Collective Identity, Symbolic Mobilization, and Student Protest in Nanjing, China, 1988-1989

Recent social movement theory explores the interaction of collective identity and collective action. This issue is pursued here in an examination of student protest in Nanjing, China. Because social movement activity in China is discontinuous, conjunctural, and public, mobilization relies heavily on symbolic communication and action. Constructing a collective identity that can sustain a movement thus hinges on the creation and manipulation of evocative symbols. The problems and opportunities of symbolically enacting collective identity are discussed in regard to the 1988 anti-African protests and the 1989 democracy movement in Nanjing.