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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 based 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 masses, 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 has ever
represented any individual being, but they have served
only as a replacement for identity – especially class and
political identity. Institutional changes led to the
collapse of this semiotic system. This transition was 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
class indication, these terms have turned into impalpable
representations of a continuously changing mass politic.
Already before the introduction of communism to China, there
had been a period of constant rising and falling of great
revolutions. China was 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 was 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 was 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 broadcasts are perfect
practical examples of the concept.
1
Liang Qichao was a
Chinese scholar,
journalist,
philosopher, and
reformist during
the Qing Dynasty
(1644–1911). He
inspired Chinese
scholars with his
writings and
reform movements.
2
Ta Kung Pao,
founded 1902 in
Tianjing, was
one of the most
important news-
papers during
Republican China.
It was 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 was a necessity. It was not taken by choice,
however, but created an even more expansive public space.
Before, the public sphere was often confined to the class
struggle between education and urbanity; moreover, it
was always under Soviet influence, but ultimately these
struggles ended in failure.
The revolutionary base, created through the Long March,
and the vast revolutionary masses by far exceeded the
number of residents in the cities. This also established
mass mobilization as 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 has turned
into an instrument of the government, seizing hold of all
kinds of cultural forms, and gradually infiltrating every
aspect of the Chinese people's understanding of the world
and society.
Between 1900 and 1949, the public sphere for urban intellectual
movements was 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 Based 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
class' reflections on the change of dynasties, but also
through his newspaper publishing work during his stay in
Japan, as well as through his later employment as a
teacher.
The next step was taken with the release 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 was created.
After 1949, attention should be directed towards the newly
created public sphere called the square. Traditionally,
people gathered at commercial and law enforcement areas,
like East and West markets, and the execution ground. Only