Search

In 2016, the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump's electoral victory once again brought xenophobic nationalism into the world spotlight. Surprisingly, in the United Kingdom and the United States, a dramatic increase in wealth inequality impelled the working poor to cling more tightly to nationalism. In recent times, China has also witnessed this correlation of resurgent nationalist aspirations and an increasing gap between rich and poor. In light of these international developments, the primary objective of this study is to explore how China's increasing inequality is influencing Chinese nationalism. The question of whether the Chinese youth who agonize over the trend of wealth inequality has paradoxically grown more attached to Chinese nationalism is also intriguing. Based on structural equation modeling, the estimated results show that, conversely, the increase in economic inequality in China has led to a decline in Chinese nationalism. In particular, disaffected Chinese youth with higher education who suffer from increasing economic disparity have been reluctant to embrace nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular nationalism remains strong in China. What drives this strong nationalistic sentiment? This is the key question this study attempts to answer. The authors are particularly interested in the connection between domestic politics and outward nationalist feelings among Chinese urban residents, specifically the relationship between democratic orientation and regime support on the one hand and nationalist feelings on the other. Descriptive findings from random survey data on Chinese urban residents in 34 Chinese cities reveal that democracy-oriented Chinese urbanites tend to show stronger nationalistic feelings. A large volume of literature on the relationship between democratic value and nationalistic sentiments, however, generally suggests that people with more liberal democratic values tend to be less nationalistic. How should one, then, reconcile and explain this seemingly contradictory relationship in China? Upon further research, the study finds that system support is a confounding factor affecting Chinese urban residents' nationalistic sentiments. People with more nationalistic feelings tend to be those who show less support for the current system in China. Popular political discontent with the Chinese domestic system may very well have a spill-over effect on Chinese people's nationalist feelings toward the outside world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationalist discourse has long been an important apparatus in modern politics. This paper showed a sharp, yet subtle departure of the Chinese government in its current manipulation of nationalism. Instead of the hardcore revolutionary rhetoric, the new phase of nationalist discourse incorporated many elements of Confucianism to better consolidate the communist regime. Using the 2015 military parade as an example, this paper analyzed how the Chinese central government evoked sentiments and consciousness of nationalism by utilizing and interweaving Confucianism elements of family value, benevolent (Ren), propriety (Li), equilibrium, and harmony into the party-state's official nationalist discourse. Significance of such organized endeavors in political discourse is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It appears that nationalism has been on the rise in China in recent years, particularly among online communities. Scholars agree that the Chinese government is facing pressure from online nationalistic and pro-democracy forces; however, it is believed that of the two, nationalistic views are the more dominant. Online nationalism is believed to have pushed the Chinese government to be more aggressive in diplomacy. This study challenges this conventional wisdom by finding that online political discourse is not dominated by nationalistic views, but rather by anti-regime sentiments. Even when there is an outpouring of nationalist sentiment, it may be accompanied by pro-democracy views that criticize the government. By analysing more than 6,000 tweets from 146 Chinese opinion leaders on Weibo, and by decomposing nationalistic discussion by specific topic, this study shows that rather than being monolithically xenophobic, nationalists may have differing sets of views regarding China's supposed rivals. Rather than being supportive of the regime, nationalists may incorporate liberal values to challenge the government. Nonetheless, this liberal dominance appears to provoke a backlash of nationalism among certain groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broadening of liberal economic policies will trigger the democratization of China. This argument repeated in studies finds their expectations thwarted daily by news of the intensification of the power of the Communist Party of China over the society. The paper analyzes the determination of the national identity based on national humiliation as a strategy to disseminate the legitimacy of the Chinese political elite from a perception of nationalism as essential for maintaining the stability of the regime. It studies the formation of national identity, the constitution of groups within the political elite of China, and the elaboration of the Comprehensive National Power concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law, Hong Kong was to exercise a high degree of autonomy under the framework of “one country, two systems” after the British handover of its sovereignty to China in 1997. In the initial post-handover period, Beijing adopted a policy of nonintervention in Hong Kong, but the outbreak of the July 1, 2003 protest triggered a subsequent change of policy. Since then, Beijing has embarked on state-building nationalism, adopting incorporation strategies so as to subject Hong Kong to greater central control over the political, economic, and ideological arenas. Ironically, instead of successfully assimilating Hongkongese into one Chinese nation, Beijing’s incorporation strategies are leading to a rise of peripheral nationalism in the city-state and waves of counter-mobilization. This article analyzes mainland–Hong Kong relations on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the handover and offers insights from an emerging case study that builds upon the nationalism literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many studies have investigated Taiwanese people’s attitudes towards cross-Strait relations, few studies explore how Chinese people on the other side of the Taiwan Strait perceive the Taiwan issue. Using data collected via a telephone survey that covers 2,000 respondents from ten major cities in China in 2013, this article presents empirical evidence to fill this gap. It finds that most Chinese citizens’ attitudes are aligned with the government’s propaganda on cross-Strait relations. In particular, Chinese citizens have inaccurate perceptions of Taiwanese support for reunification with China. This article also finds that when Chinese respondents think that the city in which they live is more economically advanced than Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, they would support: (1) a faster pace towards a resolution, and (2) the use of military force to resolve cross-Strait confrontations. These findings offer new perspectives on studies of cross-Strait relations and Chinese nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In October 2014, the Chinese Communist Party committed to the establishment of a “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.” Since then a group of Chinese political elites that we refer to as new legalists has been calling for ethnic conflict to be managed in accordance with the rule of law. This article finds that the deeply embedded and highly politicized problem of ethnic conflict in China lends credence to the legalist position that new law-based approaches are needed, although a number of practical problems arise when attempting to strengthen the rule of law. There are for instance powerful factions in the country supporting the continuation of repressive policies or selective ethnic preferentialism, and there are relatively low levels of legal awareness in ethnic-minority communities and general inadequacies in the Chinese legal system. We argue that an elite group of new legalists in China is attempting to reshape ethnic-minority policy in order to break free from the everyday protean politics of ethnic relations that is based largely on a negative cycle of violent confrontation and financial compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the context of literature on Chinese nationalism. It highlights the arguments between the identification of the English-language literature such as the foreign policy for Chinese nationalism and the threat of erroneous Chinese nationalism. It also stresses the political identity of the literature on Chinese nationalism.

Why has China's foreign policy become more assertive since 2009, and what is driving Beijing's foreign policy orientations? Given the significance of China's rise over the past few decades, it is surprising that this question has not been subjected to systematic analysis as well as general investigation within scholarly research. This article serves to examine the sources of China's assertiveness using a system-level, unit-level and individual-level analysis. This article first looks at system-level explanations such as state power, external threats and national interests, and then considers unit-level factors including bureaucratic competition, struggles of the elite and the surge of nationalism. However, both system-level and unit-level explanations alone fail to account for China's more assertive foreign policy. This suggests that individual factors play a major role in explaining the country's more assertive external behaviour. This is especially the case when the perceptions of the political elite are deeply embedded in the state leader's preferences. This finding can enhance our understanding of why traditional explanations, that do not incorporate the role of the state leader, may fail to predict Chinese foreign policy behaviour. To understand better the implications of China's rise, therefore, we must take into account the role of the state leadership and its impact on China's growing influence in international politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work argues that writer Emmanuel John Hevi's works, written half a century ago about China's likely influence in Africa are still relevant today. Using relevant qualitative data and a constructivist analysis this paper argues that although Hevi was wary of China's influence because of the specific context in which he was writing, Africa would do well to keep his argument in mind and adopt from China only that which can aid the continent's development and spurn that which cannot. Constructivism has been used here to help explain the intersection of Chinese and African identities and interests as the main unifying factor in a growing China-Africa relationship. Hence, it is suggested that the West does not share such depth of identities and interests with China which has hugely influenced Western suspicions of China's growth and incursions in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After more than three decades of stupendous growth, China is in the process of making the painful transition to a lower growth path. As it does so, the ruling CPC is increasingly turning to nationalism to provide legitimacy in the eyes of its own people. China now openly seeks to ‘display its prowess’ and ‘assume its responsibilities’ in the world. However, it still lacks the capability to impose a political or security order of its own in its immediate neighbourhood. There is, therefore, likely to be a period of instability in the Asia–Pacific region, and the environment in which India pursues its interests will get more complex. China and India today have a relationship with elements of both cooperation and competition. While both countries have a common interest in improving on the existing security and economic order, they compete in the periphery they share. A danger present in present-day India–China relations comes from the mutual gap between perception and reality. Nevertheless, this article argues that this is a moment of opportunity for India–China relations, and that each country could benefit its core interests by working with the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines social memory of the Cultural Revolution as well as contemporary state nationalism within China by rhetorically analyzing Chinese media coverage of the 50th anniversary of the ballet The Red Detachment of Women, or RDW. I argue journalists characterized the ballet as a metaphor for the CCP. By privileging nostalgia and praising the ballet as a distinctly Chinese achievement, media outlets depicted RDW as a cultural achievement and attributed it to the CCP. Emphasizing nostalgic views of the Party and claiming RDW transcended the politics of the Cultural Revolution through its artistic innovation, news coverage purified the ballet's social memory and distanced the CCP from this devastating time period. Although media coverage distilled social memory of the Cultural Revolution into an innocuous form, I contend that such nostalgic remembrances obscure troubling parallels between the nationalism propagated during the Cultural Revolution and contemporary state nationalism in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coinciding with the rise of Chinese economy, China's foreign policy has become more assertive than ever. As part of the 'Chinese Dream' promise, her new projects, the 'New Maritime Silk Road' and the 'New Silk Road,' have created a new chapter of China's relations with her neighboring countries as well as the international communities. However, China's hidden agenda of the two new projects, her challenges of achieving her goals, and how the international communities respond to the increasingly assertive Chinese foreign policy are yet to be discussed extensively among research on international relations. This introduction seeks to outline a wide spectrum of theoretical framework that is applicable to the subject and to highlight the importance of understanding the context of China's strategic shifts in Xi Jinping's era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the main characteristics of online nationalism among the Generation Post-1980s when they become a visible force in the online nationalism formations of China. Topics discussed include the development of nationalist subculture in college-student online forums, nationalism as a recurrent theme in Chinese online politics, and the blurred boundaries between overseas students and commercial portals.

The article focuses on the politics of China in the early twentieth century when there was enough threat from foreign powers in the of imperialism with the Chinese intellectuals opting for interaction of cultures with theories of nationalism, Marxism, and cosmopolitanism.

This paper aims to provide a new perspective on the relationship between Nationalist Party (GMD) cadres and Chinese intellectuals. By studying the Central Politics School, a major GMD political training institute for professional party cadres, I hope to reassess the nature of the GMD one-party state and remind researchers of the difficult choices it faced between backing party-liners needed for the political struggle and accommodating depoliticized intellectuals needed for public administration. This paper will argue that GMD political impotence in competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was due less to an inadequate recruitment of capable experts than to the over-specialization of its well-trained cadres on technical tasks. In fact, the cadres from the Central Politics School generally resembled those considered to be ‘intellectuals’ at educational level and in ideology. This compels us to reconsider how to define ‘intellectuals’ and whether they were as uniformly alienated from the one-party state as most of the scholarly literature suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China's counterinsurgency strategy in Tibet and Xinjiang relies heavily on hard power and imposition. Well-functioning vertical coordination in the security sector of China's political system and assimilationist nationality dynamics combine to favour the use of force against ethnic groups that do not accept the political legitimacy of China's Communist Party. Transnational links contribute to China's difficulties with implementing counterinsurgency in Tibet and help China implement its strategy in Xinjiang. Development strategies aimed at improving living standards are crowded out due to a lack of horizontal coordination between civilian and security agencies and a bias towards unitary nation-building in Chinese nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of a Chinese popularity function may seem surprising, given its authoritarian nature. However, exploring the possibility of indirect popularity functions in nondemocratic systems, we articulate a model of national government support in China. The model argues that sociodemographics, political attitudes, and performance issues mold central government satisfaction. Drawing on a countrywide 2008 public opinion survey, we conclude that regional differences, national trust, and local policy success are of special importance in shaping national government support. The findings, which exhibit theoretical and statistical appeal, lay the groundwork for further investigation of popularity functions in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores how the government of mainland China values Chinese nationalism as a component of its historical memory and traces its relationship with music education from the twentieth century to the global age within broader social contexts. In a rapidly commercializing and modernizing China, nationalism remains the main driving force shaping Chinese music education, while historical nationalism and familial relationship have been reinforced by the current regime's educational socialization. Love for country and family and an emphasis on nationalism and Confucianism are the pragmatic tools employed by Chinese authorities to maintain their primacy in and power over education, particularly song teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses revolutions in China throughout the 20th century, including the 1911 Revolution and the Communist Revolution of 1949. An overview of the role that intellectuals played in Chinese revolutions, including in regard to their confidence and optimism in pursuing progressive causes, is provided. The role that nationalism played in 20th century Chinese revolutions is discussed.

Displaying amiability (qinheli) was one of the duties of the Chinese athletes involved in the London 2012 Olympics. Why did the Chinese government ask them to behave in this way? How did the athletes carry out the mandate? Was their amiable performance intended to arouse nationalist sentiment among the Chinese? In response to these questions, two key political preoccupations of the Chinese authorities in the post-London Olympics era are identified: remedying foreigners' negative impressions of China, and gaining a greater input into the decision-making of the International Olympic Committee and its affiliated international sports federations. These objectives are shown to illustrate China's intention to rebuild its international reputation and challenge the status quo of the international sporting community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of stability preservation to dominance in the political order coincided with a highly charged debate over "universal values" and a closely related discussion of a "China Model". This paper analyses the critique of universal values as a "wedge issue" that is used to pre-empt criticism of the party-state by appealing to nationalism and cultural essentialism. Taking freedom as a case. in point of a universal value, it shows that, while, more developed in the West, freedom has an authentic Chinese history with key watersheds in the late Qing reception of popular sovereignty and the ending of the Maoist era. The work of Wang Ruoshui, Qin Hui and Xu Jim display some of the resources liberals now bring to "de-wedging" universal values, not' least freedom. They share a refusal to regard `Western" values as essentially hostile to Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern Chinese nationalism arose in the early twentieth century, and its intellectual sources included traditional Chinese nationalism and modern Western nationalism. Since its emergence in the early twentieth century, modern Chinese nationalism underwent three stages: formation, evolvement and climax. The relevant theory of modern Chinese nationalism underwent a similar process of construction. During the period of the late Qing and early Republic, the nationalist theory revolved around the issue of building what kind of nation–state: the revolutionaries represented by Sun Yat-sen advocated “excluding Manchu” and establishing a single-nation state of the Han; while the Constitutionalists represented by Liang Qichao called for “incorporating Manchu” and building a multi-nation state. After a series of heated debates, the two parties reached a consensus about establishing an independent, democratic and unified multinational country. During the May Fourth period, the theorization of nationalism focused on national self-determination and the interconnection between anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism, and between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, under the influence of the national independence movement after WWI and Lenin's theory of national self-determination. Early Chinese Marxists such as Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, as well as Chinese Nationalists such as Sun Yat-sen all contributed to it. After the Mukden Incident of 1931, the theorization of nationalism showed new changes with the stimulation of the pernicious national crisis. This was manifested in the idea of national revival which provoked intensive discussions among the intelligentsia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With regard to the direction of Chinese foreign policy, there coexist two opposing views--one that supports assertive great power diplomacy and one that supports prudent policy to aspire to be a great power, based on China's identity as a developing country. Currently the Chinese government supports the latter direction. What then will be the kind of foreign policy that the new administration of Xi Jinping will pursue, appearing at a time when the international order is changing with the rapid emergence of China as a world power? Will he pursue a foreign policy befitting China's new status in the global community? Or will he continue the existing policy without changing course? These questions can decisively influence the international order and East Asian peace. Thus, they are of keen interest not only to East Asian countries but also to the global community. This paper examines the direction of Chinese foreign policy based on opinion polls of the Chinese public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China’s claims of a foreign policy of ‘peaceful rise’/‘peaceful development’ and of seeking a ‘harmonious world’, and despite its economic openness and active participation in economic multilateralism, China’s neighbours continue to be concerned about the overall direction and intent of Beijing’s security policies. These concerns are particularly heightened by China’s rapid military modernization of the past couple of decades. The announcement in 2010 that China considered its territorial claims in the South China Sea a ‘core interest’, can be seen as a setback to its regional diplomacy, so diligently crafted over the years and drove its Southeast Asian neighbours to seek closer engagement with the US. This article argues that the contradictions evident in China’s neighbourhood foreign policy reflect its continuing search for a model of international relations that can balance its domestic interests such as the need for political stability, including regime stability, on the one hand and its external ambitions for a decisive role in regional affairs, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A complex phenomenon, nationalism has surged worldwide in recent years and presents a serious challenge to international marketers. This article examines the impact of Chinese grassroots nationalism on foreign brands on four fronts, that is, the political, cultural, economic, and consumer rights. It argues that the four fronts are interlinked and involve the participation of not only the consumer but also the government, the media, and local companies. Thus, the effects of nationalism on foreign brands are largely mediated by these agents and manifest the most in the arena of public policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the anti-French campaign triggered by the Laoxikai incident - a dispute in 1916-17 over lands bordering the French concession in Tianjin. The incident was a focal point for competing narratives of the nation, each drawing on traditions and inspirations that implied divergent futures for China. Constitutional monarchism, true monarchism, republicanism, and Christianity all played into the power struggles of the 1910s. This article also addresses the role of violent coercion in the incident, in which nationalism began to legitimate 'punishment' of Chinese who continued working with the French. The nationalists felt shame on behalf of their nation, and through public humiliation they forced Chinese who appeared indifferent to the nation to share in the national shame. This development accelerated a trend of nationalistic violence and the discourse of 'national humiliation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is changing the international order in East Asia. It is not only a matter of a power transition, but also a matter of a change in the international system. Chinese people tend to see the world order in hierarchical terms as they did for centuries; nationalism is used as a tool of national integration; and government control of the military is weakening. These are the factors behind the rise of China. If these trends continue, a hierarchical order with China as hegemon might be established in East Asia. It seems as if we are returning to the period before the nineteenth century when China led the world. However, the international order in the twenty-first century has to be based upon such principles as the rule of law, peaceful solution of conflict, democracy, and human rights. In order to establish such an order, Japan and other countries that have committed to those values should unite firmly. China also would benefit very much from that order in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the memory of the Nanzheng (Southern Expeditions) to the ethnic frontiers of China by Chinese ruler Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdom Period. Particular focus is given to how the folklore, oral history and legends of Zhuge Liang's expedition have evolved among southwestern Chinese ethnic groups by examining the interpretations of people living in Kangding, China, and the Yi and Han people. The author contrasts the nationalistic interpretation of the expedition by the Chinese government with the historical memory of ethnic groups in the country.

Is nationalism in China on the rise? Is it making China more combative in the international arena? More fundamentally: Is a focus on nationalism the most effective intellectual framework for understanding how those living within the People's Republic of China (PRC) are defining their position in contemporary world politics? This article briefly answers each of these questions. It argues that, despite forwarding some compelling insights, previous work on Chinese nationalism has been undermined by a number of major flaws. It then finds that such shortcomings are in no small part a product of the narrowing gaze that a focus on nationalism alone imposes on the study of identity politics. The article then advocates that in place of the nationalism rubric, a turn to the broader question of national identity formation is merited. Utilising this perspective, it concludes by cautioning that incipient splits within contemporary Chinese national identity may portend a more tumultuous relationship between China and the rest of the world in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reflects on the contributions of the five principal essayists in this volume of Modern China. It seeks to grasp the role and weight of historical and distinctively Chinese factors in relation to global forces operating in China since the early twentieth century in these macroscopic essays. Building on their contributions, I develop a "globalization paradigm" in which the embeddedness of nations in global discourses and practices are often misrecognized as national and domestic. But while many national practices represent globally familiar reactions to recognized global tendencies, several of these essays help us to identify often unarticulated historical tendencies and emergent practices, including those from the Chinese socialist experience. They suggest ways in which Chinese and global practices become intertwined, as for instance adaptations of the Qing imperial idea to the current day. These practices not only make China different from other nations, but also have the potential to make a difference in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the Chinese intellectual response to the US War on Terror, and how the battle between the Chinese liberals and nonliberals fitted into the above debate, the article focuses on two cases, 9-11 and the war in Iraq. Each will be divided into the expressive response (i.e., how the intellectuals reacted physically); the ideological response (i.e., how they interpreted the incidents in ideologically); and the strategic response (i.e., how they proposed the right strategies for the party-state to manage global affairs). After studying the cases, we should discover how the Chinese intellectuals used nationalist rhetoric to disguise their real disagreements, i.e., their views on domestic politics as well as to advance their own national importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the nationalism and democratization of China. The author investigates how Chinese liberals have attempted to overcome the obstructions to political democratization brought about by the powerful force of Chinese nationalism. He opines that the democratization effort in China was triggered by the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989, and became the discussion among politicians and academicians. He believes that these events have affected the political democratization and nationalism in China. On the other hand, he also mentioned that some citizens do not agree with the nationalism in China and that these sentiments were unknown to other nations.

This paper aims to provide a detailed explanation of how the promotion of different nationalist discourses in China entails distinct repercussions on both government and regime legitimacy, looking for the rationale of governmental appeal to both affirmative and assertive nationalism within the context of general legitimacy crisis suffered by communism in the last years. Through the analysis of case studies including the return of Hong Kong and Macao under Chinese sovereignty and the success of Beijing's bid for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, this paper regards the rise of affirmative nationalism as beneficial for the legitimacy of both the Jiang government and the CCP regime as a whole. However, the increasing relevance of assertive nationalism, discussed with reference to the Diaoyu dispute with Japan, and the diplomatic crisis with the US after the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and the unauthorised landing of a US surveillance plane on Hainan, has put a challenge on Jiang's government, since it has been effectively used by the leftist wing of the party for gaining more leverage within the CCP with regard to the reformists. At the same time, assertive nationalism has reinforced regime legitimacy, providing effective ammunition to criticise the liberals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of China, the importance of understanding Chinese nationalism increases. Assessing Chinese nationalism, many people claim that it has grown stronger and more intense in recent years. Some believe that this is the case because the Chinese Government deliberately promotes nationalism to serve its own purposes. This paper argues that the reality with Chinese nationalism is much more complicated than many assume. It has grown stronger in some respects but weaker in others. The role of the Chinese Government is at best mixed. In explaining the development of Chinese nationalism, one needs to look at external as well as internal and historical causes. Only by doing so can one gain a fuller and more balanced understanding of this intriguing phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wang Jingwei government has been reviled as the Chinese collaborationist regime par excellence, and one of the major indictments against it was its involvement with the alleged Japanese 'narcotisation policy'. The politics of collaboration, however, were complex, and are not fully captured by a one-dimensional portrayal of the leading collaborators as 'national traitors'. The Wang Jingwei government was, indeed, complicit in facilitating the Japanese-sponsored opium monopoly during its early years, although it played only a marginal role in running this monopoly. At the same time, as this article seeks to demonstrate, the regime did attempt to continue implementing the pre-war Nationalist government's opium suppression programme. Its motives were mixed: it wanted to bolster its legitimacy by portraying itself as the successor regime to the pre-war Nationalist government, and, also like that government, it sought to bolster its parlous finances by recourse to an opium tax. Political developments in Japan in 1943 enabled the Wang Jingwei government to gain control of the opium monopoly, and from 1944 until its demise it made a genuine attempt to implement a policy of opium suppression. This policy achieved some success. The government, however, never resolved the ambiguity between the political aims and the financial needs that drove its policy; nor did it effectively overcome the demoralisation produced by years of open trafficking; and it was never able to curb the Japanese military's narcotic operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationalism is still one of the most important currents in contemporary political thinking in China. It is mostly perceived in the West as ideological patriotism, anti-Westernism, and cultural traditionalism, the quest for a strong state and the uncompromising protection of China's national interests. Consequently, Chinese nationalism is said to be realist, undemocratic, xenophobic, and Sinocentric. This verdict disregards, however, a substantial current within the Chinese debate on nationalism that promotes a much more liberal brand of thinking. Liberal nationalism rejects political authoritarianism, anti-Westernism, and cultural essentialism, instead striving for a more democratic redefinition of the relationship between the state and the people. Supported by developments in the coastal provinces and especially in Taiwan, this type of thinking might gradually give ground to a new consensus on the disjuncture of state and nation, thereby bringing about not only federalism and more democratic reforms of the PRC's political system, but also recognition of Taiwan's political sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the history of modern botany and modern science in China. Overview of nationalism in China; Status of its science during the World War II; Relationship between science and politics during its cultural revolution.

Introduces the concept of face nationalism as an alternative approach to Chinese nationalism. Arguments on the division of China and policymakers by Thomas Metzger and Ramon Myers; Definition of face nationalism; Aspects of Chinese mianzi.

Will China's authoritarian leaders succeed in building a future by erasing the past? Can the ideology of “nationalist consumerism” obliterate memory altogether? Will the Olympic applause drown out the weak and exiled witnesses of the Tiananmen crackdown? In this section we listen to a key Tiananmen student leader two decades on as well as check in with today's young elites in Beijing. A political leader from the reformist regime in 1989 calls for justice from house arrest and a young Chinese novelist wonders what kind of identity is possible without memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on topics related to Pacific and Asian countries such as democratization in Indonesia, neo-nationalism in Japan, and Liberals in China.