The Web of Meaning by Elaine Jingyan Yuan

Author:Elaine Jingyan Yuan [Yuan, Elaine Jingyan]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Nationalism as a Consequence of Neoliberal Development and Subgroup Identification

Amid the energetic, plural, and populist expressions of national interest in the unfolding events of the Diaoyu Islands dispute, jarring voices of dissonance, cynicism, and dissent were hard to ignore. Much discord was expressed as grievances against the side effects of a fast-growing economy in the past few decades, mainly a result of a wide range of neoliberal policies to integrate into global capitalist developments – from the privatization of state-owned enterprises to the dependence on international trade and foreign investment (Harvey, 2007; Y. Zhao, 2008). Agonized by rapidly rising inflation, inequality, corruption, and insecurity, the online populace took the chance to express dissatisfaction in a mix of economic complaints and moral condemnation of social injustice and political corruption, as well as emotional laments over the loss of tradition and order, directed toward the party and state bureaucracies, nouveaux riches, and other social elites. A similar “subnational pattern” was also detected in Wallace and Weiss’s 2015 study of the event.

Online users’ experiences with rampant government corruption and deteriorating food safety, environments, and city infrastructures gave them little confidence in the government’s handling of the Diaoyu Islands dispute. For many, the feeling of injustice and distrust seemed to act as a fundamental brake on their patriotic emotions:

Can you protect your house from being torn down by force?6 Can you save your job? Can you protect yourself from being run over by a car driven by Li Gang’s son?7 If not, how can you protect the Diaoyu islands?

Classic ways to lose your life in China: eating toxic food, falling from a broken bridge, burned on a defective bus, and drowned in a flood caused by rain. The rest of us could all die from the anger over the Diaoyu Islands dispute!8

Experts claim that the task of China’s national rejuvenation has been completed 62%. The number looks pretty, a golden ratio indeed. In West Han dynasty, during Emperor Wu’s times, invaders were punished no matter how far they came from. In Tang and Song dynasties, goods were abundant and people were wealthy, numerous foreign countries sent ambassadors to pay tribute. Nowadays? The Huangyan Island and Diaoyu Islands are still in dispute, low salaries, high living expenses, poor benefits, polluted environment, low level of happiness, poisonous baby formula and medicines everywhere. Where does the rejuvenation come from?

Some people are concerned about the Nanjing massacre, I support them, but I am more concerned about the Anti-Rightist movement, Cultural Revolution and the Great Famine; Some people are concerned about the Diaoyu Islands, I support them, but I am more concerned with demolitions by force, interceptions of people’s letters of complaints (to the government), and cooking oil made of waste. Some criticize all sorts of social problems in the U.S., I support them, but I am more concerned about China’s own problems. When it comes to diplomacy and territory, it is the government’s responsibility. I praise the government if it does a good job, scold it if not; it is not, however, my responsibility to share its job.

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