Michael Dutton most recently taught at Beijing Capital Normal University and Goldsmiths, University of London, and is the author of
Becoming Maoist II: Language, Economy, Security
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Published:September 2024
In examining changes in language, in the economy, and in the development of the security system in post-1949 China, this chapter continues to examine how telluric intensities were burned into the revolutionary fabric of China. Following on from an examination of linguistic changes in cities and towns, the chapter turns to the organization of the planned economy and the emergence in cities and towns of the work unit. The chapter explains how the central plan and the work unit gave the appearance of transparency while operating opaquely, how both appeared rational and scientific but ultimately relied on the telluric spirit, and, lastly, how both helped transform this telluric spirit into a biopolitical form of governance that differed fundamentally from the jianghu spirit and from liberalism, neoliberalism, and Soviet-style socialism.
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