Public Political Consciousness in China: An Empirical Profile

Abstract

Historically, the Chinese people have had a tradition of political apathy and ignorance, which James Townsend characterized as a popular isolation from politics.l However, the communist government made tremendous efforts to mobilize people's class consciousness during the 1950s to 1970s, and some outside observers have been amazed by the explosion (Townsend's term) among the Chinese population, especially the widespread participation in the Cultural Revolution. After entering the post-Mao era, however, the Chinese seemed to regress to the apolitical tradition. The current status of Chinese political mentality has drawn a great deal of attention among Chinese scholars and decision makers. Basically, the literature encompasses two competing perspectives: a theory maintaining that Chinese are still apathetic, apolitical, or politically immature, and a theory arguing that people's indifference to politics is the first step of departure from the unconscious mood. The sharp contrast between the two perspectives was manifested at a recent debate in Beijing over socalled neo-authoritarianism, a theory advocated by some political science advisers to former party leader Zhao Ziyang. Relying on the mass theory assumption, this school proposed a more authoritarian government to ensure the course of modernization in China. Many others, backed by the public theory arguments, strongly opposed this approach, holding that the success of modernization depends on more freedom and democ-