The Rise of Modern Chinese Civilization: Research Proposal

Introduction

The modern Chinese civilization has its roots in the North China plain in 1700 BC through the Shang dynasty (Erbaugh, 1992). However, the most influential modern Chinese history ranges from the 1900s when the last Chinese emperor abdicated the throne and made the country a republic. In the period that followed China faced significant instability as different influential warlords fought for dominance (Wei, 2010). This was followed by a two-party (Chinese National Party and the Communist Party) initiative aimed at resolving the political problems that the nation was facing (Thomas & Liao, 2010). Later in 1931, China was confronted by another challenge when Japan seized Manchuria, which led to a war in 1937. During the war, the two parties unified to defeat Japan but in 1945 a civil war broke out which led to the death of many people until 1948 when it was put to an end by the win of the Communist Party and eventual creation of the Republic of China in October of 1949 (Lynch, 2015). Upon the fall of the Qing dynasty, Jiangxi played a significant role in the formation of the Communist Party and one of the earliest bases that gave birth and life to Communist ideals. The peasants on Jiangxi were recruited in the revolution and remained very friendly to the ideals of the communist party which led to the Nanchang uprising in August 1927 during the civil war. Jiangxi is a diverse community, with the majority being Han Chinese. Jiangxi has been instrumental in the development of social and cultural aspects in modern China (Goodman, 2004).

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Keywords

Modern Chinese history, social and cultural interactions, Jiangxi province, China

Research Questions

1. What is the contribution of Jiangxi Province in modern Chinese history?

2. What major social and cultural events in Jiangxi Province influenced the socio-cultural elements of modern China?

3. How has socio-cultural interactions and composition in Jiangxi province changed over time since 1900?

Literature Review

According to Thomas and Liao (2010), understanding the different cultural elements in Jiangxi plays a significant role in understanding the various interactions between the Chinese different cultural influences. Thomas and Liao (2010) note that China's cultural mechanisms and elements are significantly under the control of the government in which the communist party continues to influence the social and cultural aspects of the people. Lynch (2015) establishes that the cultural interactions have taken different eras in history to evolve beginning with the transition to socialism and the cultural revolution of between 1966 and 1976 and both have had a significant impact on the social, cultural interactions between the people. At the beginning of 1912 which marks an essential point in the modern Chinese history, Jiangxi maintained strong traditional principles that were inspired by Taoism, but the conventional aspect of the village life in Jiangxi changed in the 1980s due to modernization in both construction and living practices by the people (Ye, 2004).

Zhang (2017) notes that the Chinese traditional philosophies are the first level and influence the cultural aspects of the people in Jiangxi. Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are traditional instrumental aspects that influence the social and cultural that influence people behavior (Wang, 2014). The Confucianism principles guide the people into making decisions on the interactions with other people (Zhang, 2017). Besides, the Confucianism philosophies guided the interaction between different people from different cultural backgrounds interaction brought by transportation development, communication, and expansion of the economy forcing people to trade with each other.

In a study by Ferlanti (2010) shows that anti-communism, Confucianism, and Christianity significantly influenced the cultural elements and interactions in the province of Jiangxi. 1934-1938 is viewed as an era that had an immense impact on the cultural interaction of the people of Jiangxi especially during the New Life Movement which rallied people together on specific cultural ideals (Ferlanti, 2010; Hwang, 2015). Today, Jiangxi is a multicultural province where there are multiple social and cultural interactions taking place. Most of the traditional villages in Jiangxi have lost their identities due to modernization which has elevated the social and cultural interaction of the conventional villagers and way of life with modern societies and culture (Lynch, 2015). Yingqin (2012) further adds an essential element of globalization of culture as a vital element for the interactions of people from diverse backgrounds. Hinton (2011) confirms that globalization has led to the change of cultural values held by many people in China, which has led to more significant cultural interactions and diminishing of cultural boundaries even in Jiangxi. Within all the study highlighted there is a considerable gap in creating a historical context of the era of social and cultural interaction and future studies should establish the different social and cultural contexts and their influence in the period between 1912 and today.

Significance of the Study

This study will be instrumental in establishing the social and cultural elements and how they have influenced the history and development of the Republic of China and how the socio-cultural dynamics continue to influence the structure and interactions of the Chinese people in Jiangxi province.

Research Methodology

Qualitative Research Method

Due to the nature and the context of this research which seeks to assess the past social and cultural occurrences, decisions, and conditions and how they have influenced the present state in the nation's social and cultural interactions require a qualitative and case study research method. The qualitative research will be instrumental in the research by identifying the experiences of the people who live in Jiangxi and how they perceive the social and cultural interactions historical context. This will be instrumental in collecting data on how different social and cultural decisions at both the individual and community level has affected them (Mohajan, 2018). The case study research method will be used to help focus on Jiangxi province which will be instrumental in understanding the nature of social and cultural elements in Jiangxi for the last one century which is a time period that China as a whole. This research methodology will be instrumental in identifying critical social and cultural elements that have developed since the abdication of the last emperor and how the changing political and economic environment has influenced the interactions and relationships between people with different cultural and social practices, philosophies and backgrounds (Mills, Harrison, Franklin, & Birks, 2017).

References

Chen, L. (2016). Learning the Culture of a People: Chinese Communication as an Example. Intercultural Communication Studies, 25(1), 53. Retrieved from https://web.uri.edu/iaics/files/XXV1%E2%80%93Ling-CHEN.pdf

Erbaugh, M. S. (1992). The secret history of the Hakkas: The Chinese revolution as a Hakka enterprise. The China Quarterly, 132, 937-968. Retrieved from https://www.pdx.edu/intl/sites/www.pdx.edu.intl/files/Erbaugh%20Secret%20History%20of%20Hakkas%20CQ%20(2).pdf

Ferlanti, F. (2010). The new life movement in Jiangxi province, 1934-1938. Modern Asian Studies, 44(5), 961-1000. Retrieved from https://ccposters.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/New-Life-Movement-in-Jiangxi-Province.pdf

Goodman, D. S. (2004). China in East Asian and World Culture. Does China Matter, 71-86. Retrieved from https://www.erim.eur.nl/fileadmin/default/content/erim/research/centres/china_business/research/nwo_project/conference/programme/goodman_china_in_east_asian.pdf

Hinton, S. (2011). Ethnic Diversity, National Unity and Multicultural Education in China. Online Submission. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED527667.pdf

Hwang, K. K. (2015). Cultureinclusive theories of self and social interaction: The approach of multiple philosophical paradigms. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 45(1), 40-63. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jtsb.12050

Lynch, M. (2015). Mao's China 1936-97. London, Hodder Education. Retrieved from https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/History/9781471838972_ATH_Maos_China_sample.pdf

Mills, J., Harrison, H., Franklin, R., & Birks, M. (2017). Case study research: Foundations and methodological orientations. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 18, No. 1, p. 17). DEU. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/2655/4079

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Wang, F. (2014). A Study of the Interaction of Confucianism Buddhism and Taosim in Chinese History, and its Relevance to Interfaith Dialogue. Available at SSRN 2502745. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2502745

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