Humanities in the Age of State Technology: Restructuring of Education, Human Values, and the Power of Knowledge in Contemporary China

Abstract

This article examines the role and condition of the humanities within China’s contemporary “technological state,” where state power is increasingly exercised through digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and big data systems, alongside the restructuring of education and the reordering of knowledge hierarchies. It asks a central question: what space and significance do the humanities retain in an environment dominated by technocratic rationality and state-driven efficiency? The article argues that much of the existing scholarship on contemporary China prioritizes STEM, innovation, and digital economy, while paying insufficient attention to the humanities and the politics of knowledge (power/knowledge) within the education system. As a result, the humanities are often framed as ideological instruments or soft power resources for cultivating compliant citizens, rather than as critical spaces for ethical reflection and social critique. Through an analysis of education policies, the STEM-first paradigm, and the development of Digital Humanities, this article demonstrates that the humanities in China have not been eliminated but repositioned under state supervision. Discourses of morality, Chinese identity, and Confucian revival play a central role in redefining the humanities’ function, placing them in an ambivalent position between serving state objectives and enabling symbolic negotiation of power.

The article proposes an analytical framework that moves beyond a simple control–resistance dichotomy, emphasizing instead adaptation, negotiation, and embedded critique. It concludes that, despite structural constraints, the humanities remain a crucial site for questioning human values, the meaning of progress, and the limits of state power in an era where technology and governance are increasingly intertwined.