ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a review of literature on what traditional Chinese culture (TCC) is understood to be, what the driving forces behind its nationwide revival and the associated values are, who the agents are for the revival, and what the relationship is between the discourses on soft power, rejuvenation, and traditional culture. The Chinese government has invested significant resources to connect today’s society with its past through the establishment of museums, expos, festivals, and countless intangible heritage initiatives. The chapter emphasises the importance of distinguishing between the motivations and agents behind the rise of TCC, and the transformation from Western Marxism-centred socialism to a hybrid of Marxism-Confucianism-centred socialism. In the 1990s, when hunger and poverty had been overcome, “families began to rebuild their ancestral halls and dig up their genealogies, villages rebuilt shrines, and teachers opened schools to rescue and pass on Chinese learning”.
