Major Question

1
Major Question

• Why does violence exists in Chinese culture and
  society?
• The question is based on these premises
• Chinese culture condemns violence
• Chinese culture plays down the glory of military
  exploits
• Chinese culture awards its highest prestige to
  literary (wen) rather than martial (wu)
• Chinese culture values peach and harmony
• The book argues against these premises and seeks
  to give an objective answer

2
Theories and Perspectives

• Violence requires two conditions
• Conflicts
• Motivation to settle the conflict by force
• Conflicts/Violence as a reaction to repression
  that result in conflicts
• Two kinds of violence can be classified on the
  basis of social divisions/levels of social
  structure
• Vertical
• horizontal

3
Two Kinds of Violence

• Vertical Violence
• Violence that comes from above
• Violence that comes from below
• Horizontal violence
• Violence occurs among equals
• Both exist in different social units
• Families, clans
• Local society villages, rival communities
• Ethnic groups

4
Ethnic group conflict

• Conflict between ethnic Chinese (Han) and
  minority groups
• Larger among some fifty minority groups in China
  today
• Man (Manchus)
• Meng (Mongols)
• Hui (Muslims)
• The Manchus and The Mongols form conquest
  dynasties in premodern China
• Wars between Han and these steppe peoples were
  typical examples of collective violence
• Conflict between ethnic Han and subethnic Han

5
Class Conflict

• Perceived by communist historians as driving
  force of social struggles/collective violence in
  premodern China
• Conflict between ruler and the ruled
• Conflict between the privileged and the oppressed
• Conflict between landlords and peasantry
• Usually takes the form of
• revolts, rebellions, uprisings (from below)
• Ex., Nian and Taiping in the 19th century

6
Sectarian Violence

• Sectarian (cultic) groups perpetrated violence
• To seek civil rights, equality, justice,
• To bring down a repressive government or regime
  and establish a new order
• The White Lotus Sect Rebellion, the Nian
  Rebellion, and the Taiping Rebellion were the
  most prominent

7
Political Action

• Violent political actions
• Repressions, persecutions, slaughtering (from
  above)
• Most famous The June 4 Incident, 1989

8
Conflicting Norms Orthodox culture vs.
counterculture

• Orthodox culture
• Norms in Chinese orthodox culture
• Harmony and nonviolence
• Counterculture challenges orthodox culture
• Norms in counterculture
• Collective violence
• Each is represented by a particular social class
• Elite, literati class
• Dissenting local and/or ethnic group

9
Types of countercultures (I)

• Local counterculture
• Emerge when state authority becomes weak or
  non-existent
• Interlineage or intervillage armed affrays
• desperate maritime trader/ merchants armed
  themselves to defend their rights
• Ethnic feuding
• Ethnic counterculture
• Hui (Muslim), Zang (Tibetan) and other ethnic
  groups struggle against Han-dominated government
  or state

10
Types of Countercultures (II)

• Millenarianism
• Millenarian sects launch revolutionary action in
  hopes of creating an ideal society believed to be
  coming
• Popular culture vs. literati culture
• Popular culture glorifies martial arts and
  military exploits
• Heroes are portrayed as martial-art experts,
  swordsman with superb skill

11
Types of Counterculture (III)

• Popular literature
• Novels of roving swordsmen/knights (wuxia
  xiaoshuo)
• Mainstream Chinese vernacular novels
• Sanguo Zhi Yanyi, Shuihu Zhuan, Xiyou Ji
• Popular literature is the source of
• Operas
• Puppet shows
• Television serials