理解當代中國民族主義﹕制度、情感結構與認識框架

Understanding Contemporary Chinese Nationalism: Institutions, Structures of Feeling, and Cognitive Frames

本文針對1990年代以來興起的中國民族主義風潮，探討下列三組相互關連的問題：(1)在當代中國，官方民族主義與大眾民族主義之間的關連為何？我們如何解釋，中國民族主義在1949年「著陸」之後，相隔四十餘載又重新「起飛」？(2)1990年代「新民族主義」的興起，與中國涉入全球化的程度，幾乎可以說是同時並進的；這個看似弔詭的現象，該如何解釋？(3)這波民族主義流露了豐富的情感與強烈的情緒，應當如何理解？反映的又是什麼？本研究採取現象學的理論立場，透過對制度、情感結構與認識框架的考察來回答上述問題。研究發現：1949年之後，中國民族主義並沒有「暫時缺席」，而是轉成「維護政體的民族主義」，透過「日常國族主義」的運作而存在。共產主義與民族主義，既不是互斥關係也不是替代關係，而是以更微妙的關係聯繫著。在毛澤東時期的「戰爭共產主義」下，新中國的政治體制打造出一種新主體（藉由統一戰線「戰爭／鬥爭之框」鍛造出來的「人民」），這種新主體的情感結構與認識框架，儘管在不同時期歷經各種轉折與演變，但透過官方愛國主義教育等日常實踐再生產，至今仍框構著許多人對世界的看法。這也解釋了，為什麼進入全球化的時代，大眾民族主義的情感會特別高漲，而戰爭的訴求與修辭，依然經常可見。情感與情緒不該被視為是「非理性的因素」而加以排除或貶抑；相反地，情感結構形塑了民族主義者的價值觀與世界觀，而這也是理解當代中國民族主義的一把重要鎖鑰。

This paper aims to tackle the following three connected questions regarding nationalism in contemporary China: (1) What are the relations between official and popular nationalisms? How do we explain nationalism’s “take-off” after more than forty years of its “touch-down” in 1949? (2) The rise of the so-called “new nationalism” in the 1990s coincided with China’s increasing involvement in the globalization process; how can we explain this seemingly paradoxical phenomenon? (3) How can we make sense of strong emotions and abundant feelings that have been the characteristics of this wave of nationalism? Adopting a phenomenological approach, this study examines institutions, structures of feeling, as well as cognitive frames to answer the above questions. It is found that Chinese nationalism was not “tentatively absent” after 1949; rather, it was transformed into “polity-based nationalism” and functioned as “banal nationalism” in daily routines. Communism and nationalism are neither mutually exclusive nor substitutive; instead, they are implicated with each other in a much subtler way. The “war communism” during Mao’s period has constructed a new kind of subject, namely, the “people” [renmin] forged by the “frames of war/frames of struggle” of the united fronts. The structures of feeling, as well as the cognitive frames (namely, frames of war), of such new subjects, reproduced through official patriotic education and daily practice, have been framing the worldview of a majority of people even up until today. This also explains why popular nationalism arises and the rhetoric of war is frequently observed in this so-called global era. Last but not the least, this paper argues that feelings and emotions should not be dismissed as merely “irrational factors” to be excluded from our analysis. On the contrary, structures of feeling, which have profoundly shaped nationalists’ value and their worldviews, have provided us an important key to the understanding of contemporary Chinese nationalism.