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 valuespeach 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