Assertive Emotionality and Model Personhood in Chinese Workshops for Self-Improvement

• In Event: Ideals and Practices of Self-Cultivation in Contemporary East Asian Societies

Abstract

Based on fieldwork in adult workshops that offer training in “soft” skills, such as emotional management, public speaking and leadership skills, this paper discusses how ideas of self-improvement and self-cultivation interact in contemporary training in urban China. I aim to delineate the idea of a model personhood that is upheld by these workshops, which is emotionally expressive in various manners: the model person is highly humorous, is inclined to shed tears and able to “touch” others with words, and highlights an overt personality rather than social humility. At the same time, workshop instructors correlate emotionality with self-confidence, assertiveness and even composure, regarding emotional disarray as a hindrance to an optimal personal growth.
In this paper I introduce the different workshops I have studied in urban Shandong. I focus on discursive and affective tropes which are pivotal in training activities, such as “thankfulness” (gan en), “effort” (nu li) and “team work”, all informed by the local cultural repertoire. Subsequently, I discuss how these workshops and the process of self-improvement they present are seen by participants as a resistance to sociocultural conservativeness and an alignment with a globalized market economy. At the same time, young adults constantly contemplate whether their progressive values may indeed set the tone for the forthcoming social reality. Ultimately, by envisioning a future self, they maintain their purposeful and vital participation in different practices, even if they sense that the present reality is vitiating their soulful aspirations.

Author

• Gil Hizi, University of Sydney