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Chinese international students have become an increasingly visible presence around the globe, and interest in these students has consequently increased among universities, researchers, and policy-makers, who often see international students as a source of increased soft power. This article questions the idea of Chinese international students as a soft-power tool. This is done through a critical discussion of the concept of soft power and the rather limited research on educational diplomacy, demonstrating that the analytical vagueness of the concept of soft power leads to an oversimplified understanding of the linkage between international students and soft power. In order to provide a more nuanced understanding of this linkage, the article examines the actual overseas experience of Chinese international students and argues that the linkage between international students and soft power is highly complicated and that these students do not necessarily constitute soft-power resources. (JCCA/GIGA)

The Chinese government is currently performing a delicate act of balance: attempting to foster a "healthy" nationalism among the young generation in China while, at the same time, having to deal with the at times rather loud and uncompromising expression of this nationalism online. By examining examples of online debates on issues of national interest; in this case the Spratly Islands and the animosity between a Chinese and a Japanese child, this article discusses the use of historical imagery in online historical debates and demonstrates a linkage between the version of Chinese history promulgated in the so-called patriotic education campaign and the rhetoric used online. Even though the viewpoints expressed in the two debates vary widely, the central theme of how to deal with China's past plays a strong role in both debates. I argue that though the Chinese government has been rather successful in promoting this reliance on a certain historical perspective to understand present day China's place in the world, the online nationalist expressions take on a life of their own partly due to China's very special internet culture.

The Chinese government is currently performing a delicate act of balance: attempting to foster a "healthy" nationalism among the young generation in China while at the same time having to deal with the at times rather loud and uncompromising expression of this nationalism online. By examining examples of online debates on issues of national interest, the Spratly Islands and the animosity between a Chinese and a Japanese child, this article discusses the use of historical imagery in online historical debates and demonstrates a linkage between the version of Chinese history promulgated in the so-called patriotic education campaign and the rhetoric used online. Even though the viewpoints expressed in the two debates vary widely, the central theme of how to deal with China's past is plays a strong role in both debates. I argue that though the Chinese government has been rather successful in promoting this reliance on a certain historical perspective to understand present day China's place in the world, the online nationalist expressions take on a life of their own partly due to China's very special Internet culture.

"The focus of this book is on how rural society has been reorganized in the 21st century. The first chapters outline the basic organizational structure of rural China and can be used as an introduction to the topic in a classroom setting. They show how the state and its social scientists draw up plans to overcome the perceived lack of rural social organization, and discuss the often problem-ridden implementation of their ideas. The second section presents case studies of institutions that organize key aspects of rural life: Boarding schools where rural children learn to accept organizational hierarchies; lineage organizations carving out new roles for themselves; "dragonhead enterprises" expected to organize agricultural production and support rural development, and several others. The book is of theoretical interest because of its focus on the re-embedding, or reintegration, of individuals into new types of collectivities, which are less predetermined by tradition and habit and more a matter of, at least perceived, individual choice. Most chapters are based on extensive fieldwork and contain vivid examples from daily life, which will make the book attractive to anyone who wants to understand how Chinese villagers experience the extraordinary social changes they are going through."--Provided by publisher

Understanding Chinese nationalism and national identity is of primary importance in comprehending the increasingly assertive role that a rising China plays on the global political scene. But "Chinese nationalism" is a very difficult concept to deal with due to differences in the Western and Chinese understandings of the term. This article attempts to bridge the gap by analyzing both Chinese and Western conceptualizations of the term and discussing the difference between patriotism and nationalism and their interchange in China today. The importance of nationalism/patriotism in shaping modern Chinese society is also recognized by the Chinese state, that deliberately fosters patriotic sentiment among the young generation through the Patriotic Education Campaign. Material from this campaign is used to provide an important indication of the patriotic content of current Chinese state nationalism.

This article studies the making of a small fragment of China's social credit system by focusing on the evolution of digital mediation in the market for domestic service. We study the ongoing development and reconfiguration of various forms of digital mediation in the domestic service labour market from early local digital blacklisting attempts to the making of a nationwide app linked to the social credit system. We find that digital mediation so far mainly contributes to controlling domestic workers through the indicators included in the app. These indicators to a large extent reinforce existing categorisations of domestic workers. While the early blacklists were primarily market-driven, thereby resembling the platform economy outside China, the later nationwide system is closely linked to the central state and strengthens central state control over the market for domestic services.