There is no doubt today that the nature of Chinese society is distinctly similar to the society under the Mao era and even under the Deng Xiaoping era. Many attribute this change to the reform and opening that had occurred in China under Deng Xiaoping. The emergence of the internet coupled with sociological shifts has created a China that is closely relatable to the U.S society. This paper will discuss how society has changed through various topics such as, migration, dating, media, youth and religion. In addition, what factors elicited these changes and why?
China’s Migration
As a result of economic development, China’s third wave migration of rich families migrating to the U.S and other western countries has increased. It seemed as if China’s most wealth were giving a vote of no confidence to China. The new rich’s departure to the west suggested that the social environment had worsened. Red capitalism refers to an individual who is not from a communist party-state official’s family, that individual must forge a special relationship with powerful officeholder in order to make his business operation viable. This chapter in Perry Link’s, “Restless China,” discusses the hotel business case and states that for a commercial value to have potential it has to be controlled by the public official. This would allow the public official to collude with the manager to abuse the public property, including the financial returns in order to maximize their own personal gain. Hotel industry is not as lucrative, however, coal mining is. China has the largest coal mining industry in the world, a significant portion of the richest people in China are owners or managers of coal mines. Law enforcement personnel’s involvement in unlawful moneymaking...
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...internet and other technologies, along with urbanization and the abandonment of the Danwei system have led to a youth culture that is more independent. These factors are also in conjunction with the reform and opening to western influences. Without these influences and innovations, it would be difficult for Chinese today to voice their grievances over environmental policy, corruption in the education system and other social issues such as the one-child policy. It remains to be seen in the future how the communist party will adhere to communist ideals, while at the same time allowing capitalism and democratic values to take over its society.
Works Cited
Lijun Yang & Yongnian Zheng (2012): Fen Qings (Angry Youth) in Contemporary
China, Journal of Contemporary China, 21:76, 637-653
Link, E. Perry. Restless China. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2013.
Have you ever wondered how life must have been for teenagers in China during the late 1960s? Most teenagers were inspired to fight in the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was a movement in 1966. Mao Zedong motivated millions of chinese youths to challenge authority in order to depart from socialism. To further control the actions and ideas of the people in China, a group of youths called the “Red Guards” followed Mao’s beliefs and humiliated non-believers. These adolescents joined the cause because they wanted to have a better economic status and have power over authorities. The Red Guards experienced what it is was like to be an elder by inflicting violence on others. In an attempt to advance China’s economic and political status in the world, Mao Zedong created a revolution to bring an end to the old customs, but in the process his Red Guard caused violence and created a generation of uneducated Chinese youths.
Throughout, 1900- 1950 there were a number of changes and continuities in China. From the fall of the dynasties to the rise of the Communist Party, these changes shaped China’s government and society. Although, many political changes were made multiple continuities were held constant such as, consistent rebellions and the lack of democracy.
Chinese-Americans authors Amy Tan and Gish Jen have both grappled with the idea of mixed identity in America. For them, a generational problem develops over time, and cultural displacement occurs as family lines expand. While this is not the problem in and of itself, indeed, it is natural for current culture to gain foothold over distant culture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in the active dismissal of Chinese mothers by their Chinese-American children.
and Political Culture in Modern China, eds. Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Perry, Elizabeth, Oxford: Westview Press, 1994.
It is clear that China’s one child policy has affected Chinese society in multiple ways. The policy has resulted in corruption in the Chinese government, an abuse of women’s rights, female feticide, and an imbalance in the gender ratio, and potential problems with China’s elderly and younger populations. The Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy in order to counter the effects of rapid population growth. The question to ask is if the benefits of population control really do outweigh the problems the policy has created in Chinese society. It will be interesting to see if the policy continues to affect Chinese culture in the future, and how the changes that have been recently made play out.
Li, K., & Mengyan, F. (2013). A historical survey on modernization of Chinese culture. Asian Social Science, 9(4), 129-132. doi:10.5539/ass.v9n4p129
(A newspaper article that reflects the Cultural Revolution to the modern Chinese politics and society and an opinionated source.)
China is a country that has traditionally had a clearly defined social hierarchy. The teachings of Confucius, the famous Chinese philosopher, embodied the Chinese social structure. He thought set roles and rank were vital for a society to function harmoniously. If an individual tried to deviate from their prescribed role, the country’s social order would be threatened. For centuries, China has had a citizenship comprised of 80% to 90% farmers, a small amount of specialized craftsmen, and a few elite families that controlled and drove society. Through the generations, the strictly defined roles of Confucius have died away, but his ideas of hierarchy are still ingrained in the Chinese way of thinking.
In 1966 a socio-political movement known as the Cultural Revolution swept across the People’s Republic of China and resulted in astounding changes whose effects are still being felt by the nation today. The Cultural Revolution changed nearly every aspect of traditional Chinese culture, politics, and psychology, and replaced it with Maoist ideology. To change the paradigm of a nation with deep historical roots, immense size, and a greatly distributed population, such as China, in a course of ten years is a feat most commendable. Responsible for this mind boggling change is, at the heart of it, a single man, Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was born in 1893 to humble beginnings in the countryside, the world itself oblivious to the future of this man (Spence). Mao’s rebellious nature came from events in his youth such as the destruction of the Quing dynasty, the political wars he played with his father, and the exposure to literature, especially that of Marx and Lenin (Clements).
Many Chinese social changes occurred during the Han dynasty. Nuclear families became more common due to the free peasantry that developed in China. However, joint families also remained common throughout the countryside. Women in China continued to be less dominant than men in society. They were expected to be selfless, humble, diligent, and courteous. Advanced cities increasingly developed along trade routes and rivers, despite many Chinese people persistently living in rural regions. The biggest and most extravagant of these cities was Chang’an, the capital.
Having thrown open its doors to capitalist investment and expanded at a miraculous rate over the past three decades, China has now surpassed Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world. Since the early 1980s, China's economy has metamorphosed from a centrally planned syst...
Today marriage is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the relationship between a husband and a wife or a similar relationship between people of the same sex. For the purposes of this paper, it will focus on marriage between a man and a woman and how marriage is differently defined between the American and Chinese cultures. This paper will discuss the cultural differences found between the American and Chinese culture with emphasis on age and mate-selection. The cultural differences between American and Chinese culture related to marriage practices shows that Americans value individualism and Chinese historically value collectivism.
Fong, V. L. (2004). Only hope: Coming of age under China’s one-child policy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
...rceive this as an attack on China's reputation. Many of the younger generation are fully ready to accept the current balance of freedom and power because they know that they have considerably more freedoms than earlier generations (Jiang 5)
A significant part of the ancient Chinese civilization was that it shared a common background that is longer than any other ethnic group on Earth. China mostly isolated and unknown to the outside world, was quietly progressing at a rate greater than or equal to other notable civilizations of the prehistoric world. China was composed of several dynasties. The dynastic cycle played a definitive role in the successions of Chinese empires. Each era’s achievements and failures influenced the next. The combined contributions from all the regimes, not only led to the success and progress of China, but defined it as well. Technological discoveries, inventions, creations and its ability to adapt all participate in its maturity. The evolution of ancient Chinese dynasties provided the cultural, economical and governmental structure that developed and shaped their country into one of the marvels of ancient times.