Who is China?

Abstract

This chapter examines Chinese national identity as a core element of China’s political worldview and claims to exceptionalism. Using a sociological structure of liquid modernity, the chapter analyzes how Chinese national identity is being considered and constructed within domestic conditions and the extent to which it affects social capital and the cohesiveness of Chinese social life. I argue that liquid modernity has resulted in greater fragmentation between Chinese private and public life as well as complicating efforts to construct a unified sense of collective national identity (Chinese-ness). To remedy these challenges, the Chinese government utilizes nationalism to cultivate domestic support by projecting itself as good vis-à-vis the West, which is scapegoated as evil and the root cause of all Chinese ills.