In the last few years, the Chinese labour movement has witnessed significant developments, not only with the occurrence of some of the largest strikes in decades but also the emergence of grave challenges for workers and activists. Made in China is an open access journal that springs from the belief that this calls for more serious analysis from both scholars and practitioners, as well for a critical engagement with a broader international audience interested in forging international solidarity.
No expertise comes without constant doubt and a willingness to challenge established truths. Chinoiresie represents our attempt to question some of today’s understandings and certainties about China. It blends the image of a ‘chinoiserie’—a foreign interpretation and imitation of Chinese artistic traditions, a term that over time has come to assume the meaning of a clichè, a stereotypical view of China—with the concept of ‘heresy’—an unorthodox view aimed at challenging a given truth.
ESSAYS
Grassroots Turmoil in China’s Cultural Revolution: A Half-Century Perspective
Jonathan Unger
After Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, vast numbers of students, workers, peasants, and other ordinary people divided into hostile groups that violently fought against each other. Each group claimed it was fighting out of loyalty to Mao’s teachings, but research by the author revealed that these conflicts were actually the consequence of mounting tensions within Chinese society prior to the Cultural Revolution.
ESSAYS
Internet Sovereignty and China: Beyond the Wuzhen Summit
Gianluigi Negro
On several public occasions, President Xi Jinping has highlighted the importance of ‘Internet sovereignty’, a term that generally refers to a ‘bordered Internet based on territorial sovereignty’. What does this imply for the current model of Internet governance?