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The Public Sphere in Modern China: Forms, Functions and Self-Understandings—A Case Study of Shanghai

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Abstract

Using the case of Shanghai, this article, by starting with a discussion of the historical evolution of political legitimacy in China, analyzes the public sphere in Modern China and its native ideological origin, historical forms and functions in public opinion, and probes into its universality and particularity through a comparison with Jürgen Habermas’s notion of the public sphere.

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Notes

  1. Among American sinologists, Robert K. Schoppa, William Rowe, Mary Rankin and David Strand are some of the better-known scholars who applied the theories of civil society and public sphere to Chinese society since the Ming and Qing dynasties; while Frederic Wakeman, Philip Huang and Philip Kuhn are among those critical of it. For more about the debate, please see William T. Rowe. The Problem of “Civil Society” in Late Imperial China; Frederic Wakeman, Jr. The Civil Society and Public Sphere Debate: Western Reflection on Chinese Political Culture; Philip C. C. Huang. “Public Sphere”/“Civil Society” in China?” All the three articles can be found in Modern China, No. 2, Vol. 19 (April 1993).

  2. According to G. W. F. Hegel and Karl Marx’s classic theories, civil society falls within the private sphere as it is an independent sphere structured by self-interested capitalists for their economic and social interests. Not subject to state control, it is market-centered and does not have political functions as a rule. And in accordance with Jürgen Habermas’s classic theory, the public sphere is a space of public opinion for criticism between civil society and state politics, or a sphere in which private people come together as the public in a bourgeois society. In a civil society, private interests are the center of all exchanges and association, while in the public sphere, discussions of public issues are based on the assumption that participants proceed from their own understanding of public interest. The two concepts are historically related in Europe. But still, they are not synonyms or interchangeable terms.

  3. For a general summary of Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, please see Jürgen Habermas. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (translated by Cao Weidong) (Shanghai: Xuelin Publishing House, 1999).

  4. In the preface of the first edition of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Habermas wrote that the concept of the public sphere should not be isolated from the unique historical development of civil society originating from the medieval Europe, or be applied at will to historical contexts with similar forms as an ideal type. Please see the preface in the first Chinese edition, p.1.

  5. For any of Huang Zongxi’s thoughts, please see the chapter of “Schools” of Waiting for the Dawn.

  6. Zheng Guanying. Chapter of “Daily Newspapers” of Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age.

  7. Zheng Guanying. Collected Poems of Zheng Guanying. Vol. 1, p. 30. Quoted from Hu Taichun (1987). Intellectual History of Journalism in Neoteric China. Taiyuan: Shanxi People’s Publishing House, 47.

  8. Zheng Guanying. Author’s preface of Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age.

  9. Collected Works of Liang Qichao, vol. 1, pp. 66, 28.

  10. This is a phrase quoted by Habermas to describe the situation of Germany in the late 18th century. Please see Jürgen Habermas, the preface of the Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (Chinese edition), 3.

  11. Liang Qichao. Speech at the Reception at Peking University. Collected Works of Yinbingshi, essay 29, p. 38.

  12. Liang Qichao. Congratulatory Speech for the 100th Issue of Qingyibao and Essay on Newspapers’ Responsibilities and the Experience of This Paper. Collected Works of Liang Qichao, vol. 1, p. 477.

  13. Guancha 3.12 (1947): 23.

  14. For more about public interest and common will, please see my article, Common Will v. Will of All, Frontiers, No. 3, 2002.

  15. Posthumous Works of Huang Yuansheng (Vol. 1), p. 38, 21.

  16. Aspirations of the Fraternity of Our Newspaper. Ta Kung Pao, Sept. 1st issue, 1926.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Jilin Xu

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  1. Jilin Xu
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Correspondence to Jilin Xu.

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This article is translated from a Chinese version which was previously published in Historical Review 2 (2003).

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Xu, J. The Public Sphere in Modern China: Forms, Functions and Self-Understandings—A Case Study of Shanghai. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 13, 413–435 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0229-8

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