"Four civilizations" and the evolution of post-Mao Chinese socialist ideology

China Journal

Volumn , Issue 60, 2008, Pages 83-109

  Dynon, Nicholas ^a  

^a MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVILIZATION; POLITICAL HISTORY; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY; POST-COMMUNISM;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 50849130207     PISSN: 13249347     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/tcj.60.20647989     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. Within propaganda, the meaning of wenming is linked intrinsically with the CCP's civilization narrative. Although differing in many ways from the English "civilization" and "civility", wenming has similar definitional aspects. It is used to denote a civilization in the human grouping sense, such as in "Chinese civilization"; civilization as an historical process; and a kind of civility in terms of social etiquette and relations. Wang Gungwu, "The Chinese Urge to Civilize: Reflections on Change", in his The Chineseness of China (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1991), contains an account of pre-modern Chinese conceptions of civilization, as denoted by the term hua, and of the introduction of wenming into the Chinese lexicon.
2. Notable image collections of these are in Stefan Landsberger, Chinese Propaganda Posters: From Revolution to Modernization [1995] (Amsterdam and Singapore: Pepin Press, 1998), and the Transnational China Project, Rice University, http://www.ruf.rice.edu/ ~tnchina/ chingpolads.html accessed 8 July 2008.
3. "Two civilizations" is commonly expressed as "liangge wenming" and less commonly as "shuang wenming", "material civilization" as " wuzhi wenming" and "spiritual civilization" as "jingshen wenming" or "socialist spiritual civilization" (shehuizhuyi jingshen wenming). Spiritual civilization is sometimes rendered in translated official Chinese documents as "cultural and ethical progress".
4. "Balanced development" included achievement of the "five balances": balanced urban and rural development, balanced development among regions, balanced economic and social development, balanced development of humans and nature, and balance between domestic development and opening up.
5. Liangshou yiqi zhua.
6. Political civilization: zhengzhi wenming.
7. Social civilization: shehui wenming. "Socialist civilization theory" or "system" are commonly rendered as wenming lun and shehuizhuyi wenming tixi respectively.
8. Perspectives on CCP civilizing narratives can be found in Børge Bakken, The Exemplary Society: Human Improvement, Social Control, and the Dangers of Modernity in China (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000);
9. Ann Anagnost, "Constructing the Civilized Community", in Theodore Huters, R. Bin Wong and Pauline Yu (eds), Culture & State in Chinese History: Conventions, Accommodations and Critiques (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), p. 359;
10. Stig Thøgersen, "Parasites or Civilisers: The Legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party in Rural Areas", China: An International Journal Vol. 1, No. 2 (September 2003), pp. 200-23;
11. Sara Friedman, "Embodying Civility: Civilizing Processes and Symbolic Citizenship in Southeastern China", The Journal ofAsian Studies Vol. 63, No. 3 (August 2004), pp. 687-718.
12. Deng Xiaoping, "Zai Zhongguo wenxue yishu gongzuozhe disici daibiao dahuishangde zhusi" (Message delivered at the Fourth Chinese Literature and Arts Workers Representative Conference), 30 October 1979. Quoted in The Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (Deng Xiaoping Wenxuan) (hereafter DXPWX), Vol. 2 (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1993), p. 208.
13. Christopher R. Hughes in Chinese Nationalism in the Global Era (New York: Routledge, 2006)
14. and Xueliang Ding in The Decline of Communism in China (New York: Cambridge, 1994) both note that spiritual civilization had been raised one month previously by Marshall Ye Jianying on 29 September 1979 at a rally celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.
15. Christopher R. Hughes, Chinese Nationalism, p. 22. It is listed as a duty of the state in Article 4 of the constitution; its central values are defined in Article 24 as "love of the motherland, of the people, of labor, of science and of socialism".
16. Xueliang Ding, The Decline of Communism, pp. 126-32.
17. DXPWX, Vol. 3, p. 89.
18. The "Four Haves" are: ideals (lixiang), morality (daode), culture (wenhua) and discipline (jilü).
19. Børge Bakken, The Exemplary Society, p. 34.
20. Deng Xiaoping, "Jianshe shehuizhuyi wuzhi wenming he jingshen wenming" (Building Socialist Material Civilization and Spiritual Civilization), 29 April 1983, DXPWX, Vol. 3, p. 28.
21. Cited in Mao Zedong Deng Xiaoping Jiang Zemin lun shehuizhuyi daode Jianshe (Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin on the Building of Socialist Morality) (Beijing: CCP Central Propaganda Bureau, Study Publishing House, 2001), p. 20. From a speech given while hosting a delegation from the Indian Communist Party.
22. In the sense that zivilisation may be described as an aggressive process that even has the potential to destroy culture (kultur).
23. Culture fever: wenhua re.
24. In relation to modernization, see Fa Zhang, Yiwu Zhang and Yichuan Wang, "Cong xiandaixing dao zhonghuaxing" (From "Modernity" to "Chineseness") in Jiushi niandai sixiang wenxuan (Selected Works in Ideology of the 1990s) (Nanning: Guangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 2000), p. 234;
25. in relation to wenming see Ann Anagnost, "Constructing the Civilized Community".
26. "Børge Bakken, The Exemplary Society, p. 336.
27. "Other negative descriptions of China's state of public morality over this period included "spiritual slide" (jingshen huapo) and "moral decline" (daode lunsang).
28. Deng Xiaoping, "Banhao jingjitequ, zengjia duiwaikaifa chengshi" (Manage the Special Economic Zones, Increase the Number of Open Cities) (24 February 1984), DXPWX, Vol. 3, p. 52.
29. "DXPWX, Vol. 3. p. 154. Cited in Guoliang Zhao and Fengdong Zhang (eds), Xinbian sixiang zhengzhi gongzuo shouce (New Edition Ideological and Political Work Handbook), pp. 172-73.
30. This saying was referenced to the slogan of "grasping with two hands".
31. Shehuizhuyi jingshen wenming jianshe de lilun yu shixian (The Theory and Practice of Building Socialist Spiritual Civilization) (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, October 1996), p. 99.
32. Xueliang Ding, The Decline of Communism, p. 135.
33. Ibid.
34. The staging of Spiritual Civilization offensives by now followed a five-year cycle, as evident by the launching of offensives in 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006.
35. DXPWX, Vol. 3, pp. 378-79.
36. Or more generally, suzhi (quality).
37. Qu Tao, "Jingshen wenming weihui zuopai yunji" (Spiritual Civilization Committee a Gathering of Leftists), Zheng Ming (Contention) (Hong Kong: Pak Ka Publisher, November 1996), p. 26.
38. "Social Work: But Who's My Neighbor?", China News Analysis, No. 1546 (Taiwan: 1 November 1995), p. 4.
39. Guanyu jiaqiang shehuizhuyi jingshen wenming jianshe ruogan zhongyao wenti de jueyi (Resolutions Concerning a Certain Number of Important Questions Regarding the Strengthening of the Building of Socialist Spiritual Civilization).
40. Zhongguo nianjian 1996 (China Yearbook 1996) (Beijing: Zhongguo Nianjian She, 1996), P. 88.
41. Jiang Zemin, quoted in Renmin ribao (People's Daily, hereafter RMRB) (12 May 1995);
42. Willy Wo-Lap Lam, The Era of Jiang Zemin (Singapore: Prentice Hall, 1999), p. 53.
43. "China: Text of Chinese Communist Party Plenum Resolutions", Reuters News Service (16 October 1996), Xinhua News Agency Domestic Service (Beijing: 13 October 1996).
44. "China: Text of CCP Plenum Resolutions", Reuters News Service, 1996.
45. ibid.
46. Xiazhai He (ed.), Xuexiao jingshen wenming jianshe yinlun (A Guide to the Promotion of Spiritual Civilization in Schools) (Beijing: Zhongguo Jiancun Gongye Chubanshe, 1999), p. 158.
47. Samuel P. Huntington, "Clash of Civilizations?", Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (1993), pp. 22-49.
48. Wendong Luo, Xinshiqi zhiye daode duben (New Age Occupational Morality Reader) (Beijing: Zhongguo Fazhi Chubanshe, 1999), p. 1.
49. Qiang Song, Zangzang Zhang, Bian Qiao, Qingsheng Gu and Zhengyu Tang, Zhongguo keyi shuo bu: lengzhanhou shidai de zhengzhi yu qinggan jueze (China Can Say "No": Political and Emotional Choices in the post Cold-War Era) (Beijing: Zhonghua Gongshang Lianhe Chubanshe, 1996).
50. Jie He, Jianji Wang and Baoling Wang (eds), Wo xiangxin Zhongguo (I Believe in China) (Beijing: Zhongguo Chengshi Chubanshe, 1997), p. 184.
51. The Olympics itself has become an important theme for the promotion of civilization, as seen in calls to "stress civilization, welcome the OlympicsW: (jiang wenming, huan aoyun), echoed later in Shanghai in preparations for the hosting of the 2010 World Expo.
52. Article 24 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China states: "The state strengthens the building of a socialist society with an advanced culture and ideology by promoting education in high ideals, ethics, general knowledge, discipline and legality, and by promoting the formulation and observance of rules of conduct and common pledges by various sections of the people in urban and rural areas." From Constitution of the People's Republic of China (adopted at the 5th session of the 5th NPC and promulgated for implementation by the proclamation of the National People's Congress on 4 December 1982) (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1990), p. 2 1.
53. For example: Chengke wenming shouze (Regulations [relating to] Passenger Civility), Shoudu jingshen wenming bangongshi (Capital Spiritual Civilization Office), March 1996. Poster displayed in Beijing subway stations during the late 1990s.
54. Beying Bashi Gongsi (Beijing Bashi Company).
55. Manchuan Wang, Wenming de jiayuan (Civilized Homeland) (Nanchang: Jiangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1999), pp. 39-40.
56. Pál Nyíri, "The Yellow Man's Burden: Chinese Migrants on a Civilizing Mission", The China Journal, No. 56 (July 2006). p. 88.
57. Ann Anagnost, "The Corporeal Politics of Quality (Suzhi)", Public Culture, Vol. 16, No. 2 (2004), p. 195.
58. See also Tamara Jacka, Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration, and Social Change (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2006) for a treatment of wenming, wenhua, suzhi and rural migrant women.
59. "China: Text of Chinese Communist Party Plenum Resolutions", Reuters News Service (16 October 1996). Source: Xinhua News Agency Domestic Service (Beijing: 13 October 1996).
60. Qingan Li, "Jingshen wenming de shizhe" (The Messenger of Spiritual Civilisation), RMRB, 9 June 1998. http://202.99.23.241 /scripts/ cgi-mxs/download.exe, no longer available,
61. Yan Li, "Xuanwu 16 ge jumin xiaoqu shixian fengbi guanli" (16 Residential Districts in Xuanwu Achieve 'Closed' Management), Beijing wanbao (Beijing Evening News), No. 8849 (21 July 1996), p. 1.
62. Sara Friedman, "Embodying Civility", p. 703.
63. Andrew Kipnis, "Neoliberalism Reified: Suzhi Discourse and Tropes of Neoliberalism in the People's Republic of China", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Issue 13 (2007), p. 393.
64. See also Andrew Kipnis, " Suzhi: A Keyword Approach", The China Quarterly, No. 186 (2006), pp. 295-313.
65. Pál Nyíri, "The Yellow Man's Burden", also picks up on this, commenting: "superficial unity of terms, reluctance to make contradictions explicit ... and sometimes even an insistence on the shared goals of these different projects ... results in the i suzhi] discourse having wide currency" (p. 90).
66. Liu Yunshan became a Politburo member and head of the Publicity (Propaganda) Department of the CCP Central Committee in 2002.
67. Speech given at the inaugural meeting of the CCP Central Committee Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee, 26 May 1997, RMRB (27 May 1997), in Jianping Yao and Lijuan Yu, Jiang Zemin lun shehuizhuyi jingshen wenming jianshe (Jiang Zemin on the Promotion of Socialist Spiritual Civilization) (Beijing: Zhonggong Zhongyang Zhengce Yanjiushi [CCP Central Policy Research Office], Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe, 1999), p. 370.
68. Li Wang, "Quanguo jingshen wenming jianshe gongzuo huiyi qiangdiao jingshen wenming jianshede yao qiushen qiushi qiujing" (National Spiritual Civilization Meetings Stress that Promotion of Spiritual Civilization Must Seek Depth, Truth and Spirit), RMRB (18 January 1998).
69. China Spiritual Civilization Net is located at www.godpp.gov.cn, accessed 8 July 2008.
70. "Three Civilizations" is usually rendered as either sange wenming or sanda wenming.
71. A number of writers quote the "May 31 Speech" as Jiang's first reference to political civilization. Zhongquan Shi notes two mentions made by Jiang of political civilization during 2001. See Shi Zhongquan, "Sange daibiao" zhongyao sixiang xinlun (New Theory on the Important Ideology of the "Three Represents") (Guangzhou: Guangdong Renmin Chubanshe, 2004), pp. 340-41.
72. Xinhua Wang (Xinhua Net) (8 November 2002).
73. Article 18: "And the provision of 'and to promote the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization and spiritual civilization' shall be added right after the provision of 'to modernize industry, agriculture, national defense and science and technology step by step'."
74. Jiang Zemin wenxuan (Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, hereafter JZMWX), Vol. 3 (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 2006), p. 200.
75. Zhang Zuqian, "Beijing Calling", Nato Review (Autumn 2003), http:// www.nato.int/ docu/review/2003/issue3/english/ special.html, accessed 8 July 2008.
76. Jiang Zemin's Speech at the Meeting Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, Website of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2002), http:// www.china.org.cn/english/features/35725.htm, accessed 8 July 2008.
77. Stig Thøgersen, "Parasites or Civilisers", p. 204.
78. Robert Kuhn, The Man Who Changed China (New York: Crown, 2004), p. 561. An article written by Qiushi yuekan's (Seeking Truth) Deputy General Editor, Zhu Junfeng, in July 2003 links the three civilizations with the Three Represents, writing that the comprehensive development of each of the three civilizations was the answer to the questions of how to build the Party and how to build socialism in the 21st century - echoing statements made by Hu Jintao that same month. "Linghui 'Sange daibiao' jiuyao cujin sange wenming xietiao fazhan" (Understanding the "Three Represents" Requires Promoting the Coordinated Development of the Three Civilizations), Xinhua Net (21 July 2003).
79. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, The Man Who Changed China, p. 492.
80. Ji Liu (ed.), Shehuizhuyi gaigelun (Socialist Reform Theory) (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1997).
81. "Zhongzhi jiguan wenmingwei jueding kaizhan huodong chuangjian wenming jiguan dang hao renmin gongpu" (Central Organs Civilization Committee Resolves to Initiate "Establish Civilized Organs, Be Good Public Servants" Activities), RMRB (3 March 1998), http:/ /202.99.23.241/ scripts/cgi-mxs/dispdoc.exe, no longer available.
82. Ibid.
83. Sometimes referred to as "system civilization" (xitong wenming).
84. Qiming Miao, Jingshen wenming jianshede lilun yu fangfa (The Theory and Method of the Promotion of Spiritual Civilization) (Kunming: Yunnan Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1996)
85. Ibid., p. 72.
86. Zhiming Zhang, Quanmian xiaokang, zhidu wenming yu dangde jianshe (All-round Well-off [Society], Institutional Civilization and Party-building) (Guangzhou: Guangdong Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 2004), p. 113.
87. Ibid., p. 118-19. "Political ideological civilization" ( zhengzhi sixiang wenming); "political activity civilization" ( zhengzhi huodong wenming); political civilization is also referred to by Zhang in longhand as "political institutional civilization" ( zhengzhi zhidu wenming).
88. The election of Hu Jintao as CCP Secretary General and Wen Jiabao as Premier occurred during the First Plenum of the Sixteenth CCP Central Committee in November 2002.
89. Willy Wo-lap Lam, "Socialism with a Harmonious Face: Hu Jintao's Plan for Reform", China Brief, Vol. 4, No. 20 (Jamestown, 14 October 2004).
90. "Building Harmonious Society CPC's top task", Xinhua (20 February 2005). Speech delivered by Hu Jintao at the opening ceremony of a Party School of the CPC Central Committee training course in Beijing on 19 February 2005.
91. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan was submitted during the Fifth Plenum of the Sixteenth CCP Central Committee in October 2005.
92. Zonghao Bao, "Wenming Chengshi".
93. Hu Jintao, "Zai shengbu ji zhuyao lingdao ganbu ti gao jianshe shehui zhuyi he hexie shehui nengli zhuan jiuban shang de jianghua" (Speech at the Workshop on Spreading the Ability of Provincial Bureaux and Important Leaders in Raising the Promotion of Socialist Harmonious Society) (19 February 2005) from RMRB (27 June 2005), cited in Goujian shehuizhuyi hexie shehuide weida gangling (Great Guiding Principles of the Building of Socialist Harmonious Society) (Renmin Ribao Chubanshe), p. 36.
94. Zonghao Bao, "Wenming Chengshi".
95. Li Fuquan, in April 2004, for example, using Zeng Qinghong's Fourth Plenum words as a departure point, writes that "the building of socialist modernization is [therefore] the building of socialist material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization and social civilization". Fuquan Li, "Goujian shehuizhuyi hexie shehui jiushi jianshe shehui wenming" (Building Socialist Harmonious Society is the Building of Social Civilization) (12 April 2005), www.dxpll.com/downm/look.asp?id=1296&dj=2, accessed 8 July 2008.
96. Fuquan Li, "Goujian shehuizhuyi hexie shehui jiushi jianshe shehui wenming".
97. "'Gongmin daode yu shehui wenming' zuotan huigu: cong xianzai zuoqi tuijin gongmin daode janshe" ("Civic Morality and Social Civilization" Conference Review: Implementing the Promotion of Civic Morality Starts Now), Xinhua Net (19 September 2006).
98. Zhongjie Li, "Sanda wenming yu hexie shehui" (The Three Civilizations and Harmonious Society), Zhongguo wenming wang (China Spiritual Civilization Net) (14 December 2005).
99. Four civilizations: "sige wenming" or "si wenming", but not "sida wenming", which relates to the four ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China.
100. Sige wenming yiqi zhua. Ziyuan Yang, "Jia yige shengtai wenming ruhe" (How to Add an Ecological Civilization), Kan shijie (World View) (2003), http://worldview.dayoo.com/ gb /content/2003-12/01/ content_1341604.htm, accessed 9 July 2008. According to this article, in calling for the building of a well-off society, the Sixteenth CCP National Congress had in effect called for ecological civilization, as its goals had included "environmental improvement, promotion of harmony between humans and nature, and an ecologically favorable civilized development path".
101. Nongye wenming and zhiye wenming. For example, Zhenhai Ji (Head of the Hebei Province Environmental Protection Office), "Yao zai quan shehui dali changdao shengtai wenming" (Ecological Civilization Must be Initiated Energetically Across Society), Hebei Ribao (Hebei Daily) (21 April 2005).
102. "Huanbao zongju fujuzhang: shengtai wenming she shehui wenming tixi de jiben" (Deputy Head of Environmental Protection Bureau: Ecological Civilization is basis of Social Civilization System), Xinhua (18 September 2006).
103. Also referred to as "socialist social civilization" (shehuizhuyi shehui wenming).
104. Microsoft Word's Chinese input system auto-populates a pick-list of commonly used terms once a user inputs a character. Once "jingshen" is input, for example, "wenming" will be suggested as a common conjunction, as it will for "wuzhi".