Tania Angeloff has an original synthesis of Chinese society for the past sixty years. Its social approach to Chinese history makes it possible to reformulate questions about the political evolution of China, in particular the tensions between apparent conservatism and the process of modernization.
In France, the attachment of the study of China to a particular discipline, sinology, has long oriented questions around its civilization and its essentialized culture. Currently, this research object is starting to become commonplace. Tania Angeloff’s synthesis seems to confirm this trend. It is built from an original introduction, social history. This choice reflects the new orientations of academic research on China: it is a question of understanding the functioning of a complex society, using all the tools of the social sciences.
The author thus endeavors to highlight the major transformations of this society since the 1950s, in order to better understand the stages taken in the construction of Chinese modernity. Skeptical vis-à-vis culturalist and relativistic approaches, she wonders in the first four chapters which form of modernity was asserted from 1949 against the backdrop of apparent political stability and in the last two how is the current society characterized .
The chronologico-thematic structure of synthesis follows the evolution of trends on a macrosocial scale (demography, education, etc.) and makes back and forth between political decisions and their social consequences, which makes different historical rhythms aware specific to every aspect of society. Not only does the author draw up a serious assessment of the episodes that have marked the history of the People’s Republic, but above all, it offers an original light that opens up perspectives to renew the issues on the subject.
An original approach: a story of China from the angle of the social
The first chapters of the work retrace the evolution of social structures since 1949 by looking for the points of continuity and rupture. It is indeed necessary to go back to the foundations of the regime in 1949 and to analyze the developments that marked the history of contemporary Chinese society. In the first chapter, certain little -known elements of context are highlighted, including education in the 1950s, literacy campaign, simplification of characters, as well as the development of Malthusianism. Above all, it was at this time that a “ totalitarian grid »From the whole of society (p. 19). The argument suggests that the Chinese system has been particularly effective insofar as it essentially worked on the basis of an internalization of control by daily individuals: the social body was entirely supervised by the system of work units, of the Individual file, neighborhood committees, within a highly centralized and hierarchical state, proceeding by mass campaigns to mobilize the population. The author highlights the ambivalences of the regime in the face of critical space through the examples of the hundred flowers movement and the anti-right countryside (p. 24).
The following chapters focus on the episodes of the Great Bond forward and the Cultural Revolution, by emphasizing their social consequences. Le Grand Bond Avant (1958-1961) represented the implementation of absolute collectivism, in an effort to break with the Soviet model (p. 27). This experience lived as a trauma by the population (gigantism having had an extremely heavy human cost) has led to important transformations in society of the time: discolitivization in the countryside and a certain development of urban employment.
The cultural revolution still arouses many debates between historians. The author highlights the challenges of periodization on the historiographical level (p. 36-37). There “ diet crisis »(1966-1969) has four phases: tensions between Mao and the establishment ; Launch of the red guards against intellectuals and party executives ; taking uncontrollable institutions and abuses ; Intervention of the army in order to contain the overflows of terror (p. 37-42). But above all, we can note an analysis effort devoted to Chinese youth as an element of explanation of the intensity of the struggles between the factions (p. 39). The massive sending campaign of young city dwellers in the countryside during the “ end of reign (1970-1976) is primarily motivated by the need to stem the violence of the Red Guards. Due to the suffering of its many victims, this period of ten years is considered “ lost (P. 48).
The beginnings of the opening, after the death of Mao in 1976 and until 1989 (chapter Iv), translate “ alternation of political reformism and conservative reactions (P. 49). The author addresses the impact of the cultural revolution in the intellectual world and in education. At the end of the 1970s, political, economic and social pragmatism settled (p. 50). The decisions taken under Deng Xiaoping (four modernizations, creation of special economic zones) provide rapid and spectacular economic dynamism. However, the regime change takes place in a tense social climate. Development has a cost: increased inequalities between cities and the rural world, impetus of a strict antinatalist policy, appearance of “ left-in-law (P. 66). Pessimism and anger express themselves in large -scale social movements. Their repression on Tiananmen square in June 1989 represents a significant rupture ; It results in deep disenchantment within society, while the social crisis moves (p. 68).
Chinese society therefore formed from 1949 to 1989 from many significant social and political experiences. By granting as much importance to major economic changes as to education reforms (in particular the privatization of education), the analytical link with the previous period is under control. The author’s argument thus refutes several received ideas around the post -cultural revolution period: the economy is not the only sector that is transformed and domination is a complex political process. In particular, the recomposition of the action of the state at the local level constitutes an essential element of its operation. The Chinese reform was based on a set of local practices which participated in the implementation of pilot experiences gradually extended on a national scale. In addition, decisions in public policy have generated opportunity spaces invested by all social actors within a dynamic framework producing new standards. The offsets between political discourse and social practices are therefore specific to the Chinese system. “” The authoritarian grip of the Chinese regime undoubtedly appears in these tenuous borders between the legal and the illegal, the just and the unjust (P. 57).
A documented synthesis on the recent evolution of society
The quality of the work is due to its mastery of historical literature (Fairbank, Frolic, Bergère, Bianco), but also to its knowledge of sociological references (Davis, Perry, Rocca, Thireau) Western and Chinese (Chen Yingfang) on the Chinese society. The text is updated, sometimes a little descriptive but it is a suitable format for a synthetic approach, which highlights the multiple aspects of China, a true mosaic both demographic or geographic and in the economic, social and cultural fields.
The V chapters and Vi focus on the last two decades, associated with the entry into modernity. The specificity of the 1990s under the direction of Jiang Zemin lies in the top priority granted to economic liberalization and economic growth, which leads to deep upheavals in the fields of work, daily life and social protection (p . These reforms are paradoxical ; The author shows that the “ development Rapid economics is accompanied by a set of “ social issues “: Social disorders associated with disinvestment of the State in public services, urban development and impoverishment of campaigns, evolution of lifestyles and” Chinese consumption revolution (P. 79). The 2000s reveal the ambiguities of the political situation, between continuity and adaptive strategy of leaders, with a view to limiting the accentuation of social and ethnic resistance (p. 89). Unlike pre-1989 movements, mobilization seems more “ legitimate »» ; She does not say to herself “ policy ” but “ citizen (P. 101).
Despite the absence of certain social facts such as the development of law and principles of justice (studied in particular by Isabelle Thireau), which considerably enrich the modes of action for daily life and some facilities of language in reflection on the “ values “Social” modern Or on the Chinese political system, this assessment of current society appears complete. The author rightly chooses to approach aspects usually mentioned: gender relationships, prostitution, culture and media, religion and question of minorities.
This synthesis is rigorous on the methodological level and on the interpretation of the facts themselves. The perspective is innovative, in particular for its ability to maintain a social prism on the beginnings of the Maoist period. It indicates an effort to dialogue with the social sciences combined with a work of historical synthesis. Well documented while remaining concise, the greatest quality of the analysis lies in its attachment to underline the paradoxes of the Chinese situation by insisting on its contradictions and its ambiguities: this company is indeed “ singular, complex, heterogeneous (P. 112). The approach of Chinese history by the social makes it possible to formulate otherwise questions about the springs of the political, in particular the tensions between the apparent conservatism and the process of modernization. This work is therefore essential for a first approach to Chinese society by students or amateur readers ; He comes to fill a lack in the fundamentals on China and invites to study his clean trajectory.