Dreaming as a critical discourse of national belonging: China Dream, American Dream and world dream

Abstract

This article explores the normative politics of national belonging through an analysis of the ‘China Dream’ and the ‘American Dream’. It traces how politicians and public intellectuals employ such slogans to highlight how national dreams emerge in times of crisis and involve a combination of aspirations and anxieties. It compares parallel rhetorical strategies – ‘patriotic worrying’ in China and the American Jeremiad in the US – to examine how belonging to these two nations involves a nostalgic longing for the past as a model for the future. Debates about the meaning of these national dreams highlight the tension between freedom and equality in the US, between the individual and the collective in China, and between longing for the true nation, and belonging in the actual nation for both countries. It concludes that while this quest for redemption through past models limits opportunities for critical discourse in China, the American Dream still contains much ‘promise’. The China Dream and the American Dream thus are, at the same time, 1) familiar expressions of nationalism and national belonging, and 2) ongoing self/Other coherence‐producing performances that help us to question received notions of nationalism and national belonging.

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“…Since then, more scholars have started to use discourse as the research object of Chinese nationalism. Callahan focused on the most influential and popular texts and compared discourses of the "China Dream" with the "American Dream" [3,4]. Callahan thought of Chinese nationalism from a "propaganda" perspective.…”

“…As Table 2 shown, in the netizen discourse, the Roots of Chinese nationalism, "External provocation" (18.43%) and "Significant achievements" (38.83%) are closely associated with the Aspirations of Chinese nationalism "Stand firm" (26.45%, 13 times) and "World leadership" (10.46%, 14 times), respectively. 4 On this basis, we can know what people say about nationalism during the pandemic.…”

“…Nodes of significant others do not present in the table 4. The percentage in brackets refers to the percentage of the node for its group.…”

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“…The two main aspects of techno-nationalism are (1) the belief that "technology is a crucial national asset in a highly competitive world" [30] (p. 913); and (2) the pragmatic mix of liberal and nationalistic policies to reach the national technological goals [30]. After the Chinese president Xi Jinping came into power in 2012, the China Dream as a "defining slogan" [31] (p. 7) became highly popular. It names the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" which describes "the revival of the hard-working and hardship-stricken Chinese nation after the Opium War taking place about 170 years ago" [32].…”

The Concept of ‘Community of Common Destiny’ in China's Diplomacy: Meaning, Motives and Implications

“…828–830). William Callahan argues that ‘the Chinese dream’ is more than a propaganda campaign but involves individual and collective aspiration and anxieties about the nation's future, or ‘patriotic worrying’ (). In other words, as Chinese intellectuals are worried about the value crisis in China's current money‐worship society, Xi Jinping's ‘the Chinese dream’ slogan aims to provide the correct formula resulting in China's perfection (Ibid).…”