(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
similar situation and with shared interests that are unlikely to be closely matched locally and
safely. Although the Internet may have broadened the avenue of romantic and sexual pursuit
for Chinese netizens, they are however not completely free from the norms and social
constraints when exploring their sexuality and conducting their private relationships online.
Traditions in the present day
Engaging in online romantic and sexual relationships may seem liberating and empowering to
the participants by allowing them to challenge social conventions and undermine traditions
governing the realm of interpersonal relationships, but as pointed out by Gross (1992) the
disappearance of tradition in the modern world, though is happening has often been
exaggerated. Many traditions survive at the margin of everyday life and others are
refashioned into new forms and continue their influence in a subtle manner. Thompson (1995)
makes a similar argument by emphasizing the role of mass media in sustaining traditions. To
survive, traditions reconstitute themselves through mediated forms of communication and are
increasingly detached from their mooring in particular locales, in other words delocalised.
Respect for traditions is one of the virtues under Confucianism, China’s most venerable
ethical philosophy. One should learn from the past and changes must be based on past
practices (Levenson, 1958). Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the New
China in 1949, the party under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong spent its initial three
decades trying to eradicate the influence of Confucianism which was deemed to be feudal and
hindering the nation’s progress. Confucian tradition was also accused of not representing
Chinese tradition but merely the gentry’s tradition. When Confucianism is redefined as upper
class tradition, it becomes incompatible with the communist ideology (ibid). Despite Mao’s
effort to extirpate the roots of Confucianism, many Confucian values remained important and
inform the general publics’ ways of life, especially those regarding family ties and ethics
(Bell, 2008).
According to Bell (2008), the 1990s marked the end of Marxist ideology in China and the
moral vacuum is being filled by Christian sects, Falun Gong and extreme forms of
nationalism. The party state considers these as undesirable alternatives that run the risk of
threatening hard-won social and economic stability. As a result, the state has encouraged the
revival of Confucianism which prioritizes social harmony above all else. The general idea is
that when everyone knows his or her roles, obligations and duties, and plays their part, social
hierarchy and order would be retained, and there would be peace and harmony in society
(Ong, 2005). For the state, there are several advantages in the promotion of Confucian values.
Confucius’s calls for obedience and self-discipline help reinforce the status quo and
legitimate the party’s ruling power, in Foucault’s terms, constructing subjectivities of ‘docile
body’. However, the resurgence of interest in Confucianism in the past decade is not merely
a state-initiated effort, the renewed interest is also driven by academics; the assumption is
that better training in the humanities improves the virtue of the learner. Chinese are now
taking pride in their own traditions for thinking about social and political reform (Bell, 2010).
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