With the demise of communism as a unifying ideological force, the contemporary Chinese leadership is in a rather dire situation. As economic performance alone proves insufficiently capable of...Show moreWith the demise of communism as a unifying ideological force, the contemporary Chinese leadership is in a rather dire situation. As economic performance alone proves insufficiently capable of binding all citizens in the PRC territory to its political center, China's leaders have turned to nationalism for the solution. A major problem with promoting nationalism as a state-sponsored and state-guided ideology is that it too easily slides down to just being chauvinism for and by the majority Han ethnicity. The danger here is that this will alienate China's numerous so-called ethnic minorities. This thesis looks at one of the possible solutions to this existential problem to the Chinese nation state. The promotion of "zhonghua minzu" as a method of detaching ethnic connotations, and attaching more political connotations, to Chinese nationalism is the focus of the present work. It deals with efforts by the Chinese leadership since the rise of Xi Jinping to the position of Chairman to instill a sense of being Chinese in all China's citizens without depending on rhetorics of common blood, language, or religion. The author has tried to assess, and to an extent predict, the meassure of success these policies may have in keeping the PRC a unified nation and state.Show less
This thesis explores the way in which a realistic representation of a specific martial art in a martial arts movie is conveyed and to what extent this serves nationalistic purposes. The focus is to...Show moreThis thesis explores the way in which a realistic representation of a specific martial art in a martial arts movie is conveyed and to what extent this serves nationalistic purposes. The focus is to introduce a new approach of categorizing the performative body of the actor. The fashion in which the display of skill is portrayed, determines not only credibility of the performance, but also determines whether or not a martial arts movie can serve as a platform for a rediscovery of lost cultural heritage. The realistic depiction of a specific indigenous martial art such as Wingchun in Wilson Yip’s Ip Man (2008) as: (a) effective, (b) truthful to the martial art techniques in real-life, and (c) built on a story of national pride, serves nationalistic purposes. I argue in this thesis that we have been witnessing the emergence of a new trend in martial arts cinema: effective realism.Show less
