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International Journal of Political and Social Sciences
Vol. 8 No. 4 (2023): July-August
Original Articles

REDEFINING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN 1940S CHINA

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  • Dr. Sarah Mitchell
Dr. Sarah Mitchell
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, 1210 Brittany Ridge Place, Apt 108, Rock Hill, SC 29732, USA

Published 2023-07-09

Keywords

  • Civil society,
  • public sphere,
  • imagined public,
  • state-individual relations,
  • wartime China

How to Cite

Mitchell, S. (2023). REDEFINING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN 1940S CHINA. International Journal of Political and Social Sciences, 8(4), 1–20. Retrieved from https://topjournals.org/index.php/IJPSS/article/view/796

Copyright (c) 2023 International Journal of Political and Social Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This study examines a 1941 announcement by Ruan Tiandan, a government worker in China, and its implications for the concept of civil society in wartime China. Ruan's public exchange with Mrs. Hong, involving accusations, counter-accusations, and refutations, is analyzed to understand the role of an imagined public in shaping state-individual relations during a time of conflict. Ruan's tone suggests the existence of an imagined public that could pass moral judgment on the disputing parties, impacting the outcome of Hong Jincai’s lawsuit. This paper discusses the Western and Confucian traditions of the public sphere and civil society and how they influenced the dynamics of civil society in China. It argues that Chinese individuals combined elements of Confucianism and Western republicanism to create a unique Chinese model of republicanism, where an expanded citizenry participated in societal affairs. Despite the influence of Confucianism, Chinese individuals still found venues like newspapers to voice grievances and expose social injustices. This study contributes to the understanding of how Chinese civil society evolved during a critical period in history.

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