Abstract:
One of the more interesting aspects of politics in the People’s Republic
of China during the 1990s was the attempt by many provincial leaders to create a
specifically provincial discourse of development that entailed the reformulation of
provincial identity. Both inside and outside the People’s Republic of China, provincialism
has often been held to challenge the unity of the Chinese state. However, an
examination of the provincial discourse of development in Shanxi during the 1990s
suggests that provincial and indeed more local identity politics are more complex and
finely nuanced than might at first seem to be the case. Shanxi’s new provincial
identity was neither exclusive nor opposed to other identities, but one of a series of
multiple and overlapping identities, structured within a hierarchy of place and identity
that reached down to and interacted with the more local levels of county and village,
as well as up to the national level. At the same time it is clear that the appeal to
localism has started to influence the ways in which provincial leaders participate in
national politics. Moreover, there is some indication that the emphasis on localism
may have resulted in the county and the town or city becoming more significant
locales for identity formation than the province, though the consequences of this for
provincial and local politics remain unclear.
