ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of significant moments in Chinese modern history, when nationalism took significant, specific meanings. It looks at how nationalist debates evolved at the crucial point of transition from imperial to modern China. The chapter also looks at how Chinese communist leaders interpreted nationalism after the communist victory in 1949, and how post-Mao leadership has appealed to nationalism in the transnational context of reforms and opening up. It focuses on how Chinese national discourses take shape along the lines of race, class and ethnicity and how they manifest at different junctions in history. The Chinese state's celebration of domestic diversity and multi-ethnicity has been in direct contrast to the dominant official formulations and policies towards overseas Chinese. Chinese nationalism, as with the concept of nationalism in general, is contested and problematic. The origins of Chinese nationalism are rooted in the struggle against Western and Japanese dominance, and internal Manchu dynastical rule.
