From socialism to “Chinese characteristics”

This article explores analytic tools for the anthropology of China. It begins by reviewing what I call “the post-socialist framework” that anthropologists in the Anglophone world tend to deploy. I acknowledge the significance of this framework while also identifying discrepancies between its analytical affordances and ethnographic realities in contemporary China. Seeking alternative interpretations, I turn to the emerging “Chinese civilization” approach in mainland China, focusing specifically on tianxia thought. The second half of the article traces the genealogy of the entanglement between socialism and tianxia across the administrations of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping. I argue that anthropologies of post-reform China stand to benefit from engaging Chinese history and intellectual tradition. By juxtaposing these discourses, the article demonstrates why and how we should read China as both a post-socialist and a civilizational state.