Chinese Responses to Modernization: A Psychological Analysis

Abstract

In the last one hundred plus years, China, under the impact of modernization, has undergone the most significant change in the past 5,000 years. Modernization is a continuous process of protest and change. At each stage of modernization, outcomes may be regarded as the result of complex strategies and responses to those demands. This paper will address the strategies and responses that Chinese have adopted in their attempt to deal with the pressure and challenge of modernization. As a background to understanding these strategies and responses, the following four perspectives will be delineated. First, my perspective is mainly at the micro level, but I will occasionally shift to the macro level when needed. Second, my analyses will largely rely on results from empirical research. They will be supplemented by daily‐life observations and appropriate conceptual or theoretical analyses. Third, Chinese intellectuals have been playing a guiding role of enlightenment, criticism, and promotion and their responses have been influential in formulating, directing, or channeling the views of the general public. A comprehensive analysis of relevant ideologies and strategies endorsed by Chinese intellectuals will be provided. Finally, the analysis of Chinese responses to modernization will be based upon the relevant literature from all the three major Chinese societies (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China). In addition, this paper will clarify the basic modes and specific mechanisms of adaptation to drastic environmental changes. They will be applied as conceptual tools for the analysis of Chinese intellectuals’ ideological responses to modernization and psychological processes involved in accommodating cognitive and behavioral changes in their daily lives.