The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society
The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society
by Mujun Zhou
University of Michigan Press, 2026
ISBNs
Cloth: 978-0-472-07785-4
Paper: 978-0-472-05785-6
eISBN: 978-0-472-90546-1 (OA)
About the Book
The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society examines how a group of Chinese intellectual elites referred to as the liberals or ziyou pai edified the civil society project beginning in the 1990s to build an independent space to constrain state power, increase political participation, and promote China’s democratization. In the early 2000s, activists in movements such as the environmental and the AIDS movements identified with the liberals and regarded their activism as part of the project of building civil society. However, since the late 2000s the liberals’ influence has gradually declined. In prominent social movements in the 2010s such as the labor and feminist movements, activists have openly criticized the liberal interpretation of civil society and regarded liberals’ civil society agenda as irrelevant.
Mujun Zhou employs the concept of interstitial space, or the space where the exercise of power has not been fully institutionalized, to examine the history of the civil society project over the past three decades and its changing relationship with other social movements. Zhou suggests that by advocating for civil society the liberals gained allies and thematized many social problems rising during China’s economic reform; however, liberals’ activism also produced new forms of power inequalities.
Mujun Zhou employs the concept of interstitial space, or the space where the exercise of power has not been fully institutionalized, to examine the history of the civil society project over the past three decades and its changing relationship with other social movements. Zhou suggests that by advocating for civil society the liberals gained allies and thematized many social problems rising during China’s economic reform; however, liberals’ activism also produced new forms of power inequalities.
About the Author
Mujun Zhou is Associate Professor of Sociology at Zhejiang University.
Reviews
“The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society will make an invaluable contribution to the literature on civil society development and the public sphere in China. Much attention has been given to the topic since the 1989 student-led protests began in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, but the focus of that literature has to date largely been on state-society relations and the potential for civil society to nurture a democratic transition in China. This book takes us into the divisions within civil society itself to show the strengths, weaknesses, vision, and blind spots of individual activists and organizations. For this alone, the book will stand out.”— Anthony J. Spires, The University of Melbourne
“Mujun Zhou’s The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society is an insightful and important study not to be missed. Its rich and sophisticated sociological analysis illuminates previously understudied aspects of civil society development, especially ideational debates in the ‘thought sphere’ and the functions of interstitial spaces and publics.”— Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania
“The Death and Life of Chinese Civil Society offers a compelling analysis of the rise and fall of Chinese liberals’ 'civil society' project, how that project tried to encompass subaltern social reform efforts, how reformers gradually parted ways with the liberals, and how both streams were ultimately co-opted or fragmented by state suppression. The book not only explains debates in China in a convincing way, it also has the potential to shape those debates at a crucial point in Chinese political development.”— Manfred Elfstrom, University of British Columbia
Tags
China Understandings Today, 2000-, 2002-, Death, Asian, Life, China, 21st century, World, Asia, Social conditions, Politics and government, Cultural & Ethnic Studies, Political Science, Social Science, History
Open Access Information
License: CC BY-NC
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