Terror Capitalism

In Terror Capitalism anthropologist Darren Byler theorizes the contemporary Chinese colonization of the Uyghur Muslim minority group in the northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang. He shows that the mass detention of over one million Uyghurs in “reeducation camps” is part of processes of resource extraction in Uyghur lands that have led to what he calls terror capitalism—a configuration of ethnoracialization, surveillance, and mass detention that in this case promotes settler colonialism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the regional capital Ürümchi, Byler shows how media infrastructures, the state’s enforcement of “Chinese” cultural values, and the influx of Han Chinese settlers contribute to Uyghur dispossession and their expulsion from the city. He particularly attends to the experiences of young Uyghur men—who are the primary target of state violence—and how they develop masculinities and homosocial friendships to protect themselves against gendered, ethnoracial, and economic violence. By tracing the political and economic stakes of Uyghur colonization, Byler demonstrates that state-directed capitalist dispossession is coconstructed with a colonial relation of domination.

Chineseness and behavioural complexity: rethinking Chinese tourist gaze studies

Purpose This study aims to reconsider Chinese tourist gaze studies, examining the extent to which extant studies and theoretical models relating to the Chinese tourist gaze have overcome the Eurocentric limits of John Urry’s concept of the tourist gaze and elaborated the complexity of Chinese tourists’ gazes and visual practices. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis is carried out, examining research articles, books, book chapters and PhD and MSc theses collected from multiple English and Chinese databases. Findings The research results manifest that, overall, the previous studies, mobilise cultural essentialism, with an overestimation of the “Chineseness” of Chinese tourists’ behavioural patterns, which are widely believed to be framed by, but also constituting of, unique Chinese culture. Overdependence on Chinese cultural values and traditional philosophies as sources for rationale has resulted in a handful of theoretical frameworks, which appear to be of insufficient magnitude both in terms of their contribution to the original tourist gaze model and in their manifesting of the complexity of Chinese tourists’ visual behaviour. Indeed the divide that once deliberately set apart West and East, or more precisely Western and Chinese tourist gazes, seems to become accentuated in most attempts to study and write about Chinese tourist gaze(s). The previous studies thus largely serve to mirror the Eurocentrism of Urry’s gaze, rather than challenging it. Research limitations/implications This study has a few limitations, especially, as this study only reviews and analyses the studies of the Chinese tourist gaze. It means that the conclusion might not well be generalised to either the investigation of the tourist gaze in another culture or the Chinese tourist studies, at large, which might exhibit a different pattern deserving more academic attention in future. Moreover, the authors recommend the future researchers, who are eager to probe Chinese tourists’ behavioural pattern, to seek for new pathways and alternative paradigms, which would be useful in overcoming the limits of cultural representations and in reducing the problematic Sino-Western divide. Originality/value Despite not aiming to reconceptualise the Chinese tourist gaze, this review paper contributes to the field of tourist gaze studies by engaging critically with the bias and theoretical insufficiencies that have emerged, while this concept is appropriated and re-formulated to explain Chinese tourists’ gazes and visual practices. On this basis, the authors suggest a critical redirection of the extant Chinese tourist gaze studies, which would be rather significant to those researchers in future with an interest to research what the Chinese tourists prefer to see in travel and how they engage with the gazee.

Legitimation strategies in discourse surrounding Sino-American trade friction: A case study of Chinese government white papers

This article reports a critical discourse analysis of the legitimation strategies used in two Chinese government white papers about trade frictions between China and the United States. Drawing on the legitimation framework advanced by van Leeuwen to political discourse, it shows how the white papers use four main legitimation strategies: authorization, moralization, rationalization, and integration. It argues that the Chinese government uses these strategies to legitimate its responses to US trade policy and delegitimate the US government’s motives for initiating/escalating tensions. This article also discusses how the use of these legitimation strategies draws from certain traditional Chinese cultural values, such as Confucianism, the culture of face, and collectivism. This article is a part of a larger research project studying discursive strategies in trade friction discourse and hopes to shed light on the attributes and functions of this type of discourse.

Do Gen Zs feel happy about their first job? A cultural values perspective from the hospitality and tourism industry

Purpose To address Generation Z’s role in the emerging workforce, this paper aims to examine Chinese Generation Z’s subjective well-being (SWB) during their internship in the hospitality and tourism industry through the lens of Chinese cultural values. It explores the extent to which Gen Zs identify with Chinese cultural values and the influences of Chinese cultural values on intern students’ SWB which, in turn, predicts their future job intentions in this industry. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a normative model to contextualize the multi-dimensional interactions between Chinese cultural values, intern students’ SWB, and their future job intentions in the hospitality and tourism industry. A survey as the main data collection method was used with 400 respondents in Macau, China in testing hypotheses and analyzing the direct and indirect effects of these interactions. Findings The paper provides empirical insights into the way that Generation Z’s SWB is influenced by Chinese cultural values. Findings show that Chinese intern students’ average SWB in the workplace was above average. It also suggests that two cultural dimensions can be identified as playing a significant and salient role in shaping their SWB in the workplace as well as their future job intentions, namely, attitudes toward work and job-related face values. However, no significant relationships with the other three dimensions of CCVs were found to influence their SWB or future job intentions, namely, attitudes toward people, moral discipline and status and relationship. Research limitations/implications This research results may lack generalizability because the respondents chosen in Macau cannot be fully representative of Chinese Generation Z. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to widen the respondent base. Furthermore, cultural influences are tempered by many macro-contextual factors. Although this study focuses on unpacking Generation Z’s mental status from the level of national culture, other factors such as organizational considerations warrant future academic attention. Originality/value This paper addresses a research gap by identifying the influences of cultural values on the SWB of intern students which, in turn, affects their future job intentions in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Relations of Chinese Mothers’ Cultural Values and Parental Control to Early Adolescents’ Self-Construals

This study examined associations between mothers’ Chinese cultural values, monitoring, and psychological control with early adolescents’ independent and interdependent self-construals (SCs). Adolescents ( n = 594) and their mothers were recruited from urban areas in mainland China. Mothers reported their Chinese cultural values; adolescents reported their mothers’ monitoring and psychological control and their independent and interdependent SCs. The findings suggested that mothers’ Chinese cultural values and perceived monitoring had significant positive associations with adolescents’ independent and interdependent SCs, and mothers’ perceived monitoring had a significant mediation effect on the association between mothers’ Chinese cultural values and adolescents’ interdependent SC. Mothers’ perceived psychological control had a significant positive association with adolescents’ independent SC. The findings suggested that the sociocultural context might shape Chinese early adolescents’ SC through two interacting culture categories (i.e., societal norms and daily practices), and monitoring might have mediation effect in the relation between societal norms and interdependent SC.

CHINESE CULTURAL VALUES AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CHINESE INDONESIAN ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE

Today, the domination of Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs in Indonesia economy is not questionable. This research aims to understand the entrepreneurial culture of Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs that are believed to be one of their success factors. This research used in-depth interview and successfully conducted interviews with 12 successful Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs who understand about Chinese cultural values. The result revealed that some unique characteristics of their entrepreneurial culture differentiate themselves from other entrepreneurs such as believe in regeneration since childhood, it however brings positive impact to their children who already get used to the work environment before they finally become matured and independent. Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs have a strong principle in cash management and love to have long term planning completed with the contingency plan. They cursed debt, it is perceived as a disgrace and it becomes the last option in looking for financial resources. The empathy between Chinese Indonesians is strong and especially because they believe that Chinese Indonesian has a competitive trait at trading, their business style is flexible and they still hold high value in respect for parents and teachers. Keywords: Chinese Indonesian, Entrepreneurial Culture, Chinese Cultural Value, Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs

Buddhism and Chinese Culture

The Buddhists covered in this volume also presented their tradition as compatible with Chinese culture, contrasting it with Christianity. This chapter focuses on the well-known Buddhist Yinshun, who argued that biblical belief conflicted with Chinese cultural values, and introduces Gong Tianmin, a Christian, whose academic study of Buddhism aimed at showing it to be historically derived. Gong’s approach is contrasted with Yinshun’s, who, within his own scheme of Buddhist history, took core beliefs to be fundamentally “true”. The chapter will show that the Buddhist writers, covered here, displayed a preoccupation with Western values such as freedom, democracy and egalitarianism, but also with defining these as Chinese—and hence, as Buddhist.