The Origins of Exhumanism in China
Introduction
The Exhuman Insurgency which raged in the Chinese arm from the 2120s to 2150s was perhaps the pivotal event of the 22nd century, much as Singularity was for the 21st or the World Wars were for the 20th. It's effects, most majorly the break down virus redefined the human sphere, and allowed for the early (perhaps premature) independence of many Expanse Colonies and the creation of the first truly off world regional blocks, ZOCU, the League of Outer Stars and the Magnate Continuum.
While the events of the Rebellion have been extensively studied, the origins of exhumanism as an ideology have received surprisingly little attention, with most treaties on the subject limiting themselves to an all too general outline of the rise of transhumanism in the 21st century. Writers such as Zhang Yu (2162), Li Xiaowen (2170) and Paul Atris (2172) have outlined the orthodoxy on the rebellion: specifically that exhumanism was routed in the rise of transhumanism on earth, and is merely part of a great phenomena not specific to China. Li Xiaowen has even suggested that the later rise of ZOCU and the Magnate aggression can be seen as continuations of the Exhuman rebellion in other arms.
This does not really tell an accurate picture however as it fails to account for the huge differences in situation between the Exhuman Insurgency and subsequent wars, and the difference between exhumanism and either the philosophy of the Magnates or the various transgenic philosophers that exist in ZOCU. Further, it does not explain why such a rebellion would erupt first in the Chinese arm, which was at the time the most prosperous and well developed of all the colonial areas.
The reason that this analysis does not fit the facts is simple: while exhumanism is present across all arms, the conditions which made is successful were in many ways unique to China, and created a specifically Chinese form of exhumanism (from now on Chinese exhumanism) which is distinct from other varieties of it, and is rooted in the specific culture and history of China.
What is Exhumanism?
Exhumanism is, at its base, a rejection of the idea of pure mental development and an embrace of physical reality. It is believed by exhumanists that the posthumans early migration to pure mind, and vast increase of processing speed is ultimately a dead end, as uploads do not really change the structure and way of thinking of a human, but rather simply make it faster and better. To most Exhumanists the posthumans are in fact not posthuman at all, and the only way to create a true posthuman is the path they follow.
Exhumanism was originally proposed shortly after the singularity by Italian philosopher Claudio Biliotti a mere few years after the singularity, but was first put into practice by the Brazilian scientists who eventually gave rise to the Magnate movement, however this does not all Exhumanists are Magnates. It should be noted indeed that what became Magnate ideology was not at the time exhumanist, but merely transhumanist and collectivist, with later writers conflating it with Exhumanism as that movement grew.
This divergence can be seen in the different paths non-magnate exhumanist movements took, most of them turning to cybernetics rather than retroviral therapy for their augmentation. While there has been some mixing between different types of exhumanism (for instance, the Eternal Dawn are directly descended from Chinese arm Exhumanism) there are notable differences between the magnate and Chinese bands.
Chinese exhumanism is much more individualistic than the rather collectivist magnate ideology. This led to a far greater use of cybernetic rather than retroviral or transgenic upgrading as the latter two are much more complicated and require a far longer time to work. This led to some extremely alien upgrades by many of the more committed Chinese exhumanists, and a far lesser emphasis on social engineering than seen in most Magnate polities.
Where are Magnate exhumanism was ultimately routed in the socialist project and even liberation theology which make up a large part of South American political culture, Chinese exhumanism has a different set of routes. We will now go on to examine them.
The Three Strands of Exhumanism in China
Chinese Exhumanism has three distinct strands, Familial Responsibility, the Missed Singularity and Alshain Environmental Extremism. It is extremely difficult to assess exactly how much each of these narratives effected the final movement, and indeed different factions of exhumanists, or even different individuals may be affected to a varying degree.
For instance, many biological or retroviral exhumanist movements have their routes in 21st century Chinese copyright laws which saw most retroviral therapy restricted to a single generation or requiring a 'booster' or nanomachine 'patch' to activate in children. Movements among poor and lower middle class individuals to escape the tyranny of not owning their own genes through self made patching or open source bioengineering were often fed by the notion that it was a parent's duty to better provide for their children.
It was not only augmentation but also ideology that spread from the harsh laboratory of Alshain, with the followers of the Eternal Dawn preaching their own particular religious beliefs along with the cybernetics they sold to many in the Exhumanist underground. Other Exhumanist associations and nations took parts or even the whole of the Eternal Dawn belief systems and changed then to fit their own needs and circumstances.
Underlying all this however is the belief in a missed singularity, a feeling that China was left out by the posthumans, and the desire to catch up.
Familial Responsibility
Unfortunately for China, the exhumanist rebellion which took place there was partly due to its own policies. While never experiencing the same kind of backlash against transgenics that Europe, South America and to some extent North America experienced, and never adopted Krauss-Straussism, Chinese governments of the mid to late 21st century did move to restrict transhumanism and to prevent the creation of a class of hereditary transgenic aristocrats.
Instead, successive governments were lobbied by Chinese biotech concerns to allow for heavy copyrighting and single generation restriction clauses for retroviral and transgenic therapy, with each upgrade lasting only a single generation, and requiring either a new augmentation program, or in some cases merely a dose of activation agent to trigger for an individual's children. This seemed a perfect solution, preventing an unfair advantage to transgenes, and also producing a large amount of money for Chinese companies (and for governments who could levy their own fees on each upgrade or triggering shot).
This policy was of course monstrously unpopular among many normal citizens, who saw it as government pandering to big business, and possibly a return to earlier and more authoritarian approach to public policy. It also clashed sharply with long running Chinese ideas about the responsibility of parents to provide for children. While in core areas the policy was unassailable, opposition in the colonies, where retroviral therapy and biological engineering were both more common and more necessary, protests became more widespread and technically sophisticated, with the creation of patches that allowed biotech to be passed intergenerationally, and even in some cases new biotechnology for unaugmented individuals.
Some of these augmentations had unexpected side effects much like those seen after the Brazilian Miracle, and several crackdowns radicalised many of those creating them, causing them to form secret societies dedicated to further research. Many of these would go on to provide the foundation, or at least initial members for, Exhumanist movements of later years.
Alshain Environmental Extremism
High gravity, with a thin, non-oxygen atmosphere and flooded with radiation from its local primary, Alshain was not a promising world for colonisation. Never the less, an alliance of highly transhumanist groups made an attempt, modifying themselves to live in the conditions they found there.
Given the changes necessary in order to live in such a hostile environment it is not particularly surprising that the Exhumanism eternal dawn became a common philosophy on Alshain. Like many religions of antiquity, the Eternal Dawn took a proscription for survival and gave it a spiritual element, an omegaist belief that by constant small upgrades the followers of the Eternal Dawn would eventually create a god.
What gave this influence was the popularity of Alshain workers, who could survive in very harsh conditions, and required far less life support than unmodified humans or even most transgenes, allowing more of them to be shipped at once. This had the effect both of enriching Alshain through money sent home by workers and spreading Eternal Dawn and related philosophies to other worlds in the arm.
Further, Alshain gave the Dawn a base of funding and power, despite the sectarian clashes there. This gave them an advantage in spreading their influence to other worlds and Exhumanist groups, although they also gained substantial elements from them, especially the rejection of the path taken by the existing posthumans.
While other Alshainian groups rejected the Eternal Dawn's ideals, their attempts to combat it led, paradoxically, to a further spread of Alshain technology and philosophy, which in turn fed other Exhumanist groups.