Critical Asian Studies最新文献

{"title":"Going to Yan’an: The Making of China’s New Ruling Class","authors":"Jia Gao","doi":"10.1080/14672715.2023.2263472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2023.2263472","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTStudies of China’s ruling elites need to be set in the historical context of their formation and expansion, and the resurgence of the notion of “bloodline” (xuetong lun) and its evolution in the last decade into the red-genes theory (hongse jiyin) have increased this need. Yet there is a gap between the scholarly literature in English on China’s ruling elites and academic and non-academic publications in Chinese on the subject, especially on the Yan’an period (late 1935 until early 1948) of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) expansion. Both advocates of the bloodline concept and the red genes theory are connected to Yan’an, as are numerous other contemporary ruling class families. Based on an analysis of Chinese publications, this article examines understudied aspects of the “going to Yan’an” phenomenon during the Anti-Japanese War from a social positioning perspective. Through considering Yan’an as part of social positioning options and how new groups developed there, this article offers a new perspective on the making of China’s post-1949 ruling elites.KEYWORDS: Yan’ansocial repositioningleft-leaning youthelite formationYan’an spirit AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank the journal editor and the anonymous reviewers for their very detailed and helpful comments on the earlier version of this manuscript.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1 Goodman Citation2000; Gao Citation2018; Bianco Citation2019.2 The bloodline theory highlights the important role of children of communist revolutionaries in Chinese society (Andreas Citation2002). This was once expressed by the following notorious couplet: “the sons of revolutionaries are heroes; the sons of reactionaries are bastards” (laozi yingxiong er haohan, laozi fandong er hundan). See also Walder Citation2004; Wemheuer Citation2019.3 Editorial board Citation2013.4 The notion of red-genes was first used by Xi Jinping in 2013, and it has since been expanded to stress the importance of inheriting the revolutionary ideals and beliefs of the CCP and promoting people with red-genes to leadership roles. See Lam Citation2015; Ranade Citation2023.5 Li Citation2009.6 Zhang Guotao (1897-1979) was, like Mao Zedong, a founding member of the CCP. After losing a power struggle with Mao, he joined the KMT in 1938 and then, after the CCP was victorious in China’s civil war, he went into exile in British-controlled Hing Kong. In 1968 he and his wife. Yang Zilie, settled in Ontario, Canada.7 Zhang Citation1998, 447. He quoted the following lines of the poet Lu You (1125-1210) from his poem 游西山村 (“Roaming in Mountain West Villages”): “Over numerous mountains and streams, I had my doubts that I could find the road. Then out of the shade of the willows, came bright flowers and another village.”8 Walder Citation2009, 112. See also Zhang Citation2016.9 Lam Citation1992, 2.31; Gao Citation2023, 138.10 Johnson Citation1962; Bianco Citation1995; Selden Citation","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135194834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling Class Discourse: Its Articulation and Generation in Chinese Labor Struggles","authors":"Feng Chen","doi":"10.1080/14672715.2023.2258889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2023.2258889","url":null,"abstract":"While the term “class” has largely vanished from China’s public discourse, class discourse has endured within the country’s labor struggles over the last four decades. Nevertheless, class discourse has been articulated in distinct ways across three instances of labor activism: state workers’ opposition to industrial restructuring, worker-initiated collective bargaining, and Marxist-inspired agitation, manifesting as nostalgia, collective rights, and labor emancipation, respectively. This article delves into the origins of these distinct articulations of class discourse by delineating three modes of their emergence: endogenous, exogenous, and symbiotic. It further elucidates how these modes materialize through the interplay of workers’ experiences and the roles undertaken by labor activists from both shopfloors and civil society. The article’s objective extends to evaluating the degree to which these three discursive expressions encapsulate class consciousness, while also delving into their underlying ideological implications.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"332 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136011496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Continuity and Complexity: A Study of Patronage Politics in State-owned Enterprises in Post-authoritarian Indonesia","authors":"Indri Dwi Apriliyanti","doi":"10.1080/14672715.2023.2257223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2023.2257223","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis study explores the role of patronage in Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) by analyzing board appointments between 2004 and 2019 under two different presidential administrations—those of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo. The study is based on a content analysis of board members and their political affiliations in fifteen of the largest Indonesian SOEs and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a former minister, high-ranking officials in the government, political party members, CEOs, and SOE board members. The study identifies how key patrons influence board appointments and how the sitting president, a pivotal patron in the post-authoritarian context, strategically uses patronage for power consolidation and political stability. Given the financial significance and power of SOEs, placing loyalists on boards serves the interests of ruling political parties and elites. This also enables elites to produce even more patronage, which is beneficial for their personal political machinery. This intricate interplay sustains the presence of patronage in Indonesia’s democratic landscape.KEYWORDS: state-owned enterprisesboard appointmentspatronagenew democracypower consolidation AcknowledgementsI extend my heartfelt gratitude to the organizers of the paper development workshop at the Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, and the Beyond Essentialism workshop (a collaboration between the University of Essex and the University of the Philippines) for their invaluable contributions to this paper's development. The author owes thanks to the editor and reviewers for their constructive feedback that enhanced the quality of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1 Dettman and Gomez Citation2020.2 Keefer Citation2007; Kitschelt and Wilkinson Citation2007.3 Kopecky et al. Citation2016; Levitsky and Way Citation2012.4 Berenschot and Aspinall Citation2020.5 Hendrawan, Berenschot, and Aspinall Citation2021.6 Biezen and Kopecky Citation2014; Bruton et al. Citation2015; Daiser, Ysa, and Schmit, Citation2017.7 Aguilera et al. Citation2021; Hertog Citation2010; Libman, Stone, and Vinokurov Citation2022.8 The other presidents since Suharto (Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Megawati Sukarnoputri) held office for relatively short periods, and did not have extensive influence on patterns of board member composition.9 New democracies are defined as countries that transitioned from a non-democratic to a democratic regime between the 1970s and early 2000s. See Diamond, Citation1996.10 Di Mascio Citation2014.11 Di Mascio Citation2014; Kopecky and Scherlis Citation2008.12 Panizza et al. Citation2019.13 Van Biezen and Kopecky Citation2007.14 Kopecky Citation2011.15 Kopecky Citation2011.16 Grzymała-Busse Citation2006.17 Kopecky and Spirova Citation2011.18 Meyer-Sahling and Jáger Citation2012.19 Kopecky Citation2011.20 Kopecky Citation2011.21 Genin, Tan,","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136306527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why the Chinese Tradition Had No Concept of “Barbarian”","authors":"Shuchen Xiang","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.149-173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.149-173","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that the concept of the “barbarian” is inapplicable to the Chinese tradition. By contrasting the Greek and later European view on what it means to be human with the image of the authentic human in Chinese philosophy, this paper argues that the Chinese tradition did not have a conception of what the Greeks understood as “barbarian”. In the former, the ideal of the human is understood through an investigation of the concept of ousia, which is characterized by a dualistic hierarchy between “form” and “matter”. The same dualism and hierarchy that distinguishes ousia, can be mapped onto the Greek distinction between the human and barbarian. Chinese metaphysics is not consistent with the Greek idea that reality is constituted by unchanging forms that are self-identical and keep within their own boundaries. Relatedly, the idea that there is a static hierarchy among the myriad things of the world is also foreign to Chinese metaphysics. Instead, the Chinese metaphysical tradition assumes that nothing will stay the same forever as all “things” are a function of how they relate to an ever-changing environment. One important consequence of this view is that the human and non-human distinction is much more dynamic. Related to this dynamic view of self is the (Confucian) view that the human being only becomes authentically human through their acculturation. This acculturation is the process of a person’s growth through public symbolic media such as li (礼), yue (乐) and wen (文). This process of growth shapes the person into an other-regarding social being (ren 仁). Importantly, no one is born a fully-realized human; human-ness is not an essence that is possessed but is always a result of the process of acculturation.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"154 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88219131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward a Harmonic Relationship between Humans and Nature","authors":"Gloria Luque-Moya","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.129-147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.129-147","url":null,"abstract":"We are living in an era in which the world is being turned into an object to be exploited and nature into a storehouse. From environmental pollution and deforestation to toxic waste and the depletion of resources, the Earth is in trouble and we need to act. To address this environmental crisis, I propose to recover early Confucian philosophy because it can be used to develop a more desirable way of interacting with the environment. Confucian philosophy conceives a kind of humanism that promotes a harmonious relationship between people and nature. Thus, this article attempts to describe a distinctive attitude towards nature and the role of humans that we can find in early Confucianism as a way of rethinking our current ecological concerns.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72629682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dissolution of the Self","authors":"Jana S. Rošker","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.47-67","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.47-67","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the connection between digital technology and privacy and intimacy in Europe and the Sinophone regions, with a particular focus on the changing role and constitution of human personhood. It argues that digital technology has fundamentally altered the ways in which individuals construct and maintain their personal boundaries, resulting in the erosion of traditional notions of the human self. Through an analysis of cultural and historical factors, the article demonstrates how this phenomenon manifests itself differently in Europe and mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively, highlighting the specific challenges and opportunities that arise in each context. The article also considers the cultural differences between the European and Chinese cultures regarding privacy and intimacy, and the ways in which digital technology has amplified these differences. It argues that while digital technology has created new opportunities for connection and intimacy, it has also exposed individuals to new risks and vulnerabilities, including the loss of privacy and the erosion of selfhood. \u0000Overall, the article aims to contribute to our understanding of the cultural and social implications of digital technology. It highlights the need for a more nuanced approach to the regulation of digital technology, one that takes into account cultural differences and the complex ways in which technology is reshaping our sense of self and our relationships with others.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81930900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Politics of Pure Experience","authors":"Richard Stone","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.177-202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.177-202","url":null,"abstract":"In this contribution, I shall attempt to clearly work out the political implications of Nishida Kitaro’s theory of pure experience in An Inquiry into the Good. This effort comes in response to the multitude of vastly different claims about the political meaning and dangers of Nishida’s early philosophy. Is it an implicit foundation for Japanese nationalism and the seeds of the controversial political philosophy he would work out later? Or is it a subtle attempt to critique the nationalist philosophy and educational policies surrounding Nishida while he was writing in the Meiji era? Or, perhaps most obviously, is this work unconnected with any and all political matters (including those that Nishida would face later on in his life)? In this paper, I shall argue that, although there is good reason to endorse any of these claims, ultimately a balanced assessment will find that Nishida’s early philosophy was indeed apolitical in nature, and that attempts to claim the contrary inevitably either go beyond textual evidence or miss key elements of his thought. Yet, as I shall further argue, being apolitical hardly means that Nishida’s work has no political consequences. Instead, for better or worse, the defining characteristic of Nishida’s early political philosophy is its capacity to allow readers to transcend such political issues.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76625197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Impact of China’s Biopolitical Approach to COVID-19 on Pets","authors":"T. W. Whyke, Joaquin Lopez Mugica, Sadia Jamil, Aiqing Wang","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.93-127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.93-127","url":null,"abstract":"Using the frameworks of biopower and uses and gratification theory, this article examines the treatment of pets in China during the COVID-19 outbreak and the role of social media in fulfilling users’ social needs by facilitating discussions on associated animal welfare issues and mobilizing animal advocates to take action. The analysis focuses on how social media comments on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, have influenced public discourse surrounding the biopolitical governance of animals emphasized by the zero-COVID policy, which has helped maintain a strong sense of national consciousness in post-socialist China. The study centres on an isolated case of the killing of a corgi by a health worker in Shanghai and how it was perceived on social media. The findings suggest that much of the animosity demonstrated on Weibo towards the killing is centred around biopower, or the biopolitical governance of humans and animals that has more broadly prioritized human life over animal welfare in China’s approach to COVID-19. In this way, social media has played a crucial role in mobilizing animal advocates to take a more prominent role in the emergency management of pets. The study concludes that China should consider adopting a standard operating procedure for pet care and rescue that includes pets in its humans-first disaster response and relief measures to develop a better and healthier national consciousness, fulfil the social needs of its citizens who value animal welfare, and strengthen its sense of national consciousness.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80450279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Humanism, Post-Humanism and Transhumanism in the Transcultural Context of Europe and Asia","authors":"Jana S. Rošker","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.7-14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.7-14","url":null,"abstract":"This issue of Asian Studies delves into the challenges inherent to humanity and the human condition. Over the course of centuries, these challenges have laid the groundwork for conceptual frameworks commonly referred to as humanism, which have undergone development within a multitude of cultural contexts. Numerous analyses and critiques of these frameworks can be found in many papers contained in this issue, especially regarding the dynamics between humans and non-humans. These discussions have arisen from various regions around the globe, often labeled as post-humanism and transhumanism, among others.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88209931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early Confucian “Human Supremacy” and Its Daoist Critique","authors":"Hans-Georg Moeller","doi":"10.4312/as.2023.11.3.71-92","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.3.71-92","url":null,"abstract":"The early Confucian texts Mengzi 孟子 and Xunzi 荀子 introduce strict distinctions between the human and non-human realms and formulate genealogies and theories of “human supremacy”. Starting from the claim that humans are superior to animals and other non-human beings, they draw the sociopolitical conclusion that the former ought to enact supremacy by dominating and domesticating the latter. Taking up non-humanist ideas formulated in the Laozi 老子, the Zhuangzi 莊子forcefully challenges those genealogies and theories. Numerous stories in the Zhuangzi express a Daoist anti-humanism seeking to subvert “humanist supremacy”, and, especially, its sociopolitical and moral practice. It is concluded that this specific Daoist anti-humanism is embedded in a wider project of promoting a state of human ease, and that its function is therapeutic rather than ideological.","PeriodicalId":46839,"journal":{"name":"Critical Asian Studies","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90603631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}