Statecraft in Symbols : Policy and the Life of the Chinese Nation

This book presents a study of how urban residency in China is regulated by state policy in the second decade of the 21st Century. Far from a straightforward divide between natives and newcomers, policy in this period has created delicate cross-classifications of internal migrants and attendant conditions under which they reside in particular urban areas. With reference to some of the most profound social theorists of the present day, such symbolic acts of division are explained as acts of statecraft carried out by different levels of public administration in the face of multiple quandaries. The book will appeal to those with an interest in the governance of population and territory in China, and by extension, in other parts of the contemporary world. Paul Cheung is a sociolinguist based in Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His research is centred upon the uses of public-domain communication in dealing with problems of feeding, healing and housing the population. His work has appeared in periodicals such as The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Medical Journal of Australia and Territory, Politics, Governance. He is also a co-editor of the volume Suzhou in Transition (Routledge, 2020) Preface Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables 1 Divide and Offer 1.1 Policy as Signs of National Life 1.2 Theorising Policy as Statecraft 1.2.1 Policy as Invariably Varied 1.2.2 China as a Policy-Issuing Entity 1.2.3 China as Part of the Modern World-System 1.2.4 China as Active Constituent Systems 1.3 Conceptualising Chinese State Policy 1.3.1 Statehood, the Citizenry and Nationhood 1.3.2 Policy and Policy Density 1.3.3 Policy in Discursive Space 1.4 Analysing Chinese State Policy 1.4.1 Interpreting Statecraft Through Policy 1.4.2 Focus on Ideology 1.4.3 Focus on Policy Form, Function, and Rhetoric 1.5 Chapter Outline References 2 Urban–Urban Disparities 2.1 Orientation 2.2 Policy’s Political Semiotics 2.2.1 Reproduction of Exchange Relations Through Recursion 2.2.2 Differentiation by Fractionalisation 2.3 Poleis and Populace in China 2.3.1 Mutual Imbrication of Territory and Population in Policy 2.3.2 Symbolic Construction of Poleis in Policy 2.3.3 Symbolic Construction of Populace in Policy 2.4 Discursive Architecture as Statecraft 2.4.1 The State as a Visionary 2.4.2 The State as Top-Level Designer 2.4.3 A New Identity for an Old Dilemma 2.5 Designing New Urban Citizenship 2.5.1 Urban Residency, Settlement, and Transience 2.5.2 The Regulation of Permanent Urban Settlement 2.5.3 New Citizenship in Beijing and Suzhou 2.6 Policy, Poleis, and Disparity References 3 Urban Classes 3.1 Orientation 3.2 Inequality Among Urban Residents 3.2.1 Empirical Perspectives 3.2.2 Theoretical Perspectives 3.2.3 Equality Before Law and Policy 3.2.4 Relations Between State and Societal Agents 3.3 Public Service Provision as Multi-party Exchange 3.3.1 Urban Scale and Administrative Rank 3.3.2 Equalisation as an Evolving Policy Agenda 3.3.3 Recursion of Policy Form and Function 3.4 Equalisation of Access to Public Education 3.5 Ideals, Inequities, and Imperatives 3.5.1 Freedom to Trade and Policy Sophistication 3.5.2 Freedom to Rule and Modes of Exchange 3.5.3 Redistribution Matters References 4 Common Tongue and Urban Membership 4.1 Orientation 4.2 Land and Language in China 4.2.1 Han Dialect Geography 4.2.2 Chinese Linguistic Historiography 4.3 State Policy and Nativism 4.3.1 Positions Within the Ideological Matrix 4.3.2 Studies of the Native Place and the Native Language 4.3.3 Linkages Between Land and Language 4.4 Analyses 4.4.1 Language Planning Policy Documents in Question 4.4.2 The Han Dialect and Putonghua 4.4.3 The Place of Origin and Migration Destination 4.4.4 The Place of Origin, Migration Destination, and Putonghua 4.4.5 The Place of Origin, Migration Destination, and the Han Dialect 4.5 Reflections 4.5.1 Ideological Positions in Recent Policy 4.5.2 Nativism in Recent Policy 4.5.3 Ideological Shifts References 5 Displaced Towards the Urban? 5.1 Orientation 5.2 Natural Disaster Management in China 5.2.1 Making Policy for Known and Unknown Disasters 5.2.2 Contingency in Post-Quake Resettlement Policy 5.3 Policy Sites 5.3.1 Locations 5.3.2 Demography and Geography 5.3.3 Quakes 5.3.4 Previous Research 5.3.5 Issues Arising 5.4 Analyses 5.4.1 Housing Reconstruction as a Policy Gap 5.4.2 Symbolic Construction of Suitable Sites 5.4.3 Rhetoric of Policy Divergence 5.4.4 Provisions for Rural Housing 5.4.5 Provisions for Urban Housing 5.5 Reflections References 6 Policy and National Life 6.1 Shadow or Substance? 6.2 Vital Signs References Index