Short description
During the past 30 years, China has become the most rapidly
changing society in the world. After surpassing the economically
disastrous system of centrally planned economy 1949-1978 and abandoning
the bad parts of the
communist ideology with the crackdown on its own people in 1989, the
Chinese
people in all fields of society undertake pioneer steps on their way
towards the new Chinese identity of the 21st century. The Chinese want
to fill the ideological vacuum left by the bad parts of the communist
ideology, which
proofed to have failed in 1989. Materialistic satisfaction failed to
reinvent the Chinese self. The propagated "3rd way" of liberal economy
and restricted freedom of mind proofed to be a cant. The first winners
of the nationwide quest for meaning of life are a revival of Confucian
values and the regaining of strength of patriotism, driven by the
economical successes and the new role as the second superpower next to
the United States. Especially the freedom of travel and the internet
have stimulated the need for freedom of mind. The Chinese of the 21st
century want to face the problems of society like corruption, a
non-reliable legal system, environmental pollution and want to
participate in the legitimation of state power. The nation-buildung
process and conceptions of Greater China seem to be relevant focuses of
an interdisciplinary approach. Comparisons within the long Chinese
history as well as its recent historical experiences, comparisons with
the development of Taiwan, Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany and a
look on Chinese visionaries and utopists promise to be fruitful.
The project analyzes the self perception and foreign perception of the
Chinese identity in all fields of society like politics, economy, legal
system, philosophy etc. and tries to find patterns of perception.
Moreover, it aims to describe the current state of the Chinese
identity, which appears somehow more homogeneous than other national
identities like the US national identity due to many reasons.
Participants
Stefan Messmann, Central
European University, Budapest, part I „Legal system and economy“
Luigi Moccia, Università Roma
Tre, Rome, part II „Society and modernization“
Guido Rappe, TU Karlsruhe,
part III „Philosophy and comparison with Europe“
Martin Woesler, Bochum/Munich,
part IV „Culture, society, media, literature, and public“ – project
coordinator –
Phase I: October 2010 - September
2012
(in preparation: Phase II: October 2012 - September 2014)
Funds granted by the European
Science & Scholarship Association.
