Search

This article reveals the trends and characteristics of popular protests in China, drawing evidence from a database the author built by collecting more than 12,000 news stories on China's mass protests from 2000 to 2019. The data present the ups and downs of China's social protests over the past two decades, showing that social protest in China has been diffused widely throughout different social groups and has covered a vast variety of issues across a wide geographical area. However, despite the trend of subsiding protests after the mid-2010s, the Chinese state has a lower capacity to channel popular protests into institutionalized forms as in the norm in democratic polities. Under Xi Jinping's rule in 2013-19, the regime has been relying on increasing surveillance and repression to squash protest activities. Police have also been more inclined to arrest protesters. This study concludes that the dynamics of social protests in China are contingent on its state-society relations and the state's capacity of channeling contentious politics into more institutionalized forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article looks at "Oppression and Overcoming: Social Movements in Post-War Taiwan" (2019.5.28–2020.5.17), an exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History (NTHM) through approaches of museum studies and social movement studies, and aims to understand its implication for doing Taiwan Studies. This review concludes that "Oppression and Overcoming" is significant as a novel museological practice by being part of a continuation of social movements, which transformed the museum to a space for civil participation and dialogue. This allows the exhibition to become a window for both citizens and foreigners to understand and realize Taiwan's vibrant democracy and civil society. In addition, this review suggests that future exhibitions on social movements could demonstrate the possibility to position Taiwan in a global context to better connect with other countries in the Asian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social movement researchers have investigated how personal relationships and emotional attachments are implicated in activism, but less attention has been given to the ways in which activism affects personal lives. This article addresses this issue, drawing on interviews and focus groups with Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement’s active participants, bystanders and opponents to explore its consequences for family life. While those who were not involved in the movement articulated an acceptance of hierarchical family structures and their imposed silences, movement activists saw their experience of the occupation as enabling them to find a voice within their families. The Umbrella Movement, we suggest, has opened up a space for the reflexive exploration of personal life and raised the possibility of modifying Hong Kong family practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying the perspectives of diaspora politics and transnational social movements, this article analyses the impact of the key factors conditioning the overall environment in which the overseas Chinese democracy movement (OCDM) has operated since the 1989 Tiananmen event in Beijing (where weeks of mass protest rallies by students, intellectuals, workers, and citizens led to a violent crackdown by the People’s Liberation Army on the demonstrators on 4 June). China’s phenomenal rise as a global power, its transformed relations with the West and diaspora communities, and its toughening control over political dissent inside and outside the country have created an increasingly arduous and complex mobilising terrain for the dissidents in exile. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s democratisation, political nativisation, and China-focused economic exchanges have minimised Taipei’s role as the mainland exiles’ traditional backer. Finally, the shifting norms, demographics, and practices of the overseas Chinese diasporas have further compounded these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent demands for democracy apropos of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong are the result of postcolonial determinations. We suggest that this is part of social discourses founded on narratives of cultural difference, portraying a distinctive Hong Kong's identity in contrast to Mainland China. Even though we recognise the influence of networked transnational movements in this movement, we establish that there is a postcolonial strategic essentialism guiding the demands for participatory democracy in Hong Kong. This article is organised in three sections. First, we present the Umbrella Revolution characteristics, organisation, and demands. In the second part, we introduce a theoretical analy-sis about the existence of a particular social imaginary emanated from the island's post-colonial condition. In the third section, we elaborate about collective actions in the light of the New Social Movements theory. Finally, we conclude by highlighting the insistence on including a postcolonial route as to enhance the understanding of this kind of mass mobilisations, since it allows the aggregation of local features toward comprehending the formation and development of social movements in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deploys Bob Jessop’s strategic-relational approach to ask two questions: First, how is China’s party-based power bloc seeking to renew its hegemony, as the symbolic power of ‘Dengism’ erodes in an age marked by class formation and increasing social tensions? Second, how are subaltern social movements seeking to influence the articulation of a new, less elitist hegemonic project? Based on original interview data, I compare two of China’s most famous organic intellectuals, both centrally placed in class-based counter-movements triggered by China’s marketization. Both advocate a non-dissident strategy of change within rather than against the party-state, but their visions differ greatly. Trade unionist and 1989 protest leader Han Dongfang favors a social democratic vision based on strengthening the collective bargaining power of the Chinese working class within the market economy. In contrast, the self-declared ‘petty bourgeois’ vision of agricultural economist Wen Tiejun advocates resisting marketization, reinvigorating traditional lifestyles, and enhancing the power of the peasantry through self-organization. I argue that both visions are in partial tension with the status quo: While Han’s ‘laborism’ is compatible with the power bloc’s plans for a post-exportist accumulation strategy centered on domestic consumption, its liberal democratic premise contradicts the dictatorial state project of the Communist Party of China. Conversely, Wen’s ‘peasantism’ is symbiotic with the Communist Party of China’s hope to renew its political-ideological mandate by revitalizing Chinese culture, yet its radical economic underpinnings (emphasizing de-commodification and de-urbanization) make it hard to square with the overall logic of capitalist reform and opening-up. The successful articulation of a populist counter-hegemony depends on the extent to which the gap between laborism and peasantism is overcome both organizationally and intellectually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the relationship between the Umbrella Revolution demand for full democracy in Hong Kong and the construction of a post-colonial social imaginary upon which the identity of the movement has been built. In addition to the discourse of self-determination, autonomy, and sovereignty, the authors contend that these manifestations have been determined by a post-colonial mimicry that acts as a discourse of resistance in the face of the Chinese government's political hegemony. They conclude that this is part of a continuum of Hong Kong social movements that adapts the colonial past and Chinese nationalism to the political and social structures of the global situation of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses why and how, in October 2013, the struggle for a free-to-air TV license by HKTV could turn into a social movement. It traces the historical makeup of neo-liberalization and monopolization in TV production: TV licensing as a (colonial) governmental measure on the media under the guise of a “laissez-faire” media policy, which has been reinvented as a grip on cultural rights to TV in post-handover Hong Kong. HKTV's “David vs Goliath” struggle against the decision demonstrated how political fear (of Beijing control over the Hong Kong government) among the people has fed into an anxiety over media monopoly. What might have caught the powers-to-be by surprise was the vociferous protest from the general public. My analysis situates the incident in the context of an array of travesties against media freedoms in recent years, which have enabled the audience (as citizens) to rise up and demand their cultural rights to creative and quality TV. I conclude by examining the agency of creativity, which, in this case, has been articulated to an agency of (decolonized) identity in the struggle for democracy in the present political cultural conjuncture of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the political crises of Hong Kong after the mass sit-in of the Occupy Central Movement. Lasted for 79 days, the mass-in of the Movement was organized to force the governments of China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to adopt a genuine democratic process for electing the chief executive of Hong Kong in year 2017. The end of the Occupy Central Movement mass sit-in did not solve the disagreements between the government and the supporters from the pan-democratic camp on the issue of democratization. Hong Kong is suffering a certain degree of political decay with declining political strength in consolidating a democratic model, maintaining legitimacy, running an effective government, cementing social cohesion, and preserving high degree of autonomy. Consequently, the political capability of Hong Kong government to govern is weakening and its political strength is deteriorating. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Revista Enfoques: Ciencia Política y Administración Pública is the property of Universidad Central de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Through an investigation of the 1947–1948 campaign of remolding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the government, which was driven by the revolutionary idea of “mass democracy,” in the CCP-controlled “old areas” in North China, this article reveals both intrinsic connections and profound contradictions between this self-directed revolutionary movement and the discursive practices of “class struggle” in land reform. It also sheds light on a significant consequence of the movement: the birth of “rule-by-virtue democracy” and its quasi-institutionalized mode of operation of “mass-involved party rectification.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on recent survey data, digital ethnography and comparative analysis, this article presents a critical re-appraisal of the interactive blogosphere in China and its effects on Chinese social and political life. Focused on the discursive and behaviorist trends of Chinese netizens rather than the ubiquitous information control/resistance paradigm, it argues that the Sinophone blogosphere is producing the same shallow infotainment, pernicious misinformation, and interest-based ghettos that it creates elsewhere in the world, and these more prosaic elements need to be considered alongside the Chinese internet's potential for creating new forms of civic activism and socio-political change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Science and democracy were two great banners carried by Chinese revolutionary thinkers during the May 4th Movement, but science was worshiped as a surrogate of religion, which made people at that time miss a true understanding of science. As Chen Duxiu was the staunchest advocate of science in the movement, it is very informative to explore his views on science and his descriptions of science with a religious passion in his writings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the views of veteran Chinese dissident Xu Wenli, who was arrested in 1979 during the Democracy Wall movement as an outspoken proponent of political freedoms, on democratic gradualism in China. Charges filed against Wenli in 1981; History of movement towards democracy in the country; Growth of the understanding of democracy in the country.

The aesthetic dimensions of the Nobel prize winning play "Taowang," by Gao Xingjian, relate to the controversy regarding the award. The death of Mao Zedong led to outside influences on Chinese literary developments. Gao's writings excited China's youth who had been brought up on politically correct guidelines.

The article reports that protest and struggle for democracy in China has become an object of international appropriation. It is interpreted for one purpose in Hong Kong, where a strident mix of fear and ambivalent insistence on Chinese identity are central. It is interpreted in much of the West as an object lesson on the evils of totalitarian government and more specifically, if insidiously, the virtues simply of being Western. Each scholar or journalist who writes on the movement participates in this struggle to appropriate it. This is not altogether avoidable, but it is crucial to recognize it. It is crucial also to realize that the movement of Spring 1989 was not monological, did not speak with one voice, did not express one set of interests and did not point in one direction. It represented a confluence of forces as well as persons, and the complexity of that representation is the reason that it can and must still be struggled over. Seeing the easy collapsing of the movement into settled categories is disconcerting for one who observed it first hand and joined in discussions with its protagonists as they struggled to create and define it. The Western media and the Chinese diaspora alike have objectified the movement--or created a simulacrum of it--in international discourse.

The article analyzes the state of political affairs in China in light of the ensuing struggle of the Communist Party Leadership in maintaining social and political stability in the country. It cites the suppression of student democracy in the country which reflected the death of the peaceful revolution and signified the onset of the inevitable political and economic reforms. Moreover, it traces the country's political history as a communist country and notes several events which preceded the June 3-4, 1989 massacre in Beijing. Furthermore, it attempts to draw a picture of China trudging into the future with a new form of leadership that seem to have lost its legitimacy and analyzes its implications on the country's national economy.

Presents an interview with an authority of the Coalition of Higher Educational Institutes of Shenzhen. Questions on the formation of Shenzhen Coalition of Higher Educational Institutes; Report that Shenzhen is far from Beijing and the political atmosphere is not very strong; Opinion that the Shenzhen coalition is not well organized; Comments on the ongoing "democracy movement" in China; Report that Shenzhen does not have a free media; Views on the political awareness in Shenzhen.

Presents an interview with an authority of the Coalition of Students' Self-Governing Councils of Wuhan. Views on the current situation of democracy movement in Wuhan; Report that Wuhan has the third largest student population in China and is placed second in the student-to-population ratio; Evaluation of media freedom, and democracy; Information that there are many student organizations in Wuhan colleges and universities; Note on student demonstrations carried out in Wuhan.

This article presents information on the students' patriotic democracy movement in China. Although the movement has been highly successful till now and has turned over an important, epochal leaf in the annals of Chinese history, one must admit that many signs that have appeared in the past few days in Tiananmen Square are bewildering and exasperating and, more importantly, disturbing. It is opined that democracy is demonstrated primarily by showing genuine respect for and attention to all rights, maintaining dignity, being responsible for one's own actions, and realizing the strength of every individual. As a human being, one should realize that human beings have the right to choose their own futures independently and to uphold their dignity. Human beings have the conscientiousness and courage to be responsible for all their actions. At the same time, human beings have the obligation to respect the rights and demands of other human beings. Only when one believes in these concepts and is guided by them can a movement be a democratic one and can the society born of this movement be a democratic society.

This article presents information on the patriotic democracy movement in China. It is informed that the movement was started by students and gradually developed into a nationwide effort. At the present time, the movement is not yet finished, nor have forces hostile to the movement given up their censure or attempted suppression. Meanwhile, the minimal demands of the people remain unsatisfied. Nevertheless, the movement has had great success because it expressed the people's aspirations, aroused their democratic and patriotic sentiments, and thwarted the danger of violent suppression. It gave dictatorship a political death sentence. It is opined that profound changes must be made to institute real democracy in China and that China's road to prosperity and strength will be long, tortuous, and costly. As a result of the movement, autocratic forces in China will never be able to regain their former power. With the success of democracy and political and economic reform, the ideal of socialism will truly radiate and a new human civilization will eventually emerge.

This article reports that China faces a cultural crisis today. Seventy years ago, the May 4 Movement for a new culture, starting out as an enlightenment movement for democracy and science, soon converged with the anti-imperialist and patriotic movement to save the nation and was replaced by that movement. Seventy years is but a flash of time in history. The Chinese nation has had enough pain and suffering. It is opined that China needs an extensive, far-reaching enlightenment movement. Present-day enlightenment must be integrated with political and economic change to modernize the country. It is no longer enlightenment in its elementary form and it is no longer limited to the intelligentsia; it should embrace the masses and all of society. China's destiny should be decided by the Chinese. China's future must be fought for and won by the Chinese.

This article reports that the great patriotic democracy movement that has swept Beijing and every part of China is the collective expression of the will of the people of the nation to revitalize China. However, at a meeting on May 19, 1990, Li Peng, Prime Minister of China, called the democracy movement a "turmoil." Based on this erroneous conclusion, Comrade Li Peng proclaimed martial law and dispatched troops to Beijing. After Li's speech was made public, protests raged throughout Beijing and other parts of China. The will of the people cannot be opposed. Facts have proven that Comrade Li Peng's talk on May 19 has brought about undesirable consequences and may place the party in an extremely dangerous situation. No communist party member can let events continue to deteriorate. It is informed that retraction of Comrade Li Peng's May 19 talk has been demanded along with quick restoration of normal order in Beijing. Immediate lift of the media blockade has also been demanded. It is further informed that any bloodshed of students and the masses resulting from suppression must not be allowed.

This article reports that the heroic student movements in China has finally converged into a great unstoppable flow. Democracy has once again become the cry of the times. Now is the chance for the Chinese nation to change its destiny. However, to a great extent, the movement has run on a disorderly, blind course. Strictly speaking, it does not conform entirely to the standards of a pro-democracy movement. The launch of the periodical titled Minzhu luntan is aimed at examining meticulously and analyze prudently a series of questions relating to democracy so that Chinese people can all become fully aware of what democracy entails.

This article reports that the Guangzhou Workers' Self- Governing Coalition is now proclaiming its founding. This coalition is a spontaneously formed organization of Guangzhou workers and accepts the supervision of and is accountable to residents of Guangzhou. It is opined that China has become beset by twists and turns. Bureaucracy rules the day. Politics and economics have become corrupt. The fate of the nation concerns the personal interests of every worker. Guangzhou workers are at the end of their patience. The Guangzhou Workers' Self-Governing Coalition urgently appeals to people of all circles to support and participate in the national patriotic democracy movement.