Jiang Zemin's discourse on intellectuals: the political use of formalised language and the conundrum of stability

This article focuses on the specific forms of power that are embodied in the properties and functions of formalised language, as it was used by Jiang Zemin in crucial political documents on the Party’s policy towards intellectuals. This inquiry illuminates various possibilities for the normalisation and inculcation of formalised language in the understudied decade of the 1990s, when the mantra “without stability, nothing can be achieved” became a tautology. The internal constitution of the selected texts is examined with an eye to the dialogic interaction with the production and reception of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping’s political discourses on intellectuals (Mao 1942; Deng 1978). The analysis of language practices and discursive formations in a comparative per-spective sheds light on the respective socio-political and historical contexts. It also reveals the extreme involution-devolution of formalised language in the Jiang Zemin era, when “preserving stability” was reaffirmed as a crucial concern of the Party leadership with the ultimate aim of preserving its monopoly of power

How to build a 'Beautiful China' in the Anthropocene. The political discourse and the intellectual debate on ecological civilization

The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate on global prosperity in the postGDP world, with specific attention given to the political discourse and intellectual debate on ecological civilization in China. I will first assess the national and international implications of assuming that China as a whole is a 'locality'. I will then focus specifically on one of the most significant political and intellectual debates in Chinese studies today, namely the social and environmental challenges linked to China's political and socio-economic development. In this light, I will engage with the debate on the Anthropocene - the era during which humans have become an earthaltering force - and its interrelationship with the discourse on ecological civilization. In China, the term 'ecological civilization' appeared in the 1980s in the academic domain and was then appropriated by political discourse. This article proves that the concept of eco-civilization, in a similar way to the Anthropocene, has a significant discursive power: it allows for a shift from the binary political economy discourses of 'growth' versus 'development', and 'socialism' versus 'capitalism', to the inquiry of eco-socially sustainable prosperity. The final aim of this article is both to offer a more nuanced analysis of the relationship between the political discourse and academic debate, and to substantiate the rhetoric trope of 'Advancing Ecological Civilization and Building a Beautiful China'

Civilising the Citizens: Political Slogans and the Right to the City

This paper focuses on the artwork of Chinese artist Zhang Dali entitled ‘The Slogan Series.’ Zhang uses a particular technique of text and image juxtaposition to engage with the civic political slogans that were plastered on the streets of Beijing on the eve of the 2008 Olympic Games. His ‘Slogan Series’ consists of large paintings: each of them reproduces the human face of a common person, either in red and white or in black and white, which is literally covered by repeated civic political slogans. The paper investigates the origin of Zhang’s artwork, shedding light on the aesthetics and socio–political implications of a double juxtaposition: in the government’s ‘new citizenship’ campaign, the slogans are juxtaposed with the cityscape, while in Zhang Dali’s work the slogans are imposed on the common people’s faces

The Triumph of the Uncanny: Italians and Italian Architecture in Tianjin

Between 1860 and 1945, the Chinese port city of Tianjin became the site of up to nine foreign-controlled concessions, including one controlled by Italy, as well as, temporarily, a multi-national military government (1900–02), and a series of evolving municipal administrations. Tianjin became the second largest industrial and commercial city in China after Shanghai, the largest financial and trade centre in the north, and one of the most vibrant commercial centres in Asia.This article focuses on the identity politics of ‘Italy’ in Tianjin. It analyses both the discursive formations and the practices of governance that characterised the Italian concession area, in the past and in the present. Using Freud’s paradigm of ‘uncanny’ (unheimlich) the article explores the context in which forms and representations that are considered ‘homely’ and ‘familiar’ by the Italians are exposed, proposed and imposed on the perceived otherness of Tianjin’s space

Emotional Geographies of the Uncanny: Reinterpreting Italian Transnational Spaces

The 'Emotional Geographies of the Uncanny' section of Cultural Studies Review aims to read transnational spaces constructed and inhabited by Italian migrants and settlers to Australasia as emotional spaces of uncanny perceptions, memories, narratives and identities. Drawing inspiration from the Freudian suggestions about the uncanny (das unheimliche), and later interpretations by Heiddeger, Derrida, Kristeva, Bhabha, Žižek, and Ahmed, we refer to the uncanny as the emotional reaction to something that is, at the same time, familiar and unfamiliar, homely and unhomely. The uncanny then becomes an aesthetic frame through which experiences of migration and colonialism can be read and interpreted. How have Italians experienced the strange un/familiarity of the places to which they have migrated or that they have colonised in Australasia? And, in the process of familiarising the unfamiliar, how have they perceived the strange familiarity of the newly emerged 'Italian' spaces that they have first constructed and then inhabited, outside the boundaries of the Italian Nation, and often within the space of other essentialist Nations? Furthermore, how have they related to the places they have left in Italy: the places to which they have progressively become strangers yet have continued to constitute a central element of their subjectivity

Italianerie: transculturality, co- creation and transforming identities between Italy and Asia

By exploring the processes and the effects of transculturality and co-creation on the transforming identities of Italy and/in Asia and vice-versa, we aim to go beyond both the scholarship on Orientalism and the J’accuse of the Post-modern critique, which often seem to recreate a dichotomous vision of the European-style Othering of Asia. We intend to offer instead a new approach to understanding the dynamics behind the multiple encounters and the uncanny enchantment (or disenchantment, perhaps) with Italy-in-Asia and Asia-in-Italy. Extending from the original French word and concept of Chinoiserie (the Eighteenth-century European ‘fascination for China’), this special issue introduces the concept and analytical-interpretive paradigm of Italianerie. Italianerie has been taken both as a possible theoretical framework and as an intellectual provocation for our contributors to analyse the relation between Italy and Asia, as well as the intrigue of Italy in Asia and vice-versa. We argue that the ‘fascination for Italy’ and its specific cultural materiality go both ways, from Italy to Asia and vice-versa, shedding light on the multiple connections, comparisons and circulations of people, goods and ideas through a global, interconnected method of inquiry

Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror: Colonial Italy Reflects on Tianjin

This article focuses on the sole Italian concession (zujie) that existed in China between 1901 and 1947. This is the only example of Italian colonialism in Asia. The concession was located in the Hebei district of the modern municipality of Tianjin. It was established in 1901 as a consequence of the signature of the «Boxer Protocol», since Italian troops had participated in an international military mission, called the eight-nation alliance, which on 14 August 1900 had entered and occupied Beijing, putting an end to the Boxer Rebellion. The article compares the theoretical bases which underpinned the different representations of the Italian concession, as produced by observers, diplomats, and scholars in China and Europe in different time periods. The final objective is to investigate the historical reasons behind the emphasis that was placed on specific socio-economic, institutional, and cultural aspects of the Italian concession. The analysis focuses in particular on the two major themes, which emerge as constant traits from the sources: 1. The history of the concession, its acquisition, socio-spatial organisation, and ultimately its reorganisation as a «laboratory of modernity»; and 2. The notion of shaping the Italian concession as an Italian-style neighbourhood, a miniature Disneyland-style venue of «Italianness» or «Italian spirit» (e.g. according to the rhetoric trope of «Italianità»), constructed especially in terms of spatial re-presentation and cultural superimposition

Names and Reality in Mao Zedong’s Political Discourse on Intellectuals

This essay addresses the topic of the political use of formalized language. In the Chinese historical tradition the ‘correctness’ of language has always been considered a source of moral authority, official legitimacy and political stability. Political language has always had an intrinsic instrumental value, since its control is the most suitable way to express and convey the orthodox State ideology. Formalized language has also served as a device to standardize the range of expressiveness of Chinese intellectuals. Wittgenstein argues that words have the power to set the limit for the ‘expression of thoughts’, because the boundaries of language indicate the boundaries of one’s own world. My focus is on specific forms of power embodied in language practices and discursive formations recognizable in selected texts. This inquiry illuminates various possibilities for normalization and inculcation of formalized language. The internal constitution of selected texts is examined with an eye to the dialogic interaction with the production and reception of Mao’s and post-Mao’s political discourses on intellectuals. Analysis of language formation and use in a comparative perspective considers the socio-historical contexts and reveals a pattern of evolution, involution, and finally devolution of language

Clinical and psychological outcome after surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis: A prospective observational study with analysis of prognostic factors

Background The identification of psychological risk factors is important for the selection of patients before spinal surgery. Moreover, the effect of surgical decompression in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) on psychological outcome is not previously well analyzed. Aim of paper to investigate clinical and psychological outcome after surgery for LSS and the effect of depressive symptoms and anxiety on the clinical outcome. Materials and methods A total of 25 patients with symptomatic LSS underwent decompressive surgery with or without spinal stabilization were prospectively enrolled in this observational surgery. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) was used to assess global psychological distress with a summary score termed Global Severity Index (GSI) and single psychological disorders including depression (DEP) and anxiety (ANX). The clinical outcome of surgery was evaluated with the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and visual analogue scale (VAS) pain assessment. Results Compared with baseline, there was a statistically significant improvement in VAS, ODI and GSI after surgery (p<0.05) in all patients. Univariate analysis revealed that patients with high GSI and anxiety and depression scores had significantly higher ODI and VAS scores in the follow-up with a bad outcome. Conclusions Surgery for spinal stenosis was effective to treat pain and disability. In this prospective study baseline global psychological distress, depression and anxiety were associated with poorer clinical outcome

《想象的空间？1901-1947年及以后天津意大利租界的重现和镜》 (‘Imaginary Spaces? Re-presentations and Mirror Images of the Italian Concession in Tianjin’)

摘要：本文通过比较和分析以不同语言文字和在不同历史时期写作的一手和二手文本，着重探讨了在不同重现中隐含的有关意大利租界问题的、特殊的社会经济、制度或文化方面的历史原因。讨论特别关注两个主题，一个是租界的历史，另一个是把意大利租界塑造成一个意大利风格的街区或地区的意图。作者提出以新的方法对历史进行重新解释，以便澄清其虚构的和多维度的特点。其目的是揭开试图肯定殖民主体的主权的种种思想和观念。首先，从后殖民和后殖民的城市景观的重组来看，天津的租界区可为开始和更进一步地实现姆班贝倡导的文化工程提供一个清晰和坚实的基地。其次，作者试图在各种著述之间营造一场假想的对话，希望能在西方的和中国的历史学家之间开创新的对话途径。第三，意大利著述中的租界影像揭示了一种历史报应类型，不仅仅是针对当时意中关系既晚又不成功的开始，更是针对当时入侵中国的其他殖民国家。与此同时，分析资料也显示出了一种把意大利殖民主义描绘为良性殖民主义的努力，好像意大利在天津的活动主要是一个恩人自发援助和帮助当地社区的行为。 关键词：意大利租借 重现 空间 想象的共同