Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Course syllabus: Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics (East Asian Studies 128)
Half course; Spring 2014; Tue and Thu 11:30-1, CGIS-Knafel K-108
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg (ohlberg@fas.harvard.edu)
Instructor Office: CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, S126
Instructor Office Hours: Monday 10-noon or by appointment
Course description:
Is China a “capitalist” country? How has Chinese ideology changed since the beginning of the Reform and
Opening policies in 1978? How should we interpret continued references to Marxism and Marxist
principles in politicians’ speeches, newspaper articles, and academic writing produced in China? What
exactly do Chinese politicians mean when they talk about the need for China to ensure its “ideological
security”? More than two decades after scholars declared the crisis of Marxism in China, the role of
ideology in Chinese politics is slowly making a comeback in more recent studies on China. The primary
focus of this course is on understanding the complex and extremely flexible ideological system in
contemporary China that is primarily constituted of “sinicized” Marxist dogmas, but has integrated and
continues to integrate Neoliberal, Neoauthoritarian, Confucian, nationalist and various other elements from
different schools of thought. After a basic introduction to the adaptation and modifications of Marxism in
China before 1978, we will look at topics such as the role of ideology in domestic and foreign policy
making before and after 1978, the policy of invigorating ideology through the integration of elements from
abroad and from the Chinese tradition, and the heightened importance of ideology for legitimizing the
Communist Party of China since ca. 2002. Aside from providing students with a solid basis of the history
of Chinese ideology and its current role, the course will also demonstrate the added value of understanding
this system by presenting ways to apply it to actual examples from current Chinese politics, including
exercises on how to understand individual slogans (tifa) and interpret speeches and documents. While this
is not a comparative course, it will include reflections on the relationship between ideology and politics
beyond the Chinese context.
Course aims and objectives:
-
To provide an overview of the role of ideology in Chinese politics over the course of the 20th
century and into the 21st century
To provide a very basic understanding of Chinese Marxism (core concepts and principles), how it
has developed in the last century, and which other ideologies it has contended with or integrated
To equip students with strategies to understand, interpret and contextualize primary source
material they might encounter in their studies and research
Although knowledge of Chinese history in the 20th century will be helpful it is not expected. Particularly
during the first half of the course, we will cover key moments in the history of the CPC that triggered
ideological debates or caused the Party to redefine itself. As such, this course also seeks to give students an
understanding of the political history of the Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China.
Course Policies and Expectations:
Course participation: Sessions take place twice per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and consist for the
most part of interactive lectures. Students may not miss more than two sessions unexcused. If you miss a
class for medical reasons, please provide a note from your doctor. Active participation is expected.
Course work: Students are expected to complete all written and other assignments on time (for details, see
“Assignments and Grading Procedures”).
1
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Plagiarism: Assignments submitted are expected to be the student’s own work. You are expected to
properly acknowledge when drawing on other people’s writings or thoughts. If you are uncertain whether
something constitutes plagiarism, please consult the section on Plagiarism in the Harvard Guide to Using
Sources (http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342054) or consult with
me.
Collaboration: For weekly assignments and the term paper, students are encouraged to consult with one
another, but must ensure that any assignment submitted for evaluation is the result of their own research
and reflects their own approach to the topic. On selected assignments (marked with an astérisque) students
may collaborate with their peers after consultation with the instructor.
Materials and Access:
Required texts will be made available (uploaded or linked to) on the course iSite under Course Materials
 Course documents  folders by date. Optional or background reading will be uploaded whenever
possible.
*** Additional optional reading not currently listed in this syllabus will be uploaded on the course iSite
during the semester. Should there be any change or addition to required readings, a notification will be
sent well in advance. ***
*** Texts marked background reading are intended for those who are unfamiliar with Chinese 20th- and
21st-century history and politics and wish to read up beyond what is covered in the lectures. These texts are
optional. ***
Assignments and Grading Procedures:
Readings are assigned for each session (ca. 50 pp. per session, i.e. 100 pp. per week), and students are
expected to have completed them before each class. Readings may include primary sources; all Chineselanguage material will be made available in English translation.
For each week (except for the first week, mid-term week, reading period, and examination period),
students will be offered a choice of assignments (including reading response papers, essay prompts,
producing a podcasts, designing a poster, etc.) of which students pick one to submit by Friday, 7 p.m.
Students have to hand in at least 5 of the weekly assignments. A list of assignments can be found on the
course iSite.
There will be a take-home mid-term exam, consisting of short essay questions, that will be handed out
Tuesday, March 11, at the end of class and will be due Thursday, March 13, at the beginning of class. For
the mid-term, collaboration is prohibited.
Instead of a final exam, students are asked to submit a term paper on a topic of their choice (length: 10-12
pp. double-spaced for undergraduates and 18-22 pp. for graduate students). Students are encouraged
to discuss potential topics with me early and will have to submit the title and an abstract for their paper by
April 22. The paper itself will be due on Thursday, May 8. For the term paper, undergraduates are
encouraged and graduate students are required to use primary sources.
10% Active participation in class
30% Weekly assignments
20% Mid-term exam (take-home), due 3/13
40% Term paper, due 5/8
2
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Course Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction and course overview: What is ideology and why does it matter?
In the first week, we will look at how we can define ideology, how ideology might or might not affect decisions
taken in different contexts and will examine different examples to get an idea how a grasp of ideology in China
can help us to better understand the developments in Chinese politics, both past and present.
Tue (1/28): Introduction; brainstorming; expectations; Overview lecture: Ideology and Politics in 20 th century
China and today.
No Reading Assigments
Thu (1/30): What is ideology; what is the relationship between ideology and policy-making in different contexts?
Required Reading:
Terry Eagleton, “What is Ideology,” in id., Ideology: An Introduction (Verso: 1991), 1-31.
- Nick Knight, “Marx, Marxist Philosophy and the Construction of Orthodoxy,” chapter 2 in id., Marxist
Philosophy in China: From Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong (Springer, 2005), 13-28.
Optional Reading:
- Robert Porter, “Introducing the Critical Concept of Ideology,” in Ideology: Contemporary Social,
Political and Cultural Theory (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006), 1-17.
- Teun A. van Dijk, “Introduction,” “Ideas and Beliefs” and “Social Beliefs,” in id., Ideology: A
Multidisciplinary Approach (Sage, 1998), 1-14, 15-27 and 28-52.
**********
Week 2: The Introduction of Marxism into China; What is Marxism?; What is “Chinese” about “Chinese
Marxism”?
In the second week, we will cover some basic Marxist concepts adapted in China and study the routes through
which Marxism and Communism came to China. This is not a comprehensive introduction to Marxism in the
early 20th century, but rather seeks to explain what made Marxism appealing to different groups in China and
how it developed before the founding of the PRC.
Tue (2/4): Introducing Marxism to China: 1919-1949: What, why and how?
Required Reading:
- Sujian Guo, “Marxism-Leninism and Chinese Political Ideology,” chapter 7 in Chinese Politics and
Government: Power, Ideology, and Organization (Routledge, 2013), 91-108.
- Chenshan Tian, “Marxism in China: Initial Encounters,” chapter 2 in id., Chinese Dialectics: From Yijing to
Marxism (Lexington Books, 2005), 47-69.
Optional:
- Nick Knight, “Introduction,” in id., Marxist Philosophy in China: From Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong
(Springer, 2005), 1-12.
Dirlik, Arif, “National Development and Social Revolution,” chapter 3 in id., Marxism in the Chinese
Revolution (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), 45-71.
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapters 13-14.
Thu (2/6): What is “Mao Zedong(‘s) thought”?
3
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Required Reading:
- Nick Knight, “Mao Zedong and the ‘Sinification’ of Marxism,” chapter 7 in id., Rethinking Mao:
Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought (Lexington Books, 2007), 197-216.
- Dirlik, Arif, “Mao Zedong and ‘Chinese Marxism’”, chapter 4 in Marxism in the Chinese Revolution
(Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), 75-104.
Optional Reading:
- Nick Knight, “Perspectives on Marxism and Social Change in Mao Zedong’s Thought: A Study of Three
Documents, 1937-1940,” chapter 6 in id., Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought
(Lexington Books, 2007), 157-196.
- Nick Knight, “Mao Zedong and the New Philosophy,” chapter 9 in Marxist Philosophy in China: From
Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong, 1923-1945 (Springer, 2005), 149-169.
- Mao Zedong, “On Practice” (1937).
- Mao Zedong, “On Contradiction” (1937).
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapters 16-17.
**********
Week 3: Ideology in domestic and international politics during the Mao period
In week 3, we will explore concrete examples of ideological disputes and the ideological justification of selected
policies taken from the period of the Great Leap Forward, the first half of the 1960s, and the Cultural Revolution.
Tue (2/11): Ideology in Domestic Politics and Policy-Making
Required Reading:
- Tony Saich, “China’s Changing Road to Development: Political History, 1949-78,” chapter 2 in id.,
Governance and Politics of China (Palgrave Macmillan 2004, 2nd ed), 25-56.
- Nick Knight, “Mao Zedong on the Chinese Road to Socialism, 1949-1969,” chapter 8 in id., Rethinking
Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought (Lexington Books, 2007), 217-247.
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapters 19-21.
- Carl Linden, “Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union and the PRC: Utopia in Crisis,” chapter 2 in Franz
Michael et al., China and the Crisis of Marxism-Leninism (Westview, 1990), 6-23.
Thu (2/13): Ideology as a Factor in Foreign Policy
Required Reading:
- Greg O’Leary, “Introduction” in id., The Shaping of Chinese Foreign Policy (Taylor & Francis, 1980), 1116.
- Barbara Barnouin and Changgen Yu, “Perceptions, Ideology, and Decision-Making” in id., Chinese Foreign
Policy during the Cultural Revolution (Taylor & Francis, 1997), 42-65.
- Deng Xiaoping, “Speech By Chairman of the Delegation of the People’s Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping,
At the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly,” April 10, 1974, available online at
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/deng-xiaoping/1974/04/10.htm.
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapter 21.
**********
4
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Week 4: Ideology and Reform in the 1980s
In week 4, we will cover the ideological changes that accompanied economic reform in the 1980s and will
discuss the relationship between ideology and politics.
Tue (2/18): Reform and Opening
Required Reading:
- Kalpana Misra, “Timeline” and “Introduction” in id, From Post-Maoism to Post-Marxism (Routledge,
1998), vii-xvi and 1-18.
- Sujian Guo, “Ideological Modifications in Post-Mao China,” chapter 8 in Chinese Politics and Government:
Power, Ideology, and Organization (Routledge, 2013), 109-127.
- Deng Xiaoping, Build Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, June 30, 1984, available online:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/dengxp/vol3/text/c1220.html.
Optional:
- Kalpana Misra, “The Criterion of Truth,” chapter 1, and “Stages of Socialism,” chapter 3, in id., From PostMaoism to Post-Marxism (Routledge, 1998), 19-53 and 91-115.
- Feng Chen, “Theoretical Adjustments: The ‘Practice Criterion” and the ‘Criterion of Productive Forces’”
chapter 2 in id, Economic Transition and Political Legitimacy in Post-Mao China: Ideology and Reform
(State University of New York Press, 1995), 35-64.
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapters 22-24.
Thu (2/20): Guiding line or retroactive justification? The role of ideology in China’s economic (and military)
reforms in the Mao and post-Mao period
Required Reading:
- Feng Chen, “Introduction” in id, Economic Transition and Political Legitimacy in Post-Mao China:
Ideology and Reform (State University of New York Press, 1995), 1-22.
- Sujian Guo, “Market Socialism and Economic Transition in Post-Mao China,” chapter 16 in id, Chinese
Politics and Government: Power, Ideology, and Organization (Routledge, 2013), 250-275.
- Translated excerpts from People’s Daily and Theory Dynamics (Lilun dongtai).
Optional Reading:
- Chun Lin, “Chinese Socialism,” chapter 2 in id., The Transformation of Chinese Socialism (Duke
University Press, 2006), 60-131.
- Colonel Hong Baoxiu, “Deng Xiaoping’s Theory of War and Peace,” in Michael Pillsbury, ed.,
Chinese Views of Future Warfares (DIANNE Publishing, 1997), 21-22.
Background Reading:
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 1990), chapter 25.
**********
Week 5: The “Crisis of Ideology” in the Post-Mao Period
In week 5, we will examine what Western academics have called the “crisis of ideology” in China that followed
economic reforms and opening up.
Tue (2/25): Challenges to Marxism and Socialism
Required Reading:
- X. L. Ding, “Admission of the ‘Primary Stage of Socialism’ and the Counter-Elites Two Developmental
Models,” chapter 6 in id., The Decline of Communism in China: Legitimacy Crisis, 1977-1989 (Cambridge
University Press, 1994), 166-194.
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Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Optional:
- X. L. Ding, “The Counter-Elite and its Institutional Basis,” chapter 2 in id., The Decline of Communism in
China: Legitimacy Crisis, 1977-1989 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), 36-80.
Thu (2/27): Debates and Contending Ideological Frameworks in the 1980s
Required Reading:
- Richard Baum, “The Road to Tiananmen: Chinese Politics in the 1980s” in Roderick MacFarquhar, ed., The
Politics of China Sixty Years of The People’s Republic of China (Cambridge University Press, 2011, 3rd
ed).
- Shiping Hua, “Preface” and “Introduction” in id., Scientism and Humanism: Two Cultures in Post-Mao
China (1978-1989) (State University of New York Press, 1995) vii-ix and 1-7.
- Mark P. Petracca and Mong Xiong, “The Concept of Chinese Neo-Authoritarianism: An Exploration and
Democratic Critique,” Asian Survey 30, no. 11 (November 1990), 1099-117.
Optional:
- Shiping Hua, “Science, Scientism and Humanism,” chapter 1 in id., Scientism and Humanism: Two
Cultures in Post-Mao China (1978-1989) (State University of New York Press, 1995), 9-28.
**********
Week 6: Reinventing the party, reinventing ideology post-1989
In week 6, we will explore how the CPC reacted to the ideological and political crisis of the 1980s that
culminated in the 1989 Democracy Movement.
Tue (3/4): Reinventing the Party
Required Reading:
- David Shambaugh, “Introduction: The Chinese Communist Party after Communism,” chapter 1, and
“Rebuilding the Party: The Ideological Dimension,” chapter 6 in id., China’s Communist Party: Atrophy
and Adaptation (University of California Press, 2008), 1-10 and 103-127.
- Translated excerpts from journal Lilun dongtai (Theory Dynamics).
- Excerpts from Yu Keping 俞可平, Dangdai geguo zhengzhi tizhi – Zhongguo 当代各国政治体制—中国
[Current political systems of various countries: China] (Lanzhou: Lanzhou daxue chubanshe, 1998), 4-20.
Thu (3/6): Balancing economic reform with guarding against “peaceful evolution”; incorporating the new
global power balance into the CPC’s master narrative; towards “ideological security”
Required Reading:
- Russell Ong, “The Threat of Peaceful Evolution,” chapter 2 in id, China's Security Interests in the 21st
Century (Routledge, 2007), 22-33.
- Suisheng Zhao, “Beijing’s Perception of the International System and Foreign Policy Adjustment after the
Tiananmen Incident,” chapter 8 in id., ed., Chinese Foreign Policy: Pragmatism and Strategic Bahvior
(M.E. Sharpe, 2004), 140-150.
- Translation of Zhang Guocheng 张国成 and Liao Xianwang 廖先旺, “Geju, maodun, zhanlue – Zhongguo
guoji wenti yanjiu zhongxin tanlunhui ceji” 格局·矛盾·战略——中国国际问题研究中心讨论会侧记
[Pattern, contradiction, strategy: Sidelights from the seminar of the China Research Center for International
Studies], Renmin ribao, December 13, 1991, 7.
Background Reading:
- Andrew Nathan and Andrew Scobell, “Deciphering the US Threat,” chapter 4 in id., China’s Search
for Security (Columbia University Press, 2012), 89-113.
**********
6
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Week 7: So what?! Themes, Reflection, Debates
Tue (3/11): Mid-term (take home exam) handed out
Thu (3/13): Mid-term due
Reading for week 7: Re-read Sujian Guo, Chinese Politics and Government: Power, Ideology, and
Organization (Routledge, 2013), chaps. 7 and 8.
**********
Week 8: Spring Recess
**********
Week 9: The Role and Limits of Censorship and positive propaganda
In week 9, we will examine the changing roles of censorship and propaganda as tools for the CPC to ensure its
survival and buttress its own legitimacy. We will also discuss the role (and limits) of the propaganda apparatus
in creating, maintaining and disseminating official ideology.
Tue (3/25): Propaganda before and after 1989: What is the use of propaganda in contemporary China? How did
propaganda and the propaganda apparatus change in the 1990s and why?
Required Reading:
- Anne-Marie Brady, “Guiding Hand: The Role of the Propaganda System,” chapter 2 and “Regimenting the
Public Mind: The Methods of Control in the Propaganda System,” chapter 5 in id., Marketing Dictatorship:
Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), 9-33 and 95-124.
- Translated articles on Beijing’s News Reading (xinwen yueping) system and examples of “mistakes”
committed by news organizations.
Optional:
- Yongnian Zheng and Lye Liang Fook. “Re-making the Party’s Image: Challenges for the Propaganda
Department,” in China into the Hu-Wen Era: Policy Initiatives and Challenges, ed. John Wong and Hongyi
Lai (Singapore: World Scientific, 2006).
- David Bandurski and Lin Hui, “China’s Shadow Censor Commissars,” Far Eastern Economic Review 169,
no. 2 (March 2006), 28-30.
Thu (3/27): “Patriotic education” and the new emphasis on “national humiliation” in official Party narratives
Required Reading:
- Suisheng Zhao, “A state-led nationalism: The patriotic education campaign in post-Tiananmen China,”
Communist and Post-Communist Studies 31, no. 3 (September 1998), 287-302.
- Zheng Wang, “National Humiliation, History Education, and the Politics of Historical Memory: Patriotic
Education Campaign in China,” International Studies Quarterly 52, no. 4, 783-806.
- Translated excerpts on ideology and education from the manual Propaganda and Thought Work in the New
Period (2001).
**********
Week 10: The Role of Language and Slogans in Chinese Politics
In week 10, we will first look at a ubiquitous phenomenon in Chinese politics: slogans (tifa) and will then study
recent examples of important slogans and related political campaigns.
Tue (4/1): What is a slogan and what is it good for?
7
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
Required Reading:
- Michael Schoenhals, “Formalized Language as a Form of Power,” in id, Doing Things with Words in
Chinese Politics: Five Studies (Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of
California, 1992), 1-29.
- Qian Gang, “Watchwords: The Life of the Party,” China Media Project 2012, available online:
http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/09/10/26667/.
- Ji Fengyuan, “Linguistic Engineering in Hu Jintao’s China: The Case of the ‘Maintain Advancedness’
Campaign,” in Brady, ed., China’s Thought Management (Routledge, 2012), 90-103.
- Translated excerpts from the People’s Daily.
Thu (4/3): Case studies: The Three Represents, the Eight Honors and Eight Shames
Required Reading:
- Jia Hepeng, “The Three Represents Campaign: Reform the Party or Indoctrinate the Capitalists?” Cato
Journal 24, no. 3 (Fall 2004), 261-275.
- Chinese Posters Foundation, Stefan Landsberger and Marien van der Heijden, eds., “Jiang Zemin Theory,”
http://chineseposters.net/themes/jiangzemin-theory.php.
- Articles from the China Daily; translated articles from the People's Daily
Optional:
- Victor Chung-Hon Shih, “‘Nauseating’ Displays of Loyalty: Monitoring the Factional Bargain through
Ideological Campaigns in China,” The Journal of Politics 70, no. 4 (October 2008), 1177-1192.
**********
Week 11: The Chinese ideological system as an ‘omnivore’ integrating new ideas
The CPC's official ideology continues to change by absorbing new concepts, theories, etc. from a variety of
sources, including other countries and China's own past. In week 11, we will look at the underlying policy
behind this, namely the idea that China should actively (thought selectively) absorb knowledge from abroad and
integrate it into existing structures in China.
Tue (4/8): China’s Appropriation Policy and the Ideological Sector
Required Reading:
- David Shambaugh, “The Chinese Discourse on Communist Party-States,” chapter 4 and “The Chinese
Discourse on Noncommunist Party-States,” chapter 5 in id., China’s Communist Party: Atrophy and
Adaptation (University of California Press, 2008), 41-86 and 87-102.
- Translated articles from Reference Material [Cankao ziliao] used to justify China’s policy of absorbing and
adapting things from abroad in the late 1970s: “Happily absorb the good things from abroad – Introducing
one of Lenin’s expositions recently translated into Chinese for the first time” and “A part of Chairman
Mao’s exposition on learning from foreigners advanced experience and science and technology.”
Thu (4/10): Case study: Transnational Connections in the Conceptualization of China’s Rise
Required Reading:
- Hongyi Lai, “Introduction: The Soft Power Concept and a Rising China,” in id. and Yiyi Lu, eds., China’s
Soft Power and International Relations (Routledge, 2012), 1-20.
- Gotelind Mueller, “Foreign models for the public: the TV documentary Daguo jueqi (The Rise of the Great
Powers),” chapter 3 in Documentary, World History, and National Power in the PRC: Global Rise in
Chinese Eyes (Routledge, 2013).
- State Council Information Office, China’s Peaceful Development Road (2005).
- Articles from China International Studies.
8
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
**********
Week 12: Cultural Security and the Revival of Confucianism
In week 12, we will address the CPC's concern about protecting and promoting Chinese culture in an attempt to
build a “harmonious society” and to “arm” China against foreign cultural imports. In addition, we will discuss
one of the main consequences of this new concern with culture, namely the revival of Confucianism and its
integration into official Party discourse.
Tue (4/15): What is “cultural security”? Where does the idea of “cultural security” come from?
Required Reading:
- Qin Zhiyong, “Cultural Construction of a Harmonious Society,” in Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, eds.,
China in Search of a Harmonious Society (Lexington, 2008), 61-74.
- Fei Jiang and Kuo Huang, “Transnational Media Corporations and National Culture as a Security Concern
in China,” inVida Bajc, ed., Security and Everyday Life (Routledge, 2009), 212-235.
- Edward Wong, “China’s President Lashes Out at Western Culture,” New York Times, January 3, 2012.
- Translated articles from the People's Daily.
Thu (4/17): Integrating Confucian values into the ideological system
Required Reading:
- Sebastien Billioud, “Confucianism, ‘Cultural Tradition’ and Official Discourses in China at the Start of the
New Century,” China Perspectives, no. 3, 2007, 50-65.
- Daniel Bell, “From Communism to Confucianism: Changing Discourses on China’s Political Future,” in id.,
China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society (Princeton University Press,
2008), 3-18.
- Anne-Marie Brady, “State Confucianism, Chineseness, and Tradition in CCP Propaganda,” chapter 3 in
Brady, ed., China’s Thought Management (Routledge, 2012), 57-75.
Optional Reading:
- Adrian Chan, “The Thermidorian Reaction: A Crisis of Legitimacy,” chapter 9 in id., Chinese Marxism
(Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003), 173-209.
**********
Week 13: “Ideological security”, “discursive power”, “core values” and the CPC’s search for legitimacy
In week 13, we will look at the CPC’s active attempts since 2004 to boost its legitimacy not only through
economic performance and appealing to nationalism but also through innovations in the field of ideology.
Tue (4/22): The Role of Ideology and Creating Legitimacy for the CPC, Term paper title and abstract due
Required Reading:
- Heike Holbig and Bruce Gilley, “Reclaiming Legitimacy in China,” Politics and Policy 38, no. 3 (2010),
395-422.
- Heike Holbig, “Ideological Reform and Political Legitimacy in China: Challenges in the Post-Jiang Era,” in
Heberer and Schubert, eds., Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China (Routledge, 2008), 14-34.
- Ren Jiantao, “Ideology: Its Role in Reform and Opening,” chapter 10 in Joseph Fewsmith, ed., China Today,
China Tomorrow: Domestic Politics, Economy, and Society (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 181-190.
Thu (4/24): Creating a “Discourse System with Chinese Characteristics”
Required Reading:
9
Syllabus: EASTD 128 Ideology in Contemporary Chinese Politics
Instructor: Mareike Ohlberg
Time and location: Tue and Thu, 11:30-1, CGIS Knafel K-108
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-
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Translation of Yao Huan 姚桓. “Goujian zhizhengdang lilun xin de huayu tixi” 构建执政党理论新的话语
体系 [Constructing a discourse system with new theory for the ruling party], People's Daily Online,
September 28, 2012, http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2012/0928/c49150-19143965.html.
Translation of Du Feijin 杜飞进, “Jiji goujian Zhongguo tese huayu tixi” 积极构建中国特色话语体系
[Proactively build a discourse system with Chinese characteristics], originally published in the Guangming
ribao, republished online October 30, 2012, http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2012/1030/c4053119430985.html.
“Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere” [Document no. 9]. April 22, 2013. Translated
by ChinaFile; translation published November 8, 2013. http://www.chinafile.com/document-9-chinafiletranslation.
**********
Week 14: Revision and Discussion
Tue (4/29): So what?! Themes, Reflections, Debates
Thu (5/1): Presentation of term papers in class
**********
Week 15: Reading Period
Tue (5/6): Presentation of term papers in class
Thu (5/8): Presentation of term papers in class, Term paper due
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Week 16: Examination Period
Tue (5/13): No class
Thu (5/15): No class
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