016 Issue # 11/11 : PublIc Issues 6 — Mumbai Local Train, Photo Courtesy of Ranjit Kandalgaonkar 3 — Mumbai Local Train Photo Courtesy of Ranjit Kandalgaonkar 4 — Train (Vinita Ghatne) 5 — Local Train, Mumbai
017 Issue # 11/11 : PublIc Issues understanding the Public and the chinese contemPorary Li Zhenhua What is the public? The concept of the public only exists in relation to the private. We are talking about the public that is represented through squares, restaurants, train stations, and other types of public spaces. This is a concept b<strong>as</strong>ed on space, power, and the idea of sharing responsibilities. It is primarily a prediction and a keyword, inseparable from an apparent agenda. Since 1949, several typical expressions have been used to describe the interrelation between ideology and reality. These include the m<strong>as</strong>ses, the people, the liberation army soldier, the student and so on. All these words were used only to convey this ideology of the public. None h<strong>as</strong> ever represented any individual being, but they have served only <strong>as</strong> a replacement for identity – especially cl<strong>as</strong>s and political identity. Institutional changes led to the collapse of this semiotic system. This transition w<strong>as</strong> of tremendous significance, and its traces even withdrew from government propaganda. Instead, terms like people, public, friends came to represent certain groups for a certain time. While they have lost their former apparent political cl<strong>as</strong>s indication, these terms have turned into impalpable representations of a continuously changing m<strong>as</strong>s politic. Already before the introduction of communism to China, there had been a period of constant rising and falling of great revolutions. China w<strong>as</strong> in a special state of transition from feudal to civil society, mimicking revolutionary practi- ces from Europe and the former Soviet Union. Public speeches (impromptu performances) advanced the notion of democracy, generated the impulse for the people's awakening, and created the preconditions for revolution and insurrection. All of that w<strong>as</strong> different from the Chinese people's former understanding of the public, the private, feudalism, demo- cracy, dictatorship, etc. As many scholars have pointed out, under the circumstances in China back then, the con- cept of the nation state w<strong>as</strong> only gradually understood and accepted. Neither did it have any characteristics nor did it target any special group of people, but rather it became only vaguely visible when an iniquitous incident occurred. Under those circumstances, any person or party who had understood prevailing social reality could have used the absence of the public to create any kind of common ideology. The public discussed here is a constructed one. Similar people have a similar understanding of society. Through learning and observing, society, indeed even the world, can be understood and the more abundant such knowledge, the greater the potential to become open-minded. As a construct, the public can be traced back to the Chinese Communist revolution, whose propaganda and broadc<strong>as</strong>ts are perfect practical examples of the concept. 1 Liang Qichao w<strong>as</strong> a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher, and reformist during the Qing Dyn<strong>as</strong>ty (1644–1911). He inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements. 2 Ta Kung Pao, founded 1902 in Tianjing, w<strong>as</strong> one of the most important news- papers during Republican China. It w<strong>as</strong> re-issued in Hong Kong in 1948, and is the oldest active Chinese language paper today. The Long March (October 1934 – October 1936) is the best evidence for this kind of understanding. This revolutionary route w<strong>as</strong> a necessity. It w<strong>as</strong> not taken by choice, however, but created an even more expansive public space. Before, the public sphere w<strong>as</strong> often confined to the cl<strong>as</strong>s struggle between education and urbanity; moreover, it w<strong>as</strong> always under Soviet influence, but ultimately these struggles ended in failure. The revolutionary b<strong>as</strong>e, created through the Long March, and the v<strong>as</strong>t revolutionary m<strong>as</strong>ses by far exceeded the number of residents in the cities. This also established m<strong>as</strong>s mobilization <strong>as</strong> a main strategy of the revolution and consolidated the leadership position of Mao Zedong. One could argue that the Communist Party's propaganda strategies and methods still have an immediate effect. Whether they concern foreign affairs policies or the regimentation of internal information, they are all under strong control and supervision. Since that time, propaganda h<strong>as</strong> turned into an instrument of the government, seizing hold of all kinds of cultural forms, and gradually infiltrating every <strong>as</strong>pect of the Chinese people's understanding of the world and society. Between 1900 and 1949, the public sphere for urban intellectual movements w<strong>as</strong> also created. Through the writings, publications, and speeches of those intellectuals, modern culture and knowledge started to spread. For a certain period, China found itself in a special state, a need awak- ened for independence and individuality, civil rights and the freedom of speech. Liang Qichao (1873 – 1929) took the first step. 1 B<strong>as</strong>ed on his knowledge of the world, he started to compare times of change and the inevitable trans- formations in China with those occurring globally. These considerations were evoked through the elite intellectual cl<strong>as</strong>s' reflections on the change of dyn<strong>as</strong>ties, but also through his newspaper publishing work during his stay in Japan, <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> through his later employment <strong>as</strong> a teacher. The next step w<strong>as</strong> taken with the rele<strong>as</strong>e of the first edi- tion of Ta Kung Pao on 17 June 1902. 2 Further, the popularization of movies and many other cultural forms in the early 1920s showed for one thing that the level of freedom in China had reached an unprecedented state, for another that with this circulation and popularization of European and American technology, a post-industrial, globalized appearance of the world w<strong>as</strong> created. After 1949, attention should be directed towards the newly created public sphere called the square. Traditionally, people gathered at commercial and law enforcement are<strong>as</strong>, like E<strong>as</strong>t and West markets, and the execution ground. Only
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