A State-Led Nationalism ：The Patriotic Education C

CommunistandPost-CommunistStudies,Vol.31,No.3,pp.287–302,19981998TheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia.PublishedbyElsevierScienceLtdPergamonPrintedinGreatBritain0967-067X/98$19.0010.00PII:S0967-067X(98)00009-9AState-LedNationalism:ThePatrioticEducationCampaigninPost-TiananmenChinaSuishengZhaoColbyCollege,Waterville,ME04901,USAThedeclineofCommunismaftertheendofthepost-ColdWarhasseentheriseofnationalisminmanypartsoftheformerCommunistworld.IncountriessuchastheformerSovietUnionandYugoslavia,nationalismwaspursuedlargelyfromthebottomupasethnicandseparatistmovements.Someobserversalsotakethisbottom-upapproachtofindthemajorcauseofChinesenationalismandbelievethat“thenational-istwaveinChinaisaspontaneouspublicreactiontoaseriesofinternationalevents,notagovernmentpropaganda.”(Zhang,M.(1997)ThenewthinkingofSino–USrelations.JournalofContemporaryChina,6(14),117–123).TheyseeChinesenationalismas“abelatedresponsetothetalkofcontainingChinaamongjournalistsandpoliticians”intheUnitedStatesand“apublicprotestagainstthemistreatmentfromtheUSinthelastseveralyears.”(Li,H.(1997)Chinatalksback:anti-Americanismornationalism?JournalofContemporaryChina,6(14),153–160).ThispositionconcurswiththeauthorsofnationalisticbooksinChina,suchasTheChinaThatCanSayNo:PoliticalandSentimentalChoiceinthePost-ColdWarEra(Song,Q.,ZhangZ.,QiaoB.(1996)ZhongguoKeyiShuoBu(TheChinaThatCanSayNo).ZhonghuaGongshangLianheChubanshe.Beijing),whichcalleduponChinesepoliticalelitestosaynototheUS,andarguethattheriseofnationalismwasnotaresultoftheofficialpropagandabutareflectionofthestateofmindofanewgenerationofChineseintelligentsiainresponsetotheforeignpressuresinthepost-ColdWarera.Indeed,Chinesenationalismwasmainlyreactivesentimentstoforeignsuppressionsinmodernhistory,andthisnewwaveofnationalistsentimentalsoharboredasenseofwoundednationalprideandananti-foreign(particularlytheUSandJapan)resentment.ManyChineseintellectualsgavevoicetoarisingnationalisticdiscourseinthe1990s(Zhao,S.(1997)Chineseintellectuals’questfornationalgreatnessandnationalisticwritinginthe1990s.TheChinaQuarterly,152,725–745).However,Chinesenationalisminthe1990swasalsoconstructedandenactedfromthetopbytheCommuniststate.TherewerenomajormilitarythreatstoChina’ssecurityaftertheendoftheColdWar.Instead,theinternallegitimacycrisisbecameagraveconcernoftheChineseCommunistregimebecauseoftherapiddecayofCommunistideology.Inresponse,theCommunistregimesubsti-tutedperformancelegitimacyprovidedbysurgingeconomicdevelopmentandnational-istlegitimacyprovidedbyinvocationofthedistinctivecharacteristicsofChinesecul-tureinplaceofMarxist–LeninismandMaoZedongThought.AsoneofthemostimportantmaneuverstoenactChinesenationalism,theCommunistgovernmentlaunchedanextensivepropagandacampaignofpatrioticeducationaftertheTianan-menIncidentin1989.Thepatrioticeducationcampaignwaswell-engineeredandappealedtonationalisminthenameofpatriotismtoensureloyaltyinapopulationthatwasotherwisesubjecttomanydomesticdiscontents.TheCommunistregime,strivingtomaintainauthoritariancontrolwhileCommunistideologywasbecoming287288AState-LedNationalism:ThePatrioticEducationCampaigninPost-TiananmenChina:S.Zhaoobsoleteinthepost-ColdWarera,warnedoftheexistenceofhostileinternationalforcesintheworldperpetuatingimperialistinsulttoChinesepride.Thepatrioticedu-cationcampaignwasastate-lednationalistmovement,whichredefinedthelegitimacyofthepost-TiananmenleadershipinawaythatwouldpermittheCommunistParty’sruletocontinueonthebasisofanon-Communistideology.PatriotismwasthususedtobolsterCCPpowerinacountrythatwasportrayedasbesiegedandembattled.Thedependenceonpatriotismtobuildsupportforthegovernmentandthepatrioticedu-cationcampaignbytheCommunistpropagandistsweredirectlyresponsibleforthenationalisticsentimentoftheChinesepeopleinthemid-1990s.ThispaperfocusesontheCommuniststateasthearchitectofnationalisminChinaandseekstounderstandtheriseofChinesenationalismbyexaminingthepatrioticeducationcampaign.Itbeginswithananalysisofhownationalismtooktheplaceoftheofficialideologyasthecoalescingforceinthepost-Tiananmenyears.Itthengoesontoexaminethepro-cess,contents,methodsandeffectivenessofthepatrioticeducationcampaign.Thecon-clusionoffersaperspectiveontheinstrumentalaspectofstate-lednationalism.1998TheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia.PublishedbyElsevierScienceLtdKeywords:thecommunistpartyofChina,Chinesenationalism,patriotism,propaganda,communistideologyTheDeclineofCommunistIdeologyandtheRiseofNationalismThePeople’sRepublicofChina(PRC)wasestablishedbyaCommunistrevolutionwithstrongnationalistcredentials,asindicatedbytheclassicstudiesofBenjaminSchwartzandChalmersA.Johnson(Schwartz,1951;Johnson,1962).On1October1949,thefoundingdayofthePeople’sRepublic,MaoZedongappealedtoChinesenationalismbydeclaringfromthetopofBeijing’sTiananmengatethat“theChinesepeoplehavestoodup”.The“newChina”intheearly1950swaslittleCommunistbecauseitspoliciesandprogramsaimedatnationalgreatnessandprosperitywereonesthatanystrongnationalgovernmentwouldhaveundertakenunderthecircumstances,andindeed,inalargemeasure,oneswhichtheKMT(KuomintangorNatio