Tocqueville believed that one can gain a critical insight into a country's civic culture by not only analyzing a country's politics, laws and institutions but also by examining matters that seem less consequential: what a country's citizens read, the games they play, their style of architecture, etc… Since China has few channels for free expression, people find subtle means of communicating their discontent. So-called "ditties of dissention" (shunkouliu) are one example of an informal but important window into the state of public opinion. (In fact, absent public opinion polls and elections, the Chinese government monitors these ditties as a way of gauging popular opinion.) Short, rhythmic rhymes, virtually all are complaints about inequalities in society or corruption by government or party officials. The shunkouliu are a convenient, non-confrontational way to express dissatisfaction with current conditions and avoid provoking government reciprocation. Because shunkouliu do not have authors per se, no one can be held accountable for them, and because they are short and easily memorized, they are passed along rapidly and gain widespread currency.

Indicative of commonly-held values, shunkouliu are an expression of the way things ought to be, highlighting aspects of society that deviate from the standard. While mostly negative in tone and substance, the complaints implicitly reveal positive values on the part of those who author and repeat them: one can’t say something is unjust if one doesn’t have a notion of what justice is.

Many Chinese find it difficult to express in positive terms what they believe China should look like ethically. Values like ambition or nationalism are not filling the moral vacuum that was left with Communism's retreat. There is a sense among many in China that the country has suffered an ethical collapse--that traditional values are no longer held, that the moral fervor associated with the Maoist Revolution has long gone, and that cynicism and materialism are the dominant philosophies of the day.

For some, religion has moved in to fill the vacuum, providing moral and spiritual fulfillment. As Tocqueville noted, religion can offer an escape from feverish materialism and acts as a limit on the human will. The potential effects of a religious revival on Chinese society and civic culture, however, remain unclear--the state still monitors and licenses most religious activities, and there exists a wide variety of sects and doctrines, each with its own view on the relationship its members should have with the state. Some, for example, argue that the expansion of Christianity in China is necessary to lay the groundwork for the county’s democratic transformation, replacing the traditional Confucian deference to hierarchy and authority. In any event, it is apparent that the gap between the state and its citizens is widening, as evidenced by the increasing percentage of temples and churches that refuse to register with the government. These underground religious groups are thus political by definition, regardless of whether they decide to declare their opposition overtly or not.

Finally, China is seeing a secular rise in "rights" consciousness. As a result of Mao’s insistence on cultivating a "revolutionary spirit," many Chinese believe it is their right to protest and rebel. Whether this spirit will outlive the current regime’s attempts to quash it is yet to be seen, but it is evidence of an organic impulse to correct government abuses.

I. What can we learn from Tocqueville about how to study a society? 

II. Is China's experiment in village governance a School of Liberty?  

IV. Tocqueville's Ancien Regime: A Revolution Gone Bad 

V. What's Next