Intellectual Contestation over China’s Multiethnic Regime

Intellectual Contestation over China’s Multiethnic Regime

This project will critically examine the societal discourse surrounding ethnic politics in mainland China, focusing on how intellectuals utilized various philosophical, theoretical, and cultural resources while adapting, appropriating, and rearticulating ideas to engage with the subject. It will shed light on the critical-mindedness and agency of contemporary Chinese intellectuals and enhance our understanding of intellectual praxis and knowledge production in a non-Western context.
DFG, 2025-2027

Leitung

Research Fellow / Editor Journal of Current Chinese Affairs

Forschungsfragen

This project seeks to address the following three research questions (RQs):
• RQ1: how were particular subjects, objects, and interpretive dispositions constituted within the post-Mao Chinese intellectual discourse that made possible the assimilationist shift in the PRC multiethnic regime since the early 2010s?
• RQ2: what kind of dissenting voices within the post-Mao Chinese intellectual discourse could be found that question, resist, or challenge assimilationism in the PRC multiethnic regime, and how did those voices envision alternative modes of multiethnic governance?
• RQ3: what theoretical resources and methodological tools did Chinese intellectuals employ in voicing criticism toward assimilationism in the PRC multiethnic regime, and what lessons can we learn from their intellectual praxis as a case of non-Western knowledge production?

Beitrag zu internationaler Forschung

This project will advance a nuanced understanding of the assimilationist shift in the PRC multiethnic regime as both contingent upon the social, political, and cultural context of post-Mao China and contested in multiple domains of societal discourse. Drawing from the theoretical and methodological insight of Critical Constructivism, Comparative Political Theory, and New Sinology, the project will analyze the shifting PRC multiethnic regime by critically examining the broader societal discussion on ethnic politics inside China, particularly the dissenting voices. It will closely examine how Chinese intellectuals drew upon different philosophical, theoretical, and cultural resources while adapting, appropriating, and rearticulating ideas in engaging with the topic. In doing so, the project will enable a holistic understanding of the shifting PRC multiethnic regime, shed light on the critical-mindedness and agency of contemporary Chinese intellectuals, and advance our understanding of intellectual praxis and knowledge production in a non-western context.

Forschungsdesign und Methoden

The first objective (work package 1) is to understand the intellectual foundation of the recent assimilationist shift in the PRC multiethnic regime by systematically analyzing the constitution of subjects, objects, and interpretive dispositions in post-Mao Chinese intellectual discourse on ethnic politics. I will conduct a comprehensive survey of the literature on post-Mao Chinese ethnic policy change, official policy discourse, and policy debates, followed by a mixed-method analysis to identify the major trends in societal discourse concerning ethnic affairs and analyze the ideas of important texts and the intertextual links. Finally, I will situate our existing knowledge of post-Mao Chinese ethnic policy into my findings from the above step and discuss the implications of the sociocultural condition for understanding the recent policy change.

The second objective (work package 2) is to study the intellectual contestation of the assimilationist shift by documenting and examining writings within the post-Mao Chinese intellectual discourse that question, resist, or challenge the above development. I will examine the segments of the post-Mao societal discourse that question, resist, or challenge the above policy trend during the same period (i.e. 1980s–2010s).

The third objective (work package 3) is to critically appreciate the strategies of intellectual resistance against the assimilationist shift in the PRC multiethnic regime by examining the theoretical resources and methodological tools employed by Chinese intellectuals in expressing critical opinions about China’s ethnic policy. I will unpack the theoretical resources and methodological tools employed by participants in the Chinese ethnic policy debate through Comparative Political Theory-informed hermeneutics on representative texts selected based on the findings of the previous two work packages.

Eterotopie | 2025

Che cento fiori sboccino: il dibattito sulla politica etnica della Cina fra il 2004 e il 2015

This essay explores the social context anticipating the intensified effort to assimilate China’s vast ethnic minority population under Xi Jinping by tracing the debate among prominent university professors, government-affiliated researchers, and high-ranking officials over China’s ethnic policy between 2004 and 2015.

Dr. Sinan Chu

Research Fellow / Editor Journal of Current Chinese Affairs