Political Culture in the Late Cold-War: A Conjunctural Analysis of the Chinese-speaking World

Principle Investigator：Iam Chong Ip

This project attempts to offer a non-western perspective on the conjuncture of the end or fading of the Cold War by revealing the complexity obscured by the notion of “The End of History''. It focuses on the new geopolitical and cultural dynamics, alternative media effects, the flow and adaptation of Chinese political idiom which constitute political rhetoric, narratives, rituals and gestures which had been mostly forgotten yet are still highly relevant to the present. For now, this project includes two case studies:  The first one is a study of the influential intellectual Seventies Monthly magazine. It examines how it evolved from a project of the pro-Communist united front works to networking with the Defend the Diaoyu Islands movement and Taiwan’s Tangwai Movement. In doing so, it had opened up the horizons of “democracy” and “self-government” for mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The second case study is about the political terms minjian and minjian shehui which were invented around the time when martial law was lifted in Taiwan. The study will trace how these terms traveled to Hong Kong and mainland China and triggered related yet different political visions. These historical processes involved a number of independent and social media and publications, and trans-regional inter-personal networks.