2012년 ‘충칭사건’과 중국의 공론장 문제

Abstract

This article examines the public sphere in China through a close study of the Bo Xilai Case in 2012. The Bo Xilai Case began on February 6th, 2012 when Wang Lijun—Vice Mayor of the city of Chongqing and also Head of the Public Security Bureau—defected to the U.S. Consulate. A high ranking government official’s defection shocked China at large, and this incident generated confusion and tension among China’s elites. One of the most caustic critics of this case was Wang Hui, who directed his criticism at Chinese society and politicians. Calling the incident a showcase of “backroom politics”, he saw it as a competition for power among the supporters of Neo-Liberalism in China, media in and out of the Chinese Communist Party, and foreign powers. A point of interest here is that Wang Hui addressed the problem of the public sphere in his arguments. The initial defection of Wang and the subsequent development of such a high-profile incident, Wang argued, revealed a crisis of the public sphere in China that had been operating in particular ways. Wang’s criticism not only ties the incident with the issue of the public sphere, but goes beyond a superficial understanding of the incident as a reflection of power struggles among the Chinese elites. Wang’s commentary signals a possibility of a constructive public discourse on China’s contemporary politics. Leaving aside whether one agrees or disagrees with Wang Hui’s criticism, it is imperative to reassess the issue of the public sphere on China’s historical trajectory, and how it should be understood in relation to the Bo Xilai Case and other political affairs in contemporary Chinese politics. I tie in the Bo Xilai Case with three important issues in this paper. First, I discuss the meaning of the public sphere in China. A public sphere in any given society is intimately tied to the role of the intellectual elites and their continuous involvement in public discourse. I pay attention to how Wang Hui addressed a crisis of the public sphere by focusing on the development of the Bo Xilai Case, not the outcome. Second, I move on to the larger topic of the formation of a public sphere for all people, one that departs sharply from the draining opposition between the Chinese New Left and Chinese Liberalism. Lastly, I address how we might link the issue of the public sphere with increasingly violent expressions of the general public in an environment in which new forms of media,such as the SNS, seem more effective than the mass media.