Three Moral Codes and Microcivil Spheres in China

Abstract

Two dimensions of Civil Sphere Theory tend to be overlooked in the literature on civil society in China: moral codes and spheres of solidarity. Although there is no institutionally autonomous civil sphere in China, there are “virtual” and “micro” civil spheres in which moral codes shape spheres of solidarity. However, the picture is complicated by the coexistence of three distinct moral codes derived from Chinese traditional values, Western liberal values, and China’s revolutionary tradition. While the three codes appear to be contradictory, there are overlaps and circulations between them, through which popular discourses hold state and social actors to account. This forms the basis of a virtual civil sphere that comes into being when state and popular actors engage with each other, creatively deploying the ambiguities and overlaps between the three codes. But these spaces are unstable and subject to imminent collapse, when the state and popular groups each assert the purity of a single moral code, polluting and stigmatizing the other. The chapter draws on cases from Chinese popular religion to illustrate the formation and breakdown of micro-civil spheres