Assess the impact of modernization on Chinese national identity.

The economic reforms in 1978 modernized China through the exposure to the West.
With this, Western values flowed in at an unprecedented rate, exposing the long
isolated Chinese to the outside world. New and unheard of ideas such sovereignty,
individualism and capitalism, are now influencing the psyches of the Chinese.
Despite the CCPs efforts in creating a singular Chinese identity, modernization is
now an obstacle to attaining this goal. As China gets more integrated with the
world, so more will its people, and thus different sets of values will seep into
difference sectors of society. In the long run, these Western imports have created
rifts within the country on social, economical and political levels.
Many younger Chinese gets exposed to Western pop culture, they are beginning to
equate modernity with higher social status. Given the education level affluence and
communications advantages, the urbanites are naturally more receptive towards
Western pop culture. It is not uncommon to see women don the latest fashion form
Europe as a symbol of affluence and trend. This is especially true in Shanghai,
where people are flocking after the latest designer clothes. Plastic surgery is also
becoming a trend of have leg-extension surgery, giving them Western mode-like
heights. Traditional cultures are now seen as old-fashioned which belongs to the
older generation. However, such trends are only prominent in the highly urbanized
centers such as metropolitan Shang Hai and Beijing. This is logical as these
metropolitan cities are the major cross-roads of the East and the West. Naturally the
peoples in these areas will be more receptive to Western culture compared to the
rural areas where communication are lacking. It is also because the rural areas are
less affluent, depriving the residents in these areas the change to crave for the
latest fashion and trends from overseas. Hence with these disadvantages the rural
areas will naturally be less influenced by Western culture as compared to the urban
areas.
Western ideologies that are contradictory to the political dimension in China are
slowly influencing the Chinese psyche. The CCP has been dominating the political
scene in China, and has been virtually the sole decision maker in China since 1949.
With rapid rise of the middle-class or intellectuals in China, their constant and high
exposure to Western ideals has given them the ability to challenge and question the
authorities on social, political and economical issues. Such exposure has given
Western ideals such as democracy and human rights the change to enter China via
the Chinese intellects. This exposure can be a double edged sword, as evident in
the chaotic Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989. In recent years, commoners are
also raising awareness for their rights albeit protests and riots. It is now a common
scene to witness villagers protesting against the authorities for forced evictions and
corruption. One of such example would be the 2007 Guangxi riots which stems from
corruption. Residents in Beijing have also protested against under-compensation
and forced evictions during the redevelopment process for the 2008 Olympics.
However, realizing the severity of protests riots, the CCP has given the people some

leeway in voicing their opinions via some forms of democratization. The CPP has
allowed village elections and take place as a minor form of democracy in China,
where people are given the chance to choose leadership. A petition system has also
been set up by allowing commoners to report unfair treatment to the central
leadership. However, such redresses are not common, as officials have been able to
block off petitions due to bureaucratic red-tape. The CCP has also allowed the
existence of NGOs in China, but the issues are mainly on environmental issues.
Political issues are not allowed as these may affect the legitimacy of the CCP. The
CCP has actually allowed some forms of democratization in the wake of the rise of
the middle class in China. The pace of democratization is however dictated by the
CCP. Political and separatist issues detrimental to national interests are nonnegotiable. This is to prevent a reoccurrence of the 1989 Tiananmen Square
Incident or any other incidents of ethnic unrests.
Despite rapid urbanization, regional disparity has created a serious social divide
between the different sectors of society. The economic miracle in China is a doubleedged sword, as it creatd a huge income gap between the urban and rural areas.
The urban areas in China are now highly developed, while the rural areas still
belongs to under-developed class. This unequal development has created a rift
between the urbanites and the rural peasants. Official statistics have shown that an
urbanite earns 3.6times more than his rural counterpart. With such attractions, an
exodus of rural peasants has appeared in the urban centers. Official statistics have
shown that an urbanite earns 3.6times more than his rural counterparts. Such
discrimination is seriously discrimination is seriously jeopardizing the social
harmony of China as social divisions will disintegrate the unity of China. However,
the government is now trying its best in rectifying the issue through both rhetoric
and practical methods. With revival of Confucianism, the Hu Wen administration has
been actively promoting the concept of harmonious society, where everyone
terms, with no social biasness. This is done so it the hope of reducing discrimination
against the rual peasants. The CCP has also been pragmatic in solving regional
disparity by urbanizing the rural regions. The Go West policy is evident of the
CCPs aims in raising the standard of living in the poorer western regions. Hence,
the CCP has been actively trying to create a society where social divisions are nonexistent, so that social upheavals do not appear due to discriminations and
prejudices.
Modernization has created more opportunities for interaction with the outside world,
which may actually be a bridge for human rights and sovereignty issues to enter
China. With a raised awareness in human rights and sovereignty issues, ethnic
minorities may actually press for separatism. The minorities desire for separatism is
in fact a serious stumbling block for Chinas quest for a single unified Chinese
identity. Human rights and sovereignty are terms coined and highly regarded by the
West. As ethnic minorities get exposed to these ideas through the influx of
information from the West, they may press further for spate independent Tibetan

and Uyghur states. The eagerness for independence has also garnered support from
the West, which makes matter more complicated. This is seen in the diplomatic row
between China and France, which the latter has expressed subtle support for the
Dalai Lama. The ethnic minorities lack of human rights claim has been supported
by the West, and these claims have been used as pressures over the CCP
government. However, more Western countries are not responding positively to the
ethnic minorities calls for independence. Support from the rest of the world over
separatist movements is also very minute. For example, in October 2008, the UK
Foreign Minister has officially recognized Chinas sovereignty over the Tibetan
Autonomous Region. Given the lukewarm response from the West for minorities
calls for independence, support from the international arena will be weak and
insignificant.
Despite the increase in the number of Westernised Chinese, the Chinese have
displayed a strong sense of nationalism in times of crisis. Whenever China faces an
external threat, we do see displays of national solidarity especially from the
students. After 1999 bombing of the Belgrade Chinese embassy many young
Chinese took to the streets to protest against the US government. They have also
criticized and boycotted French companies in China for Frances support of the Dalai
Lama in 2008. Several geo-historical disputes between the CCP and the Japanese
government over the textbook revision and Senkaku Islands have also aroused a
strong sense of anti-Japanese sentiments amongst the young and educated
Chinese. This supposedly westernized students in China are in fact the ones staging
protests against the West for its unfair treatment against China.
Modernization comes with a high price for China as the rapid rate of urbanization
and the influx of Western values have created socio-economical and political
divisions amongst the different sectors in the country. Despite the CCPs effort in
trying to create a singular Chinese identity, such divides will definitely be a
contradiction to the mentioned efforts. Such divisions in the long run will definitely
be a threat to the CCPs rule, as they may escalate into more serious political
issues. In order to prevent a reoccurrence of the Tiananmen Square incident, the
ccp has to modify its more authoritative role to accommodate the social changes.
However such divisions are only limited to domestic affairs and will disappear once
China faces eternal threats. The Chinese have displaced utmost solidarity when
disputes with foreign forces surface.

Assess the impact of modernization on Chinese national identity.

The Chinese people have over the thousand years of civilization in China developed
a very unique sense of national identity which has done much to instill and heighten
national pride. One of the factors that contributed to this national pride is the fact
that many of the worlds inventions were of Chinese origin. These inventions include
the seismograph, compass and paper. The Chinese military has also, over the years
during the different dynasties, illustrated power over other neighboring countries. In
fact, for a long period of time, the Chinese empires power far surpassed many
western nations until industrialization took place in the west in the late 1800s which
rendered China backward technologically. As much as the Chinese identity clouded
past leaders of the need to seek development and trade with the outside world, it
also spurred other generations of leaders on to attempt to help China grow such
that it would once again be a superpower of the world. This resulted in
modernization strategies being implemented which inevitable caused an erosion in
the Chinese identity due to the influence of the western world.

The Chinese people have always been known to outside world as being a race of
people who are in many ways superior to the nations around them. This is especially
evident in feudal China when many neighbouring countries were subservient to the
Chinese court. They include Vietnam, Korea and even Japan. However, as corruption

and incompetence of emperor due to a poor selection process, the Chinese empires
eventually fell, revealing lots of Chinas flaws and ills to the outside world. This
resulted in a change in perception of China by other nation of the world. The
reputation of China was at its worst probably during the Sino-Japanese war when
Japan, once a subservient nation to China, had military and economic power to
threaten Chinas survival. China was known as the sick man of the east. During
the Qing dynasty, China tried to resist the vices some European powers were trying
to introduce to the country but in vain. China was losing its sovereignty and land to
Britain, France and Portugal too. On the other hand, with continued modernization
and improvement in many of the countrys political and economic systems,
approaches and strategies, China gradually y became more and more developed
and built up financial wealth and thus economic power. Today, China is associated
with the worlds cheapest products, best sportsmen, leading state of the art
technology amongst other achievements. The 2008/2009 economic crisis affecting
adversely many countries around the world saw China still boasting of an 8%
growth. In the same fiscal year, China had an increase in its foreign reserves to
US$2trillion. The Chinese identity has once again gotten itself associated with
success and power. This greatly enhanced the national pride of the Chinese people.
Modernization has indirectly brought about a negative Chinese identity image in its
early stages by showing the world what China is really like. However, modernization
also forced China to face up to its problems and weaknesses and to seek
improvements to iron out these issues. As a result, China today can face the world
once again with confidence and pride. What used to be a bettered national identity
is now that of one filled with pride and confidence. Thus, modernization has done
much to repair the damaged national identity caused by the feudal lords.

As discussed in factor above, China, at its prime, has always been involved
politically with its neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. The
Chinese country provides protection to these nations in return for yearly homage
paid to them. The presence of China in East Asia has for hundreds of years,
discouraged the occurrences of wars over territorial rights in region. This gave rise
to a view that the Chinese race is superior to the others in the region. However, as
China loses military strength and economic power due to the growth of the western
nations, many once subservient nations started distancing themselves from China
and even denied continuing paying homage. By the 20 th century, china had become
so weak and financially in the reds that the race had become somewhat inferior as
compared to the others in the region, especially when compared to the Japanese
who were growing from strength to strengthen stealthily. Modernization, though,
seen China grew rapidly and it became a financial superpower force in just 2
decades. Today, Chinas involvement in the world political arena far surpasses the
boundaries it used to encompass. It recognizes its potential to lead the world and
thus crafts policies and strategies to achieve this objective. It tries to extend its

wings to as many shores as possible through trade agreements and intergovernmental cooperation in important industries both in China and overseas
amongst others. To date, China has not managed to regain its international
recognition to the level which is used to enjoy during feudal times. However, the
Chinese national identity is certainly lifting eyebrows in many countries around the
world as being a people that is certainly a force to be reckoned with. A greater role
in the involvement of world politics would help China become more developed
economically. Given that one of the CCPs aims is to improve the standard of living
and thus quality of the life of the Chinese, it is important that they engage in trade
and commerce with as many countries as possible. Increased trade would result in
increased in output implying that employment rate and income for the people would
go north too. Thus, a greater involvement in the world political arena would mean
more multi-lateral ties with encompass trade agreements and the like. As a result,
exports would increase in individual income and national revenue for China.
Chinas traditional societal structure has always been one of the Confucian model in
which each individual has a particular role to play and responsibilities to fulfill. To
preserve harmony, one always try to keep to ones confines in the 5relationships
stated by Confucius depending on what role is being assumed. This has result in the
creation of a social class system which the Chinese people subscribe to. With
modernization, education is widely improved since that is a way to ensuring the
population becomes more efficient and productive, more and more people are
gaining access to higher education resulting in them demanding for equal rights
amongst the Chinese. This had led to many individuals from the lower class families
questioning the relevance of the social class system once used to categorize the
population. With education, one is able to jump out of the poverty cycle and become
economically stronger and thus gain access to more privileges in the society. This
implies that one should rightfully belong to the upper class group. On the other
hand, modernization has also resulted in the social class system becoming more
pronounced in some parts of the country. This is because due to stiff competition in
gaining admissions to the prestigious universities in China, many parents are
spending large amounts of money to provide their children with academic help.
Parents who do not make enough to do so thus leave their children at a
disadvantage. Many of these youngsters would probably receive a less than
desirable educational qualification which translates to less attractive employment
opportunities and thus lower income, entrapping them in the lower class social
group. The social class system though, not necessarily healthy for the society and
beneficial to all, has helped China maintain harmony and peace in the country for
hundreds of years. This is because most people are very clear which class they fall
under and thus respond in a manner befitting of that status. This resulted in a
resignation to such a way of life and kept conflicts of interests to a minimum level.
However, it could also disadvantage many talented individuals who could have
otherwise been a boon to Chinas development due to the fact that they could not
gain access to a better form of education. Modernization has indeed blurred the

social class divides and will continue to do so, regardless of it being beneficial or
harmful to China. It could be argue that a constant review and shift of the social
class system in China could be beneficial since this would help ensure Chinas
societal fabric remains largely relevant to contemporary world.
Modernization has indeed altered many elements of the traditional Chinese identity
and that is inevitable if development and modernization were to continue. Though
the changes to the Chinese identity might face resistance from a portion of the
population, it would still be to CCP and therefore Chinas interest to help the
minority see how such changes could be taken positively and exploited to help
China develop even faster. It would be in Chinas favour to ensure it has a society
that is relevant and complementary to the other societies in the world rather than
to oppose. This would help ensure more common grounds being established and
thus more possibilities for cooperation in trade and commerce to take place.