The Cynicism Public Culture in Mainland China: A Case Study of Zhang Yimou
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Lee, Chia-Hung
Abstract
Democratization in China has always been considered by political scientists to be a topic for discussion. The democratization theorists speculate that as modernization in China progresses, the forming of bourgeois will motivate the reform on the political arena. After thirty years, however, of the attempt of modernization by Communist regime into market economy, there is still no sign of democratization occurring in China. By observing the process of Chinese modernization , the dissertation analyzes the return of the Communist regime after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 to totalitarianism by using the two contrastive methods – loosening the control on the economic and social arena while stiffening the space for political reformation. The two contrastive policies make Chinese intellectual and cultural elites cynics who cringe back to their private life, unwilling to be engaged into the public affairs. There are even elites who deliberately ingratiate themselves to the totalitarian regime by defending its policies. Gradually, the intellectual and cultural elites have been absorbed into the Communist regime. As a result, the motivating force for democratization has been lost. This is one of important factors why democratization in China is unable to progress.
The text aims at the case study of the Chinese director Zhang Yimou and analyzes why and how the Chinese elites conform themselves to the authority and become cynics. Zhang Yimou started his career as a film director by excelling himself in such filmic motifs as individual rebellions against the authority. His films being curbed a few times, the Communist regime began to escalate the suppression on his works. Zhang Yimou finally gave up his artistic ideal and conformed to the governmental policies and ideology, such as Jiang Zemin’s “maintaining stability is of top priority,” and Hu Jinto’s “harmonious society.”. Not until August 2008 was he chosen to direct the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and was also selected as a National Committee member of China''s Chinese People''s Political Consultative Conference, officially entering the Communist political system. Many researches have supported that Zhang Yimou is not an individual case. On the one hand, the totalitarianism of Communist regime suppresses the masses, curbing their development of the independent personality and forbidding the freedom of thoughts. On the other, it promotes consumerism and materialism. The result is that most Chinese elites during modernization give away the idea of challenging the authority and eventually become cynics.
Subjects
China
Democratization
bourgeois
Zhang Yimou
Cynicism
Chinese film
Hu Jinto
SDGs
Type
thesis
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