China Chat Techno-nationalism, Manufactured Messianism and Saving the Party-State One Chip at a Time

Since coming into power, President Xi has made the pursuit of high-tech goals a key priority in China’s geopolitical objectives. This pursuit of technological power however, takes place within a Chinese social-political milieu that is, as the renowned Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong puts it, “fundamentally rural”. As opposed to Western societies that are patterned on Weberian rationality and bureaucratic efficiency, Chinese society rely on the logic of “differentially categorized social relationships” (chaxugeju) to organize their social relations. In order to unite and harness the disparate forces of Chinese networks, President Xi has utilized the myth of saving China through technology as a political narrative to justify the CCP’s rule over China. To illustrate this, I will examine two important Chinese characters of the 20th century, namely the mythical PLA soldier Lei Feng and the US-trained Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen, who represent twin pillars of Chinese power today, namely political loyalty and technological mastery respectively. Together they give birth to the rise of what I term manufactured messianism – the idea that there is no salvation under earth given to the Chinese people except through the rule of the CPC.

Benjamin Ho is Assistant Professor at the China Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He obtained his PhD from the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. His research focus includes the study of China’s international relations, with an emphasis on Chinese political worldview and exceptionalism thinking. Other research interests include security multilateralism in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on regional institutions and fora, national security (intelligence), the sociology of religion and public theology (Christianity). Receive SMS online on sms24.me

Watch on YouTube

Subscribe on YouTubeReaderBot

TubeReader video aggregator is a website that collects and organizes online videos from the YouTube source. Video aggregation is done for different purposes, and TubeReader take different approaches to achieve their purpose.

Our try to collect videos of high quality or interest for visitors to view; the collection may be made by editors or may be based on community votes.

Another method is to base the collection on those videos most viewed, either at the aggregator site or at various popular video hosting sites.

TubeReader site exists to allow users to collect their own sets of videos, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others; TubeReader can develop online communities around video sharing.

Our site allow users to create a personalized video playlist, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others.

@YouTubeReaderBot allows you to subscribe to Youtube channels.

By using @YouTubeReaderBot Bot you agree with YouTube Terms of Service.

Use the @YouTubeReaderBot telegram bot to be the first to be notified when new videos are released on your favorite channels.

Look for new videos or channels and share them with your friends.

You can start using our bot from this video, subscribe now to China Chat Techno-nationalism, Manufactured Messianism and Saving the Party-State One Chip at a Time

What is YouTube?

YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. You can even create and upload your own videos to share with others. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is now one of the most popular sites on the Web, with visitors watching around 6 billion hours of video every month.