Imagining the economic nation: Globalisation in China

Economic globalization and economic nationalism are often presented as opposing forces: transnational capital and commodity flows of increasing size and speed cascading against relatively discrete national economic jurisdictions. The intertwining of conceptions of the economic nation and forces of globalization are explored in four steps. First, the economic aspect of national identity, what is called the imagined economy, is briefly discussed. Second, two general ways in which economic globalization may influence articulations of an imagined economy are outlined. Third public pronouncements of China's national economic identity, as expressed in major speeches by President Jiang Zemin in 1997, are reviewed. Finally, the imagined Chinese economy thus presented is analyzed for its consistency, or lack thereof, with the expected effects of globalization.