Metamorphosis of China’s Identity

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Introduction

China is faced by a great challenge of trying to maintain its national culture in the strong wave of globalization. It was inevitable to shun away this new ideology because it was perceived as a bridge of development between the West and China. However, the Chinese are bent on preserving their traditional culture.

Every time there is a mention of globalization in relation to culture, the worst is portrayed because globalization is often described to erode cultures. Regardless of the fact that traditional Confucianism was swept away in China, neo-Confucianism’s significance is evident in its humanistic spirit. The confucianists’ aim is to foresee the general wellbeing of every human being, and this has been a very strong characteristic feature of the Chinese identity.

Gender and how it shapes Chinese identity

The sex ratio at birth in China is the highest in the world according to the United Nation’s Population Prospects 2010 revision (Golley & Tyers, 2012). This sex ratio has resulted in a great gender imbalance that has resulted in what Amartya Sen termed as “missing women”. Reference to the current fertility policy of one-child in China, it was postulated that the imbalance would escalate.

This imbalance has implications on the realms of social, economic and political events in the country. However, as it has been later discussed, concerted efforts of the government have changed the course of the postulated outcomes.

The continuum of gender imbalance in China has resulted in a reduced labor force growth. The slowed growth in labor force sheds light on “Lewis turning point” and beyond this point there is perceived to be a slow progression in the transition from rural to urban. This subsequently places constraint on future growth. The Chinese nonetheless have a higher preference for sons rather than girls and this can be traced back to the patrilineal system of Han Chinese (Li, 2007).

As a result of the bias towards the boy-child, there are unequal opportunities and rights for the girl-child in education and subsequently in employment. This is augmented by Wang Xia’s: head of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, statement, “the bias against females in economic, social and cultural fields is still the root cause of the current gender imbalance” (Golley & Tyers, 2012).

The high preference for the boy-child has given rise to sex selective abortion, a fact that is well acknowledged by the Chinese government as stated by Wang Xia, “the authorities will crack down further on illegal prenatal gender tests and selective abortions, which are believed to be the primary causes of the gender imbalance” (Golley & Tyers, 2012). The Chinese have a very low regard for the girl-child and women; hence, the reason why policies such as 1.5 child policy was introduced, which equates a girl-child to half.

The gender imbalance is believed to pose a great challenge on the social lives of the People Republic of China (PRC) as crime, mercenary marriage, prostitution and abduction of women set in. According to Edlund, Li, Yi & Zhang (2010), an escalation of 0.01 in sex ration led to a 3% rise in property and violent crimes. The realization that a higher preference for the boy-child is associated with high costs has led to counteractive measures meant to redress gender imbalance in China.

China has been labelled as an epitome of gender inequality. Women lack a stable position in employment as more than half of the formal jobs are given to men. Women on the other hand are overwhelmed by domestic chores of taking care of the family, housework and cooking (Fincher, 2013).

In the case of looming unemployment crisis, there have been campaigns urging women to return home and create room for men to take up employment because of the apparent traditional gender roles. The common belief is that women should stay at home while the men are take part in the public affairs.

In China, it becomes very difficult for a woman who has left her career for any reason to get rehired later on. According to Fincher (2013), from the New York Times, one woman had a child at 33 and had to take a leave from her career as an art director. After taking care of her baby for some years, she decided to go back to her career but unfortunately she did not manage to find a job and this is evident in her reiteration statement, “I am very worried about my future because it is so difficult for a woman my age to find work” (Fincher, 2013).

The propaganda of leftover women is stigmatizing to women at the age of 27, who are still aiming to excel in their careers. As a result of all these gender issues, women are opting to forego their dreams of becoming educated and instead are opting for marriage.

The role of gender in defining Chinese cultural identity has also been discussed by Chang through the peacock dance. The Dai peacock dance has transited since the 1950s to 2006, and in its transformations, various elements of change have been embodied in its choreography and practice. The female body is used to decipher these transformations.

In synonymous to use of old cultural practices and ethnic minority identities to promote Chinese national identity, the female dancing body is an emblem of “racial ideas, gender issues and nationalism” (Chang, 2008). The reason why the female dancing body is used is because of the associated transition that has been realized in solving feminine related issues as discussed above. The most interesting feature of Chinese identity as described by Chang is its unique ability to survive regardless of Cultural Revolution.

Globalization and Chinese identity

When China endorsed the implementation of the adoption law in 1991, globalization became a reality since exchange of people, information and resources could take place between countries. Globalization has led to a change in practically every dimension of the Chinese identity. Initially, a communist society, now with its commitment to globalization, China has become a capitalist nation.

As a result of globalization, China is now an industrialized country and market-oriented. Globalization is associated with westernization, which is Americanization, and infringement of western values on other cultures. Globalization, which promotes adoption, heightens identity crisis of the Chinese as adopted children yearn to trace back their heritage in a foreign land (Fischler, n. d.).

Globalization has been a heated topic in Beijing for the past years, focusing on its relationship with culture. Chinese scholars were very much concerned about the myth around globalization because of the attachment placed to their local cultures.

It is however interesting to realize that in China, globalization took a different effect. As a result of globalization, global capital expansion has been realized and this has led to the development of a new kind of international division of labor. China has greatly benefited from economic globalization because it is a hub for production (Ning, 2007).

Chinese literature has been continually progressing towards globalization. Western cultural trends and academic thoughts have invaded China and gradually eroded China’s long history of nationalism. As a result of the strong wave of globalization, Chinese scholars paid little attention to using globalization to their own advantage, by making the Chinese known to the outside world.

As if embracing western culture and systems was not enough, globalization continued to take a toll on Chinese culture as Confucius temples became destroyed and some of the positive elements of Confucianism were thrown away (Ning, 2007). Regardless of the erosion of the Chinese culture due to globalization, China is one of the countries that has greatly benefited economically due to globalization.

Despite the fact that Confucianism was greatly criticized as an impediment to attainment of development in modern China, it has recently gained access into the people’s lives. Both individuals and the Chinese government are bent on reviving Confucianism but from a different angle.

Confucius will be symbolic of traditional Chinese language and culture but short of the Confucianist doctrines. The current cultural situation of Chinese is pseudo-Chinese because theoretical discourses are not original. They are either borrowed or mere translations from the West. Even though there are attempts to revive Confucianism, it can only thrive if incorporated into the current contemporary society (Liu, 2004).

It is worth noting that in today’s government policy of promoting a harmonious society, Confucianism is being revived. Confucianism is held dear to all Chinese; hence, the reason why modern Chinese scholars are making attempts to reconstruct it and promote it in an acceptable form throughout the world.

This is actually working because Chinese has recently become a very popular language and it is assumed that in time, it will be second to English (Ning, 2007). There have been similarities depicted from Neo-Confucianism and postmodernism in China in that in both, the totalitarian discourse of modernity has been deconstructed to provide the Chinese with an alternative modern form compatible with Chinese characteristics.

As a result of the global economy, some Chinese have been forced to immigrate to other countries such as Canada. The shift in cultural values and beliefs has led to the liberalism, enabling the Chinese to voluntarily immigrate to other countries. Even while outside of China, maintenance of a Chinese identity is deemed important. Three institutions are largely involved in the maintenance of Chinese identity and these are “social and business networks, Chinese-language education systems and Chinese-language media” (Tamang, 2008).

As a result of this, new cultural images of the Chinese ethnic and cultural identities have been borne. The images related to Chinese culture are spread over the country and abroad in the world wide web. As a result of differences in socio-economic and educational backgrounds, some of the Chinese immigrants do not access these Chinese images hence this is shown to give rise to a new global economic hierarchy among immigrant groups (Tamang, 2008).

Chinese-language electronic media products have recently gained access to the global market and this has further redefined the Chinese identity in the culture of the immigrant Chinese. This is attributed to the fact that the some of the images broadcasted pose a certain difficulty for the Chinese immigrants who are trying to comprehend what relates to Chinese culture and what does not. One could now identify three evident versions in the world wide web of what could be called Chinese.

The first is related to Communism alongside its political ideology of socialism, in particular the loyalty to this regime and the feel of belonging to it. Secondly, Chinese identity is associated with being a part of Han ethnicity (Tamang, 2008). Thirdly is that the Chinese identity is closely knitted with Confucianism, a prominent feature of Chinese culture.

Culture and Chinese cultural identity

The elderly in one of the parks in Wuhan, Hubei Province gather together to greet the day through song and dance. The elderly are worried about the modernity that has imposed on the Chinese traditional values. The elderly think that the young Chinese people have abandoned their culture and the fact that schools and teachers do not talk about tradition makes it worse.

The young people prefer to visit the gym instead of giving patronage to the elderly in the continuum of traditional values (McGivering, 2005). Even though the culture of the modern world is changing, it is possible to have a unique Chinese identity that embraces the new without throwing away the old.

The culture in China is very imperative in defining the prevailing Chinese identity. This is especially the case with reference to Chinese nationalism. Chinese culture has been an integral element of globalization, development and progress. At no one time has the Chinese culture been abandoned, instead it has undergone a paradigm shift from traditional culture to modern culture. This is seen in the bulldozing of traditional houses to make way for modern blocks.

However, cultural preservation has been at the frontline as some individuals make attempts to stop destruction of traditional representations of old culture. The old houses are associated with a sense of belonging as individuals attempt to familiarize and associate themselves with the practices of the olden days. That is why individuals are willing to buy old-style houses as a way of preserving the Chinese identity.

In spite of globalization and changing world, cultural heritage is greatly valued among the Chinese. This is important for the economic domain in China because the strong cultural background makes China a tourist center. Cultural festivals are also held as a way of acknowledging and promoting cultural identity. In the recent years, as a result of contradictory in elements defining national culture, there has been a transformation towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006).

There have been various traditional rituals that have been conducted in memorial services in reverence to “Confucius and Yan and Huang, both of whom were legendary Chinese founders” (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006). Visits to Buddha’s finger bones are permitted through sacred tours.

More attention is accorded to traditional holidays which include: Lantern Festival, Moon Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Chinese New Year. Various individuals have been at the frontline in the transitions towards Confucianism such that houses are built while incorporating the Confucius style.

Regardless of the fact that there has been a distortion of the national culture, it persists to be displayed as coherent especially in the national TV system. This presentation of cultural uniformity tends to hide the eminent regional variety within China. For instance, besides having 55 ethnic minorities, there are diverse local cultures in Han only.

Every Chinese individual possesses a regional identity due to variation in cultural values. Each region has its own unique “language, heritage sites, famous persons, regional customs, native crops, landscape and cuisine” (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006). The Chinese culture is labelled as unique and captivating because of richness and diversity in its regional cultures.

Unfortunately, the rich and diverse cultural aspect of China is not shown on China’s television. The Chinese government is against the use of vernacular on local screen, but some ethnic minorities have the liberty to host TV programmes in their local dialects. The inconsistency and show of favour for some local dialect has led to contestation over dialect programming.

The legal structure in China was a triggering precipitating factor in adoption of Chinese daughters by U. S. families. The one-child policy led to the abandonment of female babies to orphanages since they were of insignificant value to the Chinese society. The Chinese identifies the male child to be the successor and bearer of the family name. The girl-child on the other hand is regarded as a misfortune. This cultural practice embedded in the legal framework takes a toll on the social and economic progress on China.

Not everything has been lost due to modernism. Something to smile about is the improved relationships between man and wife in a marriage. Initially, the main reason for marriage was to get an heir in the form of a son and that was it.

Nowadays things are different as the fact that few individuals recognize the essence of a daughter in the same light as a son is a good sign. The preference for a son has had a negative implication on the country because the government spends millions of dollars in attempts to shift the preferences (Branigan, 2011).

Conclusion

According to this discussion, it is obvious that the Chinese identity has been greatly attacked and forced to undergo metamorphosis. Changes have been realized right from the one-child policy, which interferes with the moral and social values of the Chinese people, to the destruction of cultural values due to globalization.

The woman has been sidelined and seen as unimportant. When a woman becomes empowered to the extent of securing a very decent and well-paying job, she is perceived as a threat to the man and this evidently shows the chauvinistic position of the Chinese society. Various cultural aspects strongly stand out that define the Chinese identity and these are communism, Han ethnicity and Confucianism.

References

Branigan, T. (2011). China’s great gender crisis. Theguardian. Web.

Chang, T. (2008). Choreographing the peacock: Gender, ethnicity and national identity in Chinese ethnic dance. Web.

Edlund, L., Li, H., Yi, J., & Zhang, J. (2007). Sex ratios and crime: evidence from China’s one-child policy. Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor.

Fischler, L. Yuan Fen: Fortuitous Connections, Gender, and Chinese Identity Transnationally. Web.

Golley, J., & Tyers, R. (2012). China’s gender imbalance and its economic performance. Web.

Li, S. (2007). Imbalanced sex ratio at birth and comprehensive interventions in China. Paper presented at the 4^th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproduction and Sex Health and Rights. India: Hyderabad.

Liu, K. (2004). Globalization and Cultural Trends in China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

McGivering, J. (2005). Fears for China’s cultural identity. BBC NEWS. Web.

Mei, W., & Zhenzhi, G. (2006). Globalization, national culture and the search for identity: A Chinese dilemma. Web.

Ning, W. (2007). Constructing Chinese National and Cultural Identities in the age of Globalization. Situations, 1, 26-43.

Tamang, R. (2008). Negotiating Chinese identity in the internet age. Asian Social Science, 4(11), 8-12.

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