Mobility and Cultural Authority in Contemporary China

As a student of Chinese history, I have found in this book astounding revelation of how mobility has affected the course of Chinese socialism-how it was envisioned during and  after the Deng-ist era. Two areas of state policies during the Pre-Dengist era were drastically reversed: first, the rustification movement of learning from the masses; and second tourism as a bourgeois preoccupation and must be condemned. The goal of socialist reconstruction under Mao was to culturally `proletarianize’ the Chinese middle class and develop appreciation to peasant’s simple yet disciplined life.  Hence, a wave of in-migration from cities  to countrysides by the bourgeoisifed middle class would ensure the country’s irreversible advance to socialism, Mao averred. His passing away in 1976 subsequently erased these. History from the perspective of the Chinese proved that his policies did not help China in realizing its goals of modernization. It would be to Deng Hsio-ping’s credit that China’s economy advanced to the next level. The market forces of capitalism were made to serve state socialism. Population control was targeted for state action. A controlled quality population was conceived that by 1983 it became a policy to attain a zero population growth by year 2000. And that year 1983 went down in Chinese history as the year when one child policy was  pushed to the hilt, such that almost one half of the projected goal for 2000 was already almost realized. Artificial birth control, abortion,voluntary sterilization were eventually accepted, even with misgivings from the majority of the population; notwithstanding the perpetrators incarceration. Pal Nyiri’s decision to start with contemporary China took on the issue of population movement as one that would accelerate modernization rather than impede it. By this time, with the problem of quantity solved, quality population could be arrived at. Cultural authority became the focus of Nyiri’s work

Mobility is at the heart of the vast Chinese mainland territory. Cities were and are still considered the showcase of cultural and economic advancement. These needed to be engaged thoroughly in state’s policies specially in terms of culture and governance.Nyiri’s contribution is in making his readers see that state control worked effectively in China. But orthodox  socialism was modified in the service of economic growth. This was show in this book with Nyiri’s treatment of the issues on tourism, internal and international migration. To wit;

1.Tourism- domestic and international Chinese tourists are generally considered assets to China’s cultural and economic authority. With rustification consigned to oblivion, the urban tourist see the countryside as more the homeland’s window to its natural beauty. Beautiful,rustic sceneries as well as historic sites, and native cultural presentations were subjectified and appreciated only for pleasure and economic gain but nothing more.Cultural education, however, was also seen as desirable, specially when tourists are convinced that `socialism is good and that China could become an economic giant at par with other western countries’.

2.Internal migration-state control on population movement assumed the form of Hukuo system which was intended `to keep population in place by restricting access to food rations, education, health care and old age pensions.”(p.11) through a  household registration system introduced in 1958 and has covered the entire country by 1958. Nyiri’s use of available data gathered from published sources beginning that year, revealed that up to the end of Maoist era, the hukuo system was strictly carried out. Cities were insulated from rural migration  up till the time when industries were set up and cheap labor was needed.Rural folks filled the need for this  cheap labor thereby  creating mass migration from countryside to cities. Eventually, the hukuo managers had to look the other way whenever and wherever it seemed feasible.

3.International migration- The focus on transnationalism as the current trend emerging from globalization spawned numerous studies in the social sciences. The works of Teresa Calderia and James Holston, Aihwa Ong, Kris Olds and Nigel Thrift(from the book Global Assemblage. Technology, Policies, Ethics as Anthropological Problems ed. By Aihwa Ong and Stephen J.Collier. Blackwell Publishing,2005) would be relevant at this point. These works developed, among others, a paradigmatic outflow of case studies on Brazil, Singapore and other countries of southeast and south Asia to arrive to the conclusion that state interventionist policies as central to the success of managing population movements in the cities. For example in Brazil with its cities of Brasilia and Sao Paolo during the ‘80s. These were targeted for a highly developed urban planning that changed from interventionist to democratization in order to “keep...pace with the demands of globalization”(Ong et al.2005:34).Just like in China, the idea “was to use direct state intervention to promote, in concentrated period of time, national industrialization based on import-substitution” and “modern (citizen); that is, rational and “domesticated” consumers of it products.”(p.395).

As Nyiri suggests, globalization’s playing field is vast and China has created within its midst the locate to further its ambition to become  the economic giant.He averred”Today new migrants are recognized by the government as a highly useful resource for economic construction...attracting foreign investors and business partners and providing leadership to overseas Chinese communities in Japan,the US and Europe, which are judged as losing touch with the homeland and Chinese culture”.(p.49) Moreover,” while on paper, China’s overseas polciy continues to defend  huaqiao (overseas Chinese residents) as its only target, the media and government officials treat all migrants on the same level-due to common descent than by legal status.”(ibid)Their transnationalism is thus expected and extolled through their persuasion of fellow huaquiao to invest in their nativeland.

In Singapore’s case, where in Kris Olds and Nigel Thrift introduced “cultural circuit of capital” (i.e. a network of global cities that serve as “the shifting assemblages of governmental power, made more powerful by their strictly temporary descriptions and attributions”( Ong et al.2005:271).Translated to Singapore’s developmental goals, this island city state was made to serve as the global schoolhouse, catering to professionals’ need for more current and advanced knowledge in bio-science and technology. Thus, invited professors from countries and their institutions such as the John Hopkins University were established in Singapore, albeit on transient status. The result was students and professionals flocking into Singapore.China becomes one of its sending countries, as well as India and other Asian, even African countries. China and India, according to the authors, are fast becoming alternatives to Singapore’s global schoolhouse and are also at the service of the “cultural circuit of capital” in this age of globalization.

Tourism and Transnationalism

One major contribution of Nyiri’s book is its substantial treatment of tourism as both an internal and external asset to China’s economic and cultural dominance. Migrants overseas were encouraged to form organizations that would cater to fellow Chinese visiting their place. Their “ leaders  often sound like Chinese government officials, both to emphasize their identification with the official project of the nation and to display their social capital to other Chinese.”(p.53) Apparently, these leaders have effectively imbibed the call for loyal overseas Chinese to come share their fortune with the motherland. Such attempt  is reinforced by the Media such as satellite television which serve as a “contiguous mediascape that contributes to the construction of a global Chinese identity, raising cultural Chineseness and transnational modernity.”(p.56)

Internal tourists become the models of modernity for their fellow Chinese not only because they are consumers of pleasures (because a mark of socialist advancement is for its citizens becoming `consumers of pleasures’)but also because of their cultural advancement. Several anecdotes attributed to the quality learning one gets from tourism support the official  line encouraging those in the periphery to learn the civilized ways of the cities. Tourists or transient migrants could easily pick up the urban ways because they’re fascinated by it. Images of skyscrapers,modern transportation and communications showcasing connectivity with a globalized world developed in the tourists a sense of ownership which they bring with them at home.Folks at home become filled with a sense of awe at their `changed brethren’ who has imbibed the civilized ways of the city. Pal Nyiri talked about how the Chinese now had developed a liking for the urban culture. Thanks to media and tourism.

Conclusion        

It still remains to be seen how far the government’s cultural authority would be heeded by the ordinary Chinese. Tour guides are well managed and disciplined so as to showcase China’s beautiful and historic sites as well as its economic advancement in their tours. Both internal and external tourism are largely controlled and organized but how these exposures affect the Chinese on the long term becomes as yet an enigma. The Chinese youth are so far removed from the historic realities of their country when it was yet emerging from the conservativeness of Maoism. Rustification, abhorrence of tourism, controlled mobility,population control were no longer the order of the day and were even drastically reversed or liberalized. Students of Chinese history and society would certainly learn a lot from this book. Pal Nyiri deserves high praise for this well researched book on mobility. Although lacking in detailed subject analysis (i.e. the case of female tourists sexual promiscuity) as well as analytical treatment for the marginalized in the Chinese migratory/tourist landscape (e.g. the victims of  human trafficking-if there were any) the reader needs  take it upon himself/herself extra effort to read other works of Pal Nyiri which  touched on these subjects (if there are any); and may expect the same enlightenment which this book generously gave.

 

FAINA C. ABAYA-ULINDANG,Ph.D
Professor of History, Mindanao State University
Marawi City, Philippines    

 

Other works cited/references:

Aihwa Ong and Stephen J.Collier (eds) Global Assemblage. Technology, Politics,Ethics as Anthropological                     Problems. Blackwell Publishing 2005

Shinji Yamashita and J.S.Eades (eds) Globalization in Southeast Asia. Local, National and Transnational Perspectives.New York 7 Oxford: Berghahn Books,2003.

Southeast Asian Consortium on Gender,Sexuality & Health. Sexuality in Southeast Asia and China. Emerging Issues.2007

Cynthia Chou and Vincent Houben.Southeast Asian Studies. Debates and New Directions.International Institute for Asian Studies 2006.

John K.Fairbank,Edwin O.Reischauer and Albert M.Craig. East Asia Tradition and Transformation. Harvard University,1978