Reflecting on the Paradox of Globalisation: China's Search for Cultural Identity and Coherence

In: China: CIJ ; an international journal, Band 4, Heft 1, S. 1-31

Abstract

China's intellectuals have responded to the cultural impact of globalisation in various ways. Some have welcomed it, regarding it as the harbinger of cultural changes that will modernise China and lead to democratic reform. Many more have expressed hostility and alarm, fearing increased individualism and consumerism. China's leaders have nevertheless determined to further expose the country to global forces, confident that the Chinese state is sufficiently robust to counter threats to its sovereignty in the cultural realm. However, the paradoxical tendencies of globalisation — cultural homogenisation and cultural fragmentation — will constitute a significant challenge to the leadership in defining and guarding what it understands 'Chinese' culture to be.