From industrial movies to social media discourses: alternative social imaginaries of industry and technology in China

AbstractThe paper is concerned with how Chinese public and civil society understand the so-called socialism with Chinese characteristics, or Chinese-style modernization, in the era of post-globalization capitalism and in light of their social imaginaries of technology and industry. The authors discuss historically formed as well as newly arising social imaginaries of the importance and role of industry, science, and technology in China when formulating an alternative, non-western vision of modernization presented in public cultural forms such as movies, TV dramas, social media discussions or broadcasted public conversations. The emphasis is on the particularity of the Chinese approaches toward industry, technology, and social development, and how they are similar to or different from liberal philosophies of technology.Keywords: Technology and industrializationsocial imaginaries of industrypost global capitalismnew developmental visionspublic culture Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 This is an ancient Chinese fable that tells the story of an elderly man who is trying to move two large mountains in front of his door so that his family and friends can travel more easily. When questioned about the feasibility of such a project, he tells his children and grandchildren to continue the task after his death. This reflects the spirit of generations of Chinese people continuing to do one thing until it is finally completed. During the Chinese revolution, “the foolish old man who removed mountains (Yugong Yi Shan)” was transformed into a modern spirit. In particular, in 1945, Mao Zedong, as the Chairman of the CPC, made a report on “Yugong Moves Mountains” in “The Seventh National Congress of the CPC.” He said that the people of China are working hard to remove the two mountains of ‘imperialism” and “feudalism” like Yugong. Nowadays, the dictum continues to refer to the spirit of perseverance and persistence needed in completing difficult projects.2 Bridge, (1949); March Forward to New China, (1951); The Girl from Shanghai, (1958); New Biography of Veterans, (1959).3 Both refer to the level of social development of the Soviet Union that China looked up to as an aspirational model.4 Joseph Needham holds a similar argument in his Science and Civilization in China series (Needham, Citation1974).5 Here comes the full video! Ren Zhengfei talks to America’s technology experts about tough questions, and he responds smartly) https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV144411G7gF?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=4ee0aa0810d2a8da9460970c2a97de0b.6 On July 24, 1959, an international Expo was held in Moscow, and the US sent a national exhibition. The exhibition showcased the highly modern and automated leisure and entertainment equipment of the US, demonstrating the prosperity and development of the capitalist system. In front of the kitchen booth of an American-style villa, US vice president Nixon and Soviet leader Khrushchev engaged in a debate on eastern–western ideology and nuclear war, which involved the advantages and disadvantages of the US capitalist system and the Soviet socialist system; hence the term “kitchen debate.”7 Commencement Speech by Zhang Wenhong in Graduation Ceremony of New York University, Shanghai: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1MK4y1V7B2/?vd_source=4ee0aa0810d2a8da9460970c2a97de0b.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHuiyu ZhangZhang Huiyu is a research professor and doctoral supervisor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University. His research interests include film and visual culture, people, communication and cultural studies. He is the author of several articles and books, including Visual Modernity: The Emergence of the Subject in Twentieth-Century China, 2012; The Phantom of the Subject: Studies in Chinese Popular Culture, 2017; and Cultural Communication: Chinese Cinema in an Era of Transformations, 2022.Jing WuWu Jing is the professor of communication at the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University. Her research areas are critical media and cultural studies, social theories of communication and media technology, and visual culture. She has published articles on topics concerning critical studies of media, culture and society, and authored the book Visual Expressions of Cultural Modernity: Ways of Seeing and Communication (2012).