A Nation-State by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism by Suisheng Zhao

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Synopsis

This is the first historically comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the causes, content, and consequences of nationalism in China, an ancient empire that has struggled to construct a modern nation-state and find its place in the modern world.

Foreign Affairs

The dominant narrative of modern China has centered around its transformation from a universalistic empire to a modern nation-state—especially the difficulties of constructing viable elite and mass versions of nationalism. In this major work, Zhao examines the concept of nationalism in the context of modern Chinese history, exhibiting a total command of a huge body of literature by both Chinese and Western scholars. The framework of his story is well known—from the humiliation of the Opium War and the treaty port system to the fall of the Manchus, the May Fourth Movement, and the attempts to fuse communism and nationalism—but his narrative has a freshness and sharpness thanks to his skillful analysis of the complex sentiments that shaped Chinese nationalism at every turn. Zhao holds out hope that, after all the pain China has suffered in the process of modernizing, the country will continue to develop a form of "pragmatic nationalism"—focused on economic growth, and thus concerned with political stability and national unity. All of China's top leaders since Deng Xiaoping have been pragmatic nationalists, Zhao notes, but other versions of nationalism have also won support from sectors of the population.

Biography

Suisheng Zhao is Associate Professor at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies, and Executive Director of its Center for China-U.S. Cooperation. He is the founder and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China and has authored and edited five books.