EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Politics & International Relations 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 164 The purpose of this paper is to explore the transfer of militarism from post Meiji-Era Japan to contem- porary China through the analysis of educational curricula and teaching materials. The focus will be on a comparison of textbooks and curricula used for propagating militarism in Japan between 1870 and 1945 and textbooks used for the same function in the PRC today. Historical continuity will also be traced by look- ing at textbooks and curricula from the Republican period. The results will shed new light on the broader debate on Chinese nationalism and also on the links between domestic politics and foreign policy. It will also provide deeper insights into the nature of the relationship between China and Japan. Theories of militarism will be used from general social science literature, especially the work of Wood- ruff-Smith on German militarism and the work of Jack Snyder on the links between militarism and foreign policy. Primary evidence for the Chinese side will be used from recent Chinese textbooks, laws, curricula and educational debates. Evidence for the Japan side will be drawn from archival work at Waseda University Library and the Tokyo National Diet Library. Ionova Anastasia (National Research University Higher School of Economics) Confucianism and the Xi Jinping's Political Doctrine Key words: Chinese Dream, Chinese political discourse, traditional political culture, critical discourse analysis, Marxism Confucian Ideology and family authority with small amount of changes had been a basis of Chinese politics for nearly two thousand years. Attempts to deny it during the Cultural Revolution created a ‘spir- itual vacuum’ that threatened unity and stability of the State. The revival of Confucianism into political discourse starts together with the idea to build a ‘spiritual civilization’. Xi Jinping’s political doctrine has continued this line. In 2012 he has announced the new goal of China’s development — the Chinese Dream ( 中国梦 ). The new President has pointed out that this has been, on the one hand, the dream for each Chinese, and, on the other, the collective dream of Chinese civilization as a whole. However, for- malized language and abstract inheritance of ideas give a wide space for interpretation and ideological filling of the concept. At the same time, Xi Jinping has proclaimed many statements about the necessity of redefining and expanding of official ideology, especially about combining Marxism and Confucianism. In this case, several issues need to be examining. What is the real place of Confucianism in the Xi Jinping’s political doctrine? Is there any serious contradictions between Confucianism and Marxism-Leninism? How it would be combined in real politics? The research focuses on the Confucian part of the Xi Jinping’s political doctrine through analysis of language usage and the context by the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA). It also reveals con- tradictions between Marxism-Leninism and Confucianism during realization of the concept. The author argues that Confucian ideology plays the key role in the concept because the new doctrine include a range of Confucian notions such as the paternalistic state, ‘youwei statecraft’, taking care of people and filial piety. However, the lack of clear definitions in the doctrine allow to avoid an open conflict between ideas and providing peaceful ideological synthesis. Kauppila Liisa (University of Turku) Chinese Subnational Actors as Drivers of Regionalism? Arctic Cooperation in Northeast Asia Key words: China, the Arctic, local government, state-owned enterprise, regionalism This paper explores Northeast Asian local government, city network and business cooperation as an important aspect of China’s unofficial Arctic strategy. It maps Chinese cooperation deals and future visions with various Northeast Asian counterparts (including Russia) in fields related to opening Arctic opportunities: energy resources and new sea lanes. With these deals China is strengthening its role in a new arena of power politics as a leader of the Northeast Asian “Arctic block”. Regional local govern- ment and business-to-business cooperation is seen as the best available strategy for China to secure its