Excerpt

“Cultural Self-Confidence” (abbreviated as CSC hereafter) is indisputably the most defining term in the contested arena of Chinese political discourse today, and it is very likely that this term will dominate the tone and scope of the Chinese political imaginary for the next two or three decades. CSC matters not only in the domain of culture as traditionally charted but also within the domain of economic development, material welfare, political democratization, and even military strategy. Indeed, CSC stands to construct not simply a new Chinese culture but also the nation as a whole. The way in which one might interpret …