New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. US$35.00, paper. ISBN 9780231211512.
The Chinese state-society relationship is complex and often perplexing. Dissecting the interwoven layers of this topic is no easy task, yet Anthony J. Spires, using data collected over 13 years through interviews and participant observation with individuals from NGOs and government agencies, makes a groundbreaking contribution to the study of Chinese civil society and democratic culture in general. With his erudite knowledge of Chinese society, Spires examines how authoritarianism shapes the possibilities for democratic culture to emerge and develop, despite the presence of hierarchical and autocratic organizational cultures that permeate Chinese associational life, with a focus on culture-building practices and processes. By comparing the status-quo government-organized NGOs, which replicate hierarchical structures, with bottom-up, youth-led voluntary associations, Spires highlights, with nuance and detail, how the often-overlooked culture-building potential of civil society organizations nurtures and brings to life a range of democratic values.
It is easy to dismiss the existence of Chinese civil society, given the tight control the state exerts over the public sphere and the general inexperience of individuals with democratic values and norms. However, Spires provides a balanced view, first by tracing the history of the pursuit of democracy in China—from Liang Qichao’s encounter with American democracy, to the post-1989 debates about democracy and civil society, to the current state of civil society under hegemonic authoritarianism. He contrasts the imagined NGOs that promote more participatory, democratic spaces with the hierarchical, autocratic practices that stifle dissent and obstruct consensus-building in many civil society organizations. Then, he offers a more hopeful and rare observation of Bridges and Together, two voluntary associations that generate democratic skills and habits and facilitate the reinforcement of democratic practices and values. The detailed quotes from interviews and the process tracing of key moments in organizational life provide a rare and valuable window into the current state of civil society activities in China today.
While the emergence of democratic culture in China is observable in certain organizations, one must wonder where such a culture originates. While it is largely true that schools in China “serve as sites of deliberate training to shape Chinese citizens into political subjects of an authoritarian regime” (45), the evidence supporting this claim comes from a study of only one rural boarding school. The variation in grassroots democratic education across China might have been underestimated. In many schools in major metropolitan areas, children as young as first graders participate in free and fair elections to become student leaders, sometimes despite pressure from parents or teachers. Elected student leaders not only take on responsibilities such as deciding classroom seating and chore assignments, but they also sometimes organize campus-wide protests against school leadership.
Historically in China, although it is broadly true that “people were born into and lived their lives enmeshed in a system of unequal and frequently hierarchical relationships,” equality is not a “distinctly modern concept” (116), as Spires claims. For example, Mozi, an important Chinese philosopher from the fifth century BCE, centered his ideas around the concept of “Jian’ai” or impartial and equal concern for all (Evan Osborne, “China’s first liberal,” Independent Review 16, no. 4, 2012: 533–51). Mozi’s thinking was one of the “three teachings and nine schools of thought” in traditional China. While the geographical and longitudinal variations in democratic culture could be debated, the idea that democratic values only recently emerged in Chinese society remains questionable.
It is natural that Spires addresses the generalizability and representativeness of organizations such as Bridges and Together, especially since even a volunteer from Bridges plainly stated, “I feel Bridges’ culture is special in this way. In all of China’s NGOs, it has a lot of research value! Ha ha! It’s not very common” (207). But is it? It seems that Spires considers Bridges and Together to be so unique that generalizability may be a challenge, but in reality, he may have underestimated the breadth and depth of democratic culture in China. While it is largely true that many founders of NGOs in China are still the leaders of their organizations, often holding more influence than others, the democratic culture being nurtured in Bridges and Together might not be so unrepresentative, especially within Chinese society, where democratic values, norms, and practices have existed and been embraced in different regions and periods, particularly in informal civil society activities and grassroots associations. Politically, the same system that fostered leaders like Li Peng and Yao Yilin also promoted figures such as Zhao Ziyang and Hu Yaobang to the top. On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, the Kuomintang was ready for a democratic transition in the 1980s, despite governing with authoritarian institutions for much of its history. It might just be “Everyday Democracy,” as Spires titled his book, after all.
Although there are minor imperfections, Spires’ book remains impressive and of high quality. The book is truly fascinating and worthwhile. Rather than overwhelming readers with cold numbers and formulas, Spires documents the rich and detailed narratives of participants of Chinese NGOs, with meticulous attention to their identities. Although the qualitative research primarily focuses on case studies of a few NGOs in China, it presents an incredibly rich account of how these organizations practice and nurture democratic culture within and pass this culture on to newcomers. This is why it will be an invaluable read and a rich source of information for sinologists, native speakers, and anyone interested in the development of political culture in general.
Taiyi Sun
Christopher Newport University, Newport News