Abstract
This investigation is about how Chinese overseas online commentators (COOCs) respond to political discourses on China. COOCs present the ideological heterogeneity of Chinese overseas. Their diverse responses to different ideological debates show patterns that manifest how the Chinese diaspora enact their positional cultural identification. The analysis of the data showed that on both sides of the divide, the debate leads commentators to assume positions of attachment to, or detachment from, their Chinese cultural affiliations not in a set of binary oppositions but as a continuum with varying degrees. Along this division line, internal fragmentation can be further identified by different views of China’s external tension with other world powers. The notable internal complexity can arguably represent the nation’s maturation.
Keywords
Introduction
Conflicts across borders and ideologies split the world and stir people’s hearts. Individuals can feel such conflicts and reflect and react to such conflicts differently in ways consistent with the basic characteristics of their cultural identification positions. Cultural identity is defined here as one’s self-concept formed and performed in communication that emphasizes cultural membership (Dong, 2011). Cultural identity is multidimensional in structure and fluid in context, consisting of an individual’s four life realities – individuality, sociality, spirituality, and materiality (Dong, 2011). The complexity of internal divisions caused by external tensions implies the possibility of conflict resolution rooted in the cultural identification of individuals who are mindful about intercultural differences. Therefore, studies of one culture’s internal divisions are significant in interpreting this conflict-torn world and helpful in finding possible solutions based on intercultural mutual understanding.
This article is about how Chinese overseas Internet users respond to political discourses on China in their textual comments attached to online articles, selected and reposted on a major Chinese website headquartered in the United States. Such commentary messages pseudonymously contributed to the online forums formed around specific online articles contain rich information about the ideological preferences of the commentators because of the salient position of spirituality. Spirituality incorporated in the complexity of cultural identity involves one’s ideological preference, political stance, spiritual value, and/or religious faith. Although somewhat distancing from mundane necessities, an individual’s spirituality can be emotionally powerful and significantly influence the way he or she communicates with others. Spirituality is a prime force leading to the internal fragmentation of a cultural group. The manifestation of one’s spiritual position is inherently interconnected with one’s cultural attachment and therewith can signify one’s cultural identification.
To study positional cultural identification is to study ideological influence on communication in a particular technological setting and cultural context. The study of positional cultural identification is meaningful for grasping group psychology of the studied cultural group. The online setting permits Chinese overseas online commentators (COOCs) to freely exhibit their spirituality (spiritual reality), like ideological preference and political stance, for they do not have to consider some direct relational threat offending others at an interpersonal level or in a daily social setting. Online the revelation and influence of individuality, referring to individual traits such as personality, temperament, and life attitude, might be relatively limited due to the rather limited communication channel. In terms of materiality like physical or material conditions, the online environment turns out to be relatively egalitarian for COOCs, who rely mostly on textual messages in communicating ideas. When three (sociality, individuality, materiality) of the four prongs of cultural identity become submerged, the fourth one – spirituality – would stand out as its salient property. Such a positional feature is particularly distinctive when the discussion topics are about ideological clashes regarding China in the global context. The online forums of ideological debates provide unique textual data particularly suitable for probing into the general and subtle ideological positions and spiritual characteristics of the researched community.
Specifically, this article asks: (1) what are the group’s points of division in their responses to ideologically loaded cultural criticisms that originate in geopolitics and set China as the ideological rival? (2) How are COOCs’ diverse and subtle positions on the prevalent ideological clashes implicated in their positional cultural identification? I pay special attention to the points of division that clash among COOCs regarding the global positioning of China influenced and characterized by the changing global context marked by historical events such as end of the Cold War, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Cultural identity and computer-mediated communication
In the epoch of the Internet, identity tends to be viewed as more fragmented than ever (Grossberg, 1996; Hall, 1996). Rejecting the essentialist, unified, singular, and static conception of identity, Hall (1996) stressed a more diverse, dynamic, strategic, positional, and multifaceted idea of identity constructed through discourses and immersed in power dynamics. The fragmentation and fluid dynamics of identity situated in geopolitical and ideological contexts have received substantial attention.
Cultural identity as a prismatic lens
Relatively fixed but always fluid, the various realities one lives in help form one’s sense of self and shape the core dimensions of identity. The constitution of identity is the result of long-term cultivation that fuels and drives one’s perception of the outer world. Due to the dynamic nature of cultural identification (Carbaugh, 1994; Hecht, 1993; Hecht et al., 2005), the textural quality of identity may also change as a result of constant social construction (Carbaugh, 1994). The changes may be superficial and fluid. But in the long run, they might become sources of profound change in the matrix of an individual’s cultural identity. The complexity and dynamic characteristics of cultural identity can form an analytic prism to discern people’s identification embedded in the online environment.
The communication perspective on cultural identification
Communication scholarship has attempted to unravel the relationship between identity and communication across cultural contexts (Mendoza et al., 2002). Some scholars define identity as one’s self-concept informed by self-avowal (self-perception of ‘who I am’) and -ascription (social categorization) (Mendoza et al., 2002). Others have stated that identity is the performed self situated in culture (Mendoza et al., 2002). As a process of enacting identity, identification is defined as the interplay of the ascribed self and the avowed self (Hecht et al., 2005). Some scholars have conceptualized identification as a cultivable, manageable, negotiable, and even manipulable communicative process that is fluid and complex (Collier, 2005). The theorization of identity as a communicative construct can help understand and interpret the intra-cultural specificity of intercultural identification in a particular group of people sharing a common language and using interactive online media.
Computer-mediated communication and cultural identification
Hecht et al. (2005) have suggested that online social interactions can produce virtual communities in which identity may have more salient and diverse positions and processes. Computer-mediated communication settings provide unique environments for people to exchange messages and perform their identities. Aspects of identities hidden in face-to-face communication can become salient. Online pseudonymity allows communicators to express their points of view and present what they usually restrain. Because online communication is unbounded by social scale and geographic restriction, content providers and commentators may evoke myriads of viewpoints and identity politics, and even engage in blatant discussions of critical issues. The Internet constitutes a platform that attracts and encourages sharing of more diverse messages and more personal experience. Al-Saggaf (2006) suggested that online discourse offers more trustworthy and valuable data for examining group thoughts.
Methodological considerations
The discourse data examined here are from different forums nestled in one Chinese portal website called ‘wenxuecity.com’ or ‘literary city’ founded and headquartered in California. The discourses analyzed in this study are messages intended to be heard among in-group members, because they are mostly in the Chinese language. The textual messages are voluntary, contingent, and thereby representative of the states of mind of participants, who are mostly physically residing outside China due to the fact that the website has been blocked within China since shortly after its establishment in 1997.
The website
The amount and quality of readers’ comments are the main factors for selecting wenxuecity.com as a prime site for the current study. Compared to numerous other Chinese websites, wenxuecity.com has many noticeable advantages in attracting more commentaries, of a higher quality, from a more diverse group of participants. First, wenxuecity.com adopts an eclectic (inclusive of various ideological preferences and political stances) editorial orientation appealing to a broader Chinese reading audience. Second, the posting procedure is user-friendly and appropriate for commentators. Third, the advertising content of the website is moderate and restrained (normally only appearing around the narrow webpage margins of the news and affiliated forums), providing ample room for information and opinion sharing. The Internet helps make such second-hand news stories available to readers in near synchronization with the original media.
Sampling process
The sampling of data is a purposeful and dynamic process. Data collection followed this pattern: browsing headlines; selecting forums of reader commentaries around certain news stories according to certain criteria; storing the commentary pages as well as the news contents. The final selection of data is based on themes that reflect points of positional division within the researched community such as political reform, democracy, and relationship with the West.
The population
The definition of the researched population is based on the authorship of online commentaries, which is part of the target readership of the website. The authors of the postings under investigation are mostly anonymous, active or reactive to news events, contingent and random. Due to the website’s eclectic editorial orientation and apparent priority to content related to the PRC, the majority of its readership is estimated to be Chinese from mainland China. This group may include Chinese overseas who are students, professionals, personnel working in Chinese embassies or consulates, spouses and dependants, and other types of visitors or travelers.
Grounded theory procedures
From an interpretive approach based on grounded theory protocols, I identified themes from the systematic readings of the data. Grounded theory provides tactics for data collection as well as tools of data analysis (Charmaz, 2005; Strauss, 1987). As a ‘constant comparative method,’ grounded theory suggests a qualitative research protocol that focuses on close, constant, and comparative readings of data to render concepts, categories, and their connections, which synergically form inductive and local theories (Charmaz, 2006). In the current study, grounded theory is employed to guide the overall research process, including data collection, data analysis, and elaboration of theoretical constructs to answer the research questions.
The selected forums
The four forums selected for this study are formed around four articles dealing with the internal or external tensions that China faces today. The first article, titled ‘Attitude firm: People’s Daily claims that China will never adopt tripartite system for separating power’ (Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010), is a report about a recent editorial on China’s largest newspaper and party organ, People’s Daily, that clarifies some principal issues about the ‘integrity’ of China’s political system including the regime’s foundational position about separation of powers. The second article, titled ‘China didn’t bite the bait: Most of Asian democratic nations are bleeding now,’ is a personal blog entry originally posted under the pseudonym SuYi QingShan or ‘Plain Clothes and Light Fan.’ The author expounds the value and praxis of democracy in the current global hegemonic system manifesting a clear pro-China, or more precisely pro-current-regime-of-China position (Zong He Xin Wen, 2010). The third article, titled ‘US declares: Resorting to war cannot be eliminated to prevent the global power transition to China’ (Dong Fang Wang, 2009), is a news report about a symposium on China’s rise and its influence on the United States held in the US, where Dr Denny Roy, an expert on Northeast Asian security and governance issues, admonished that the US might resort to war to contain China on its way to becoming a dominating global power. The fourth article, titled ‘China dumbfounded by the US and Europe’s determination and scheme to ruin China thoroughly’ (Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009), is another online article by an anonymous author who described how China has been the Euro-American hegemonic powers’ long-term target of conquest. In the first two articles, the authors stressed China’s internal tensions related to the societal structural flaws. The authors of the last two articles attempted to establish dismal scenarios of the increased external tensions China has to confront as a member of the global community. All four articles triggered fervent discussions, which can illustrate the complexity of COOCs’ ideological positions.
Political debates as positional cultural identification
Positional cultural identification is a communication act manifesting one’s ideological positioning with righteous and rhetorical argumentation over issues of ideological debates. More specifically, it involves the enactment of one’s cultural identity through: (a) demonstration of one’s relatively stable ideological position, (b) argumentation over the righteousness of such position, and (c) rhetorical elaboration of such position to influence others (Collier, 2005; Luther, 2003). COOCs’ commentary responses to various political debates exemplify positional cultural identification and exhibit their internal divisions.
Findings
Positional cultural identification in online political commentaries
In the forums of political debates researched in this study, a general line of ideological division can be identified between the left conservative and the right liberal. In China, the political stance of the left wing tends to be more conservative, stressing the maintenance of the extant system and traditional values; while the right wing is more liberal, stressing the necessity for reform and openness. Commentaries featuring a left-wing political stance stressed cultural affiliation and exaggerated the ideological tensions between China and western society. Commentaries featuring a right-wing political stance exhibited a critical detachment from the cultural core (often oriented against the current regime of China) and embraced some universal values promoted by the western society such as democracy and individualism.
COOCs’ ideological positions, as manifested in their commentary responses to the four articles, are divided by their critical or defensive cultural core and their perceptions of an appreciated or depreciated external (foreign) tension. A critical cultural core is one’s critical attitude toward one’s own culture, in which one tends to fixate on the negative aspects of one’s culture (Akhavan-Majid, 2004; Collier, 2005; Lewis, 1999; McChesney, 2004; Wu, 2007). While a defensive cultural core is one’s defensive attitude toward one’s own culture, in which one tends to look at the positive aspects of one’s culture. Perception of an appreciated external tension refers to one’s evaluation of an increasingly hostile global environment, whereas the perception of a depreciated external tension refers to one’s evaluation of a more peaceful global environment with less formidable competing powers from outside. In the depreciative perception of China’s external environment, COOCs tend to either diminish the dominating capacity of the rival West or downplay their hostility and existing tension with China. In the four forums analyzed here, COOCs exhibited their ideological positions with messages showing their understandings of their cultural cores and the global context from various perspectives.
Critical vs defensive cultural core
In these four forums, there are slightly more defensive comments than critical comments, though critical and defensive comments are almost even in the first forum about the practicability of a tripartite system in China. Some messages, either from a critical or defensive cultural core, have clear reference to the perceived global tensions and external influence on China.
Most comments implicating a critical cultural core were aimed at discrediting the legitimacy of the current Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as anti-democratic and insatiable exploiters of the Chinese people. For the COOCs with a critical cultural core, the dictatorship of China’s current regime is a kind of cultural shame that hampers their cultural attachment. Democracy, as defined in the West, is promoted by these COOCs with a critical cultural core as a universal value. The comments indicate that they rejoice in the fact that they are ‘not part of’ the Chinese dictatorship. Many critical comments are made as simple, direct criticisms against the Chinese Communist ideology. For example: ‘people will realize that commies form a gigantic burden and tumor in Chinese society;’ ‘commies are the source of all Chinese sins;’ and ‘since its birth, from head to toe, in every pore of Chinese communism is… full of blood and dirty stuff.’ One commentator denounced the hypocrisy of the CCP in its refusal to admit the nature of its dictatorship and acknowledge the advantages of the western political system:
… with no competition and administrative rotation, the Chinese government is definitely a kind of dictatorship. The power separation and balance in the Western society is multi-leveled… While [the] Western political system is not flawless and omnipotent, but it is perhaps the best that human beings have ever had… (commentary to Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010)
Then the same commentator used his or her own knowledge and experience of close contact with the US society to support what he or she understood as the advantage of the US system:
For example, the US administrative law has a ‘dual-channel’ principle that requires that both sides of a dispute must have the opportunity and capability to counterclaim: when there’s the accusatory prosecutor, there must be the refuting defense attorney; the police can give people citations and people should be able to appeal… That is called the society. (commentary to Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010)
This commentator manifested a critical cultural core and perception of the appreciated external tension, which integrate to form an ideological position reinforced by close contact with the US society.
Contrary to the critical messages, messages from a defensive cultural core were intended to reassert the realism and rationality of the current Chinese regime. The COOCs with such defensive cultural core refused the claim that China is in a dictatorship and emphasize that Chinese democracy is a different kind of democracy. For defensive COOCs, dictatorship is an unfounded accusation against China and democracy a cheap, handy pretext employed by the West to contain China. Some defensive commentators aimed their attacks at Chinese dissidents. For example: ‘Back up ten thousand steps, even if China adopted a Tripartite System, those dissidents of Du Yun Lun [Separatists, Democratists, and Fa Lun Gong] would not have good fruits to eat.’ Another commentator expressed feelings about the West’s reaction: ‘Once a Tripartite System got established, all the wheels [Fa Lun Gong practitioners] should be first eradicated and then the West would have nothing to say.’ While another commented:
No need to sanctify a Tripartite System for separating power. Like Mao Zedong once said: ‘Everything has two sides’. A Tripartite System has some advantages, but also can be notoriously inefficient. Besides, today’s China is not in Mao’s-like dictatorship. The CCP has some internal mechanisms for separating and balancing power and encouraging competition. The current Chinese political leaders who are all winners out of this competing system are not shy of their Western counterparts in terms of intelligence and integrity. They call the Chinese system ‘democratic centralism,’ ‘internal democracy,’ which is a kind of ‘elitist democracy’ per se. (commentary to Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010)
Then the same commentator stressed the 30-year accomplishments of the current Chinese government to prove the superiority of the Chinese political system and depreciate the immediate external threat.
Some of the comments from a defensive cultural core appeared rather realistic and critical about China’s current societal conditions but eventually displayed deep concern for stability and a wish to maintain the status quo. A commentator who denied the practicability of the tripartite system in China started his or her argumentation by criticizing China’s status quo:
… to nowadays, the head of a state-run company can earn compensation hundreds times of a regular employee! CCP has died with only a hollow shell! Beijing University sets up senior executive programs training American high officials. In Wall Street, Keynes’s capitalism does not work! Today’s world is calling for a brand new mode. So young fellows, please get to understand ‘Marxism and Leninism’ and ‘Keynes’ and investigate the realities of workers and farmers before working on creating the brand new theory!! However, in China of 1.3 billion people, the ‘Tripartite System’ must lead China to a dead end. (commentary to Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010)
Toward the end of the above argumentation, the commentator revealed his or her defensive cultural core asserting the position for maintaining the current regime. Critical comments do not necessarily come from a critical cultural core and defensive comments might not necessarily be from a defensive cultural core. Therefore the superficial rhetorical strategies can vary, taking a critical or a defensive tone, and it is the nature of the cultural core that determines the ideological position of the commentators.
Perceptions of appreciated vs depreciated external tensions and influences
Not all commentaries with a particular ideological position reference the tensions and influences of the global environment. The ideological commentaries with reference to the external world utilize such references to reinforce their ideological positions. The references to China’s outer environment made in the researched commentaries with ideological positions are mostly related to the commentators’ perceptions of appreciated or depreciated external tensions and influences. Perceptions of appreciated and depreciated external tensions and influences can be identified in both critical and defensive commentaries.
Defensive position in an appreciative perception
One example of a defensive position with reference to or perception of the appreciated external tensions and influence is as follows:
Matter-of-fact, in many Asian, African, and Latin countries, democracy didn’t bring wealthy and stable life to their people. Successful democratic regimes have some basic characteristics: 1) first strengthening the nation and then promoting democracy, like Britain, U.S., Japan, and most European nations, whose sophisticated democracies are built upon a relatively wealthy and stable internal societal environment; 2) selecting the path for oneself: every nation designs and perfects democracy according to its peculiar situation. (commentary to Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009)
Then the same commentator, after this defensive argumentation, began referring to a more and more intense international environment and the external influences on China’s society:
In today’s China, the first characteristic has been achieved and democratic reform can start right now. But the external environment cannot be optimistic. We have to be cautious, moving slowly with small steps. Chinese democracy needs a slower pace. Ignore the US bullshit and never copy the mode of other countries, because China is China. No other nation in the world has ever traveled along the path of China. (commentary to Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009).
So for this commentator, the existing tensions between China and the outer world and the growing influences of western ideas are the primary factor that slows down the pace of China’s political reform, regarding the principle and praxis of democracy.
Critical position in a appreciative perception
In many of the comments from a critical cultural core, the critical position was established on the basis of a perception of appreciated external tensions and influences. For example, one said: ‘China is too self-satisfied. It wouldn’t be too much more difficult for the U.S. to choke China to death than [how it has handled] Japan and Iraq before.’ One seemingly pacifist commentator attempted to promote peace and criticize the CCP in an argumentation that stressed the insurmountable power of the West:
No war, please… The best choice for China is ‘hibernating’ like Japan and Germany for the sake of [a] billion lives. Give up military expansion. Work on economic development. Improve human rights and civilization… No one can beat up USA. Put all the force together (including Russians if they help [the] Chinese), China will not be able to defeat NATO. Know who is the real boss on the earth, you might survive better! Don’t say you have some extra money, so you will be the boss. The real boss is who know[s] how to use the money from your pocket as long as they want. Get it? Chinese are not good at war at all. Don’t try war, which is the worst choice for [the] Chinese people. If CCP will lead Chinese to another war, the billion Chinese people themselves will kick you out. (originally in English commentary to Dong Fang Wang, 2009)
The critical position manifested in this commentator’s expressed perception of the appreciated external tensions stirred up some furious counterpunches from the defensive commentators. For instance,
Do you really think that Chinese people are afraid of your American nominal father and you SOB? 50 years ago, China already beat up your American nominal ancestors in the Korean peninsula, not to say now. Come on! Let me castrate you – an American running dog. (commentary to Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009)
This commentator’s counterpunching with the perception of depreciated external influences represents a type of indignant nationalist COOCs who seek gratification in such virtual oral brawls or war of words.
Defensive position in a depreciative perception
Among the commentary responses researched in the four forums, there are more defensive comments from a defensive cultural core than from a critical cultural core that were established on the perception of depreciated external tensions and influences. These COOCs who took up a defensive position maintained their positive cultural identification in their assessment of China’s national comprehensive strength and believed this strength to be equivalent or superior to their western counterparts. In the cultural identification of these COOCs, cultural pride supersedes cultural shame leading to cultural superiority, nationalism, or even chauvinism. For example:
It’s too late to stop the transition of global power [from the West] to China… There has been a sick financial system in the US for a long time, plus the Clinton government made a big mistake that he couldn’t eliminate a potential war against terrorism that made China get a chance to develop. Now the U.S. is going down inevitably… a nuclear war… No one could win. (commentary to Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009)
Another example:
Although the U.S. is the sole super power in the world, it’s going down like the sunset. Even threat of war would not work because China is a nuclear power. The day when the U.S. declares war against China will be the day when it becomes the second U.K. (commentary to Dong Fang Wang, 2009)
The above defensive position was set up in a manner of looking down upon the rivalry and in an effort of inspiring cultural pride.
Critical position in a depreciative perception
A few commentaries taking critical positions were intended to criticize the hypersensitivity of some ‘simple-minded’ Chinese, who make much ado in their responses to external tensions and influences. For instance, one commentator posited: ‘China’s structure causes China’s stagnation, which has nothing to do with the Euro-American West.’ For these commentators, the internal causes of China’s contemporary ordeals are much more critical than the external ones. Responding to the fourth article about the western scheme to contain China, a commentator stated:
China’s problems are fundamentally internal problems. External causes can only be effective via internal causes. Only Chinese people can change China. Don’t become cheap conspiracy theorists. Since childhood, we are so educated that it was all the imperialists’ fault and the Party never did anything wrong. That was just a transition of tensions [from internal to external] and discouraging independent thinking. (commentary to Zhong Hua She Qu, 2009)
Such a critical position in a depreciative external perception can be more often identified in commentaries intended to refute a defensive position in an appreciative perception.
Frames of other identity properties
The majority of the aforementioned examples of COOCs’ comments construct the embedded ideological positions based on a perception of the global context, which is formed via the perspective of sociality within the total structure of cultural identity. Such sociality is defined within the dynamics of the perceived Chinese international relationship and global status quo, both of which have symbolic and substantial influence on individual commentators. Both appreciative and depreciative perceptions of external tensions and influences are formed not only via one’s understanding of the broader context but also through the perspective of one’s internalized sociality, like one’s understanding of relational norms and dialectics. The ideological positioning supported by certain logical and rhetorical argumentations is evidently characterized by the frame of the commentators’ sociality.
Some other comments with ideological positions from the four forums are more evidently characterized by the frames of individuality and materiality. For instance, one commentator stressed his or her critical position with the frame of individuality – individual interests and benefits: ‘Who cares what China needs? Dictatorship?! Fine! Thank God, I am not part of it.’ Another commentator also manifested his or her critical position from an individual and selfish perspective:
CCP has determined to stick to this road toward a dead end until falling into the dismal abyss. Fortunately I, my wife, and children have been out of there [China]. Our lives are not much better, but the good thing is that we don’t have to sacrifice ourselves together with them [people in the dying CCP regime]. (commentary to Xing Dao Huan Qiu Wang, 2010)
One commentator promoted his or her defensive position via a clear perspective of materiality, stressing the precondition of a solid economic base for the superstructure of democracy:
… poor countries adopting democracy can spoil the true meaning of democracy… In poor nations, democracy might mean corruption and separation. We only want the democracy of wealthy nations, not that of poor nations… China was once very poor and now just starts to accumulate some resources. Following the same path, China is very promising to smoothly transit into a real democratic society. (commentary to Zong He Xin Wen, 2010)
Another commentator also talked about the material or economic base for ‘real’ democracy:
Democracy in poor countries can only be counterproductive… Democracy can be extra good only for a nation with enough resources… Only if the state gets rich, could its citizens live a better life. (commentary to Zong He Xin Wen, 2010)
The manifestation of an ideological position – from a critical or defensive cultural core – in the researched online commentaries sometimes relies on perspectives of other identity properties. On the other hand, messages with an ideological position might contain information about the commentator’s individuality, materiality, and sociality as well as spirituality. The integrative framework of cultural identity can be heuristic in understanding the patterns of COOCs’ group psychology.
Implications
As Hall (1996) posits, cultural identity’s internal fragmentation is more important than its often assumed homogeneity for outsiders. Heterogeneity from within can represent one primary aspect of the characteristics of cultural identity. This tenet is particularly true for intercultural communication scholars in the era of the Internet, when people can be more connected with each other, more exposed to differences and more expressive about their personal views. With a focus on one unique, clamorous cyber-ethnic quarter in the bustling and boisterous Internet ‘megalopolis,’ the results of this study resound with current literature on identity issues in media and cultural studies. Beyond nation, race, class, and ideology, the current study has identified new, finer categories to represent the differentiation of cultural identification even from within the same cultural group. For instance, the internal fragmentation of the COOCs’ cultural identification can be represented and explained by the matrix of two conceptual dialectics – a critical vs defensive cultural core, a depreciated vs appreciated perception of external tensions – which reveals the subjects’ psychological state of cultural spectatorship. These categories illustrate the structural multidimensionality and dynamic rotation of identity positions. The reported internal divisions in this study can illustrate Hall’s idea of the internal, ‘psychic mechanism’ of identity, which has become more evident in the new media environment with its constantly expanding range of participants. Furthermore, the observed trend of individualization among the COOCs in this study exemplifies Hokinson’s (2007) proposition that the Internet helps society become more and more individualized. On the other hand, this study also corroborates Mitra (2005) observation of the cultural convergence effect of the Internet. The current study expands the literature by stressing the dialectic tension between the trend of individualization and the effect of cultural convergence – the Internet becomes a place for in-group individuals to collectively express their preference for individualization.
This examination of the dynamics of positional identification also reveals how the four prongs of cultural identity intersect in the construction of identities. Although ideological debate activates the dimensions of individuality, sociality, and materiality, together they form part of the identity matrix that allows individuals to define their sense of self and perceptions of others. The responses to ideological debates show how COOCs – whether critical or defensive of China – define positions that stress individuality. While some might be more driven to sociality, striving to connect to the social reality of China to enact a sociocultural affiliation, others respond through the scope of materiality, prioritizing economic bases and accentuating material necessities in their assertion of Chinese identity. Yet, another set approach identification by elevating cultural attitudes and national sentiment. The boundaries among these various positionings are not clear-cut mainly because the different dimensions are mingled in the constitution of a particular position of identification. For example, cultural pride or patriotic sentiment, reflective of one’s sociality, might be expressed along with one’s view on the imperative of meeting the material needs of the people, which reflects the dimension of materiality. In other cases, commentators start with references to individual human factors and move on to talk about China’s social reality, based upon which they might establish their ideological/spiritual preferences in a direct manner – as in the case of COOCs that challenged the CCP by arguing that its dominance is the reason for China’s social and moral degeneration.
The COOCs’ construction of their ideological positioning shows how perceptions of China’s position in the global environment mediate the enactment of individual and group positions of identification. Generally, the articulation of an ideological position and sense of cultural membership is supported by a particular stance on and analysis of the relationship between China and the West, which is often posed as one’s position with regard to the rivalry between China and the United States. Often, these COOCs’ understandings of China in the global context are expressed as either a perception that tensions between China and the West are increasing and could lead to change along the lines of the democratic reforms favored by critics of the regime, or a perception that diminishes the capacity of western powers to dominate China and views a global environment with less competition and hostility toward China. These debates suggest the importance of intercultural contact for the construction of identity positions among Chinese living abroad.
This study is also linked genealogically to literature on Chinese identity in the diaspora. The findings relate to the current status of newer members of the Chinese diaspora worldwide and reflect finer grained internal divisions and more diverse survival strategies in the contemporary, post-colonial, post-911, and broader global context. COOCs, who are the source of the current study’s textual data, represent what Chan (2006) described as the new migrants from China to the global cities, who are relatively more educated and originate from more diverse regions than the earlier colonial coolies who came from a couple of southern provinces in China, and therein face more identity options and internal debates. Not only can the heightened online discussions by COOCs fit the ideological model identified by Ward (1965, quoted in Chan, 2006) but the augmented chasm and intensified fragmentation embedded in blatant ideological debates might also form a new complex model of Chinese identity in the global context. On the one hand, such a complex model of Chinese identity can lead to a more profound understanding of Chinese global presentation; on the other hand, the increased complexity in Chinese national characterization represents the maturation of the nation and advancement of a national culture. Hence the chaotic internal division described by Keane (2003) as ‘China imploding’ might have positive implications if given a more complete and more balanced interpretation with richer data.
Concluding thoughts
COOCs’ positional cultural identification reflects their worldview and values rooted in cultural indoctrination, framed within the set of their life realities (identity properties), and influenced by the dynamics of global power structures. The salient position of spirituality in cultural identification depends on factors such as discussion topics, settings, and personality of and relationship among the participants. The study revealed that an individual’s spiritual attributes such as ideological preference and political stance profoundly influences his or her cultural identification. Online settings help prevent possible relational threat caused by ideological clashes. Sometimes commentators mean to hurt their opponents emotionally through detrimental language (Dong, 2009). Overall, the political debates among COOCs reflect the collective characteristics of their ideological positioning such as general trends, patterns, external clashes, and internal divisions of the cultural group they represent. In political debates, COOCs enact their cultural identification, which can be categorized as a particular kind of cultural identification – positional cultural identification.
Spirituality incorporated in the complexity of cultural identity involves one’s ideological preference, political stance, spiritual value, and/or religious faith. Although somewhat distanced from mundane necessities, an individual’s spirituality can be emotionally powerful and significantly influence the way he or she communicates with others. Spirituality is a prime force leading to the internal fragmentation of a cultural group. The manifestation of one’s spiritual position is inherently interconnected with one’s cultural attachment and therewith can signify one’s cultural identification. To study positional cultural identification is to study ideological influence on communication.
The ferment of political debates instigated by particular discussion topics indicates the profound connection of COOCs’ spirituality and their cultural attachment. First, COOCs’ spirituality has been nurtured and cultivated in long-term cultural indoctrination. Second, in an intercultural context, COOCs live in their unique sets of life realities, in which they might develop their own independent thoughts either conforming to or counteracting the cultural indoctrination they have received. Finally, in ideological debates, COOCs strive to understand China’s global position and international relationship in the global community. These debates, in turn, influence their personal life realities in the host society, though more symbolically than substantially.
Footnotes
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.