun Yatsen nationalism (emancipation of the nation from foreign aggression) (民族主义),

improving life of people (民生主义) and give right to people to contribute to politics (民权主义)

Chen Duxiu: founder of the communist party (1910s), he was exposed to European culture, he

studied Marxist theory, he came up to an influential idea -> 2 things should be at the basis of

塞恩斯先生 德謨克拉西先生

Mister science Mister democracy

reforms in China: and (free to

pursue science and free to know ourself and shape this vision in communism)

May 4th movement

1919 (for the first time women have a voice, educated women)

Deng Yichao Zhou Enlai

Change on the emotional level (love, relationships and intimacy): e ->

beliefs of equality and relations, give voice to women, educated women (elite)

Mao Luo Yixiu:

and his first wife educated wife, wanted a life different from what her family

expected to a point that she was executed for protecting Mao.

Idea of family criticized by Communism.

Chang Kaishek: (war in Japan and civil war) reforms in legal institutions (Italy contributed),

reforms in science and education (not successful)

Mao: brought radical changes sustained by the dissatisfaction that people had towards previous

institutional settings (nationalist party)

Reestablishment of relations between China and Western countries in the ‘70s -> strong

impact in the development both in social terms as well as economic and political terms in China

Communist rule is established in China in 1949, at that time the dominant idea of future was that

future was going to progress inevitably from a condition of poverty and exploitment of people by

those who have more resources to a situation where everyone is equal and the establishment of

class struggle

Communism. The tool for this change was lead by certain individuals and

organizations embodied by Mao Zedong and the Communist Party.

1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China, China is linked to the Soviet Union, the

establishment of strong relations with the Soviet Union is important because the country is in

complete chaos and extremely poor after many years of war and civil war.

The Soviet cooperation is extremely important for China in the first few years, in 1949 the

friendship between the two countries is highlighted and celebrated by the two countries, in

Stalin and Mao.

particular the alliance between the two leaders

In this time there is a peak of international relationships and openness of China towards other

countries before falling down during the 1950s, it’s pretty much open to the outside meaning the

the timeline of China’s openness).

Soviet Union (see

During this period from 1949 up to the mid 1950s there is an improvement of trade, import and

export of the Soviet Union, this is due to the strong relationship established with China.

Trade is especially about two things: Soviet Union is exporting to China equipment and machinery

in order to broaden the industrial base of China, technology, iron, steel and everything needed for

industrial development; on the other hand, Soviet Union is importing from China agricultural

products, tobacco, oil seeds and other raw materials and foodstuffs. experts

China needs resources to broaden the industrial base and it needs expertise, (专家)

coming from the Soviet Union (苏联) so help local technicians in the industrial development of

China. defense sector

Important cooperation in the which did not produce any results, Mao wanted to

have access to expertise in order to build the nuclear bomb, China is draining a lot of resources

from the Soviet Union and also within China a lot of resources (both economic and intellectual)

project of the nuclear bomb.

are spent in the defense sector and in the

first Chinese bomb 1964

The was built and tested in when the relations with the Soviet Union are

strained.

The relationships between China and Soviet Union got into a difficult after the death of Stalin and

Krushev

after came to power.

criticism of the cult of Stalin

Mao did not agree with the made by Krushev in 1959, he was

criticizing the role of Stalin which was very cruel and divisive especially during the ‘30s, Mao did

not accept this criticism because he was seeking himself a cult of personality during the Cultural

Revolution to strengthen his power in the country.

split between China and Soviet Union

The sign of the in 1960 is about relations and the different

concept of the role of single individuals and personalities like Mao and Krushev.

Cultural Revolution cult of personality,

During the Mao imposes his own its legacy is still visible

in China for example at the entrance of the Forbidden City.

Ping Pong diplomacy play Chinese and Americans,

1971 (乒乓外交) played between at this

time China is pretty much isolated because it had lost the only reliable partner it had from 1949

(Soviet Union). China had not been represented in the United Nations as the seat was in the

hands of the Republic of China with Chiang Kaishek (Taiwan).

The ping pong match is important because it facilitated the establishment of relations between

visit of Nixon 1972.

the US and China and it prepares the ground for the in Beijing in

At that time both countries shared a concern about Soviet Union and the international geopolitical

Vietnam War

situation: the main concern of the US was the involvement of Soviet Union in the

which was taking the attention of politicians and the general public; in the case of China there

clashes with the Soviet Union on the Northern board of China

were some border (Northern

Manciuria) to the point that some people feared that may lead also to a nuclear confrontation

between the two countries.

1 February 1972 meeting between Mao and Nixon.

Re-opening of China (开放): this event triggered change in different dimensions: change in

relations between USA and China that was going to generate change in terms of norms, rules and

eventually values.

J. Spence defines dynamic(s) trigged by this critical event a “re-opening”.

A good starting point to look at these dynamics to see how they developed and how the relations

Shanghai Communiqué

with the US was about to change things is the (上海公报) of 1972 which

is the result of the visit of Nixon in China -> How many Chinas there were? Which is the role of

China? But it encompassed other aspects such as the strengthening of people-to-people

relations and exchanges of science, technology, sports, culture, journalism and trade.

Science and technology were one of the key aspects of the reestablishment of relations, the key

Deng Xiaoping speech at the United Nations

point highlighted by in his some years after the

Shanghai Communiqué (1974). Key aspect of the reopening of China to the external world:

exchange of needed goods to make up for each other deficiencies (the same rationale behind the

relations between China and Soviet Union in the 1950s).

in no way means“Self-Exclusion” and rejection of foreign aid. We have

Speech: “Self-reliance

always considered it beneficial and necessary for the development of the national economy that

countries should carry on economic and technical exchanges on the basis of respect for state

sovereignty, equality and mutual benefit, and the exchange of needed goods to make up for each

other’s deficiencies”.

This reopening based on the exchange of science and technology was reflecting what was going

on inside China in society and political elite in the last few years of Mao’s life.

Establishment of research organizations rehabilitation of scientists

as well as the (repressed

during the Cultural Revolution because at that time if you were an expert with technical skills you

cannot be considered loyal to Mao because you would put technique, science and knowledge

above political and technological factors). One of the key figure in the reestablishment of the

Hu Yaobang,

scientific field was one of the major reformers of this era, we was entrusted with the

Academy of Sciences,

reestablishment of the the main research institution nowadays in China.

Change in the concept of science based on studying not on sending young people to the

countryside (下乡) as happened during the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命).

By the mid-1970s, substantial critique is directed by part of the Chinese leadership towards the

critique of the importance

over-reliance on ideology in informing China’s development policies,

of class struggle and political struggle in developing the country. An idea was growing among

developing of forces of

the political elite: class struggle is important but more important is the

production (including both skills available to workforce as well as infrastructures).

Trade is also very important in the 1970s, up to the early 1970s there was basically low to zero

exchange in terms of import and there was actually zero purchase of things to build or upgrade

industrial plants (indicator of how much China was isolated especially in terms of science and

technology for the strengthen of the industrial field), first small change in 1972 and after the death

1977 imports and purchases for the industrial plants

of Mao in both increased very quickly.

With the reopening to the external world, trade and imports started again.

China in this time started to develop what can now be considered the main industrial basis of the

of the world”.

world, the “workshop heavy industry,

Initially this development was mainly about chemical industry, energy, production

manufacturing

of steel. The sector development came after this first stage and through the

1980s and 1990s.

China started with the import of technology, machinery and materials for the industrial plants from

the USA (pretty much the same kind of import from the Soviet Union during the 1950s).

中学为体 西学

Modernization: an old concept started to get used again during the ‘70s and ‘80s

为用 (19th century) Chinese knowledge as foundation and Western knowledge as an instrument,

strong echoes this concept and of the country’s self-strengthening of the XIX century in Deng

利用外国智力和扩大对外开放

Xiaoping’s words (1982-3) -> “use the Western wisdom and increase

the size and the magnitude for the opening up to the external world”, using the knowledge of the

way to do this, taking knowledge and

foreigners and using this process of opening up as a

experiment new things from the outside and put it into service for the national development.

4 modernizations (四个现代化): industry, science and technolog