Liberalism in Contemporary China: ten years after its ‘resurface’
2008; Routledge; Volume: 17; Issue: 55 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10670560701809619
ISSN1469-9400
Autores Tópico(s)China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes *Yinghong Cheng is associate professor of history at Delaware State University. The author would like to thank Edward Friedman, David Kelly and Guo Jian for their help and advice in this article. 1. Zhu Xueqin, '1998, Zi you zhu yi de yan shuo' ['1998: The discourse of liberalism'], Nanfang Zhoumo [Southern Weekend], (25 December 1998). This statement does not include any government intervention in economic life on behalf of the disadvantaged, though many liberals today may think otherwise, but a Stalinist–Maoist command economy is still rejected altogether. As a matter of fact, many liberals today are drawing a line between themselves and some liberal economists who hold a kind of market fetishism. 2. As a result of the re-examination of China's modern intellectual history in the context of the more diverse ideological environment of the 1990s and early 2000s, some scholars have begun to re-categorize ideologies once influential in the twentieth century. In such a reassessment, liberalism is promoted to parallel radicalism (consisting of 'high-toned' democracy, nationalism, statism, anarchism, and Marxism) and conservatism (including extreme conservatism, moderate conservatism and liberal conservatism). For a reference, see Reng Jiantao, Zhong guo xian dai si xiang mai lu zhong de zi you zhu yi [Liberalism in the Thread of Modern Chinese Thought] (Beijing: Beijing University Publisher, 2004), p. 9. 3. The intellectual and ideological heretical thinking during the Cultural Revolution has been studied by some China scholars, especially: Song Yongyi, Wen hua da ge ming zhong de yi duan si chao [Heretical Ideas in the Cultural Revolution] (Hong Kong: Tianyuan Publisher, 1997). But recently Chen Kuide has re-examined the phenomenon by recognizing its link to post-Cultural Revolution liberal thinking. See Chen Kuide, 'Zhong guo zi you zhu yi zai wen hua da ge ming zhong de meng ya' ['The sprouts of Chinese liberalism in the Cultural Revolution'], in Song Yongyi, ed., Wen hua da ge ming: li shi zheng xiang yu ji ti jiyi [The Cultural Revolution: Historical Truth and Collective Memories] (Hong Kong: Tianyuan Publisher, 2007), pp. 428–437. According to Chen, the seeds of liberal thinking during the Cultural Revolution include concepts of human rights in Yu Luoke's 'Chusheng lun' ['On family origin', 1966], property rights and market economy in Gu Zhun's research notes published in the 1990s, legality and rule of law in Li Yize's 'Big character post' (1974), from revolutionary liberalism to liberalism in Yang Xiaokai's 'Zhong guo xiang he chu qu' ['Whither China?'] (1968). Last but perhaps with broader influence is 'grey-cover' books such as Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, Milovan Djilas's New Class, William L. Shirers' The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and many books on Stalinism. These books were translated and circulated among cadres of certain ranks but accessible for their children, many of whom were desperate for intellectual and ideological inspiration. 4. Chen Kuide, Xin zi you Lun [New Liberalism] (Shanghai: Shanghai College of Chemical Engineering Press, 1988). 5. In the mid-1990s, however, Gan changed his view and since then he has been regarded by many Chinese liberals as holding an anti-liberal position. 6. The books include Friedrich Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty (1997) and The Road to Serfdom (1998). Some other important books of liberal discourse published before or after this time include Hayek's The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (2000), Karl Popper's Open Society and Its Enemies (1999), John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1988) and its updated version Political Liberalism (2000), and Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1991). 7. Chen Yan, Zhong guo zhi jue xing: wen ge hou zhong guo si xiang yan bian li cheng—1976–2002 [China's Awakening: The Course of Evolution of the Post-Cultural Revolution Chinese Thought, 1976–2002] (Hong Kong: Tianyuan Publisher, 2006), pp. 271–272. 8. Gu Zhun riji [Gu Zhun's Diary] (Beijing: Economic Daily Press, 1997). Gu Zhun's major theoretical work Cong li xiang zhu yi dao jin yan zhu yi [From Idealism to Experimentalism] was actually published in 1994 by Guizhou Renmin Publisher, which was a compilation of his study notes on Marxism and revolution made in 1973–1974. In these notes, Gu attacked utopian and authoritarian tendencies in Marxism and communist revolution, particularly the idea of an 'ultimate goal' for which everything can be compromised. He advocated a 'scientific' and 'experimental' approach towards sociopolitical changes as opposed to an arbitrary and wholesale solution. Although published earlier, it was after the publication of his diary that From Idealism to Experimentalism began to draw more attention among readers and was regarded as part of Chinese liberal thinking. 9. Chen Yan, China's Awakening, p. 268. 10. Liu Junning, Bei da chuan tong yu jin dai zhong guo [Tradition of Beijing University and Modern China] (May 1998), p. 2. 11. Gang Lin, 'Ideology and political institutions for a new era', in Gang Lin, ed., China after Jiang (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, Stanford University Press, 2003), p. 45. 12. The title of this section derives from Qiu Yueshou's article 'Post-totalitarian society and Li Shenzhi phenomenon', in The Wisdom of Reconciliation, pp. 141–161. 13. It is believed that Li said this at a public occasion right after martial law was announced in late May 1989, but the exact circumstances remain unclear. His words had been widely spread by mouth after the Tiananmen crackdown among cadres and intellectuals. For a specific reference, see Xu Youyu, 'Jian lun Li shenzhi zi you zhu yi si xiang de xin cheng' ['A preliminary analysis of the formation of Li Shenzhi's liberal ideas'], in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, p. 6. 14. The book is a collection of the 12 papers presented at the conference of 'Studies of Intellectual Trends in Contemporary China: Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China', held in Sydney, eight months after Li's death. 15. Cao's essay is accessible online at: http://www.ncn.org/asp/zwginfo/da.asp?ID = 52090&ad = 4/30/2003. One month later, in responding to criticism of his above essay, Cao wrote another one defending his position under the tile 'Li sheng si yi ge si xiang jia ma?' ['Was Li Shenzhi a thinker?'], available at: http://www.ncn.org/asp/zwginfo/da.asp?ID = 52750&ad = 5/31/2003. 16. See Zhong Weiguang, 'Zui jing er shi nian zhong guo si xiang jie de ji ge wen ti—you dao nian li shen zhi xian sheng suo xiang dao de' ['Some questions about the Chinese intellectual development in the last two decades—some thoughts in mourning Li Shenzhi'], available at: http://boxun.com/hero/zhongwg in Zhong Weiguang's anthology. 17. Zhong Weiguang, 'Li shen zhi xian sheng de li shi di wei ji qi zheng zhi wen hua si xiang jian xi' ['Preliminary analysis of Mr Li Shenzhi's historical role and political/cultural thoughts'], in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, p. 204. 18. Xu argued that although both of them had contributed to thought emancipation in the 1980s, Zhou Yang's critical reflection of the Chinese communist movement never led him to negate the Yanan Rectification; while Yu Guangyuan rejected granting the freedom of belief to Falungong practitioners. Li, by comparison, openly held different positions on both issues. 19. For example, Xu said He Jiadong, Li's old friend in the party, once said '[It would be quite different] had the New Democracy gone through!' Li corrected him by saying 'democracy is democracy. There is no such thing as "old" and "new" or "Chinese" and "foreign" democracy!': see, Xu Youyu, 'A preliminary analysis of the formation of Li Shenzhi's liberal ideas', p. 7. 20. For example, Xu said He Jiadong, Li's old friend in the party, once said '[It would be quite different] had the New Democracy gone through!' Li corrected him by saying 'democracy is democracy. There is no such thing as "old" and "new" or "Chinese" and "foreign" democracy!': see, Xu Youyu, 'A preliminary analysis of the formation of Li Shenzhi's liberal ideas'., p. 132. 21. For example, Xu said He Jiadong, Li's old friend in the party, once said '[It would be quite different] had the New Democracy gone through!' Li corrected him by saying 'democracy is democracy. There is no such thing as "old" and "new" or "Chinese" and "foreign" democracy!': see, Xu Youyu, 'A preliminary analysis of the formation of Li Shenzhi's liberal ideas'., p. 145. 22. The article's full title is: 'Chang shi yu ao man: ping Cao Chang qing he Zhong Wei guang dui Li Shen zhi he Gu Zhun de piping' ['"Common sense" and "arrogance": on Cao Changqing and Zhong Weiguang's criticism of Li Shenzhi and Gu Zhun'], For example, Xu said He Jiadong, Li's old friend in the party, once said '[It would be quite different] had the New Democracy gone through!' Li corrected him by saying 'democracy is democracy. There is no such thing as "old" and "new" or "Chinese" and "foreign" democracy!': see, Xu Youyu, 'A preliminary analysis of the formation of Li Shenzhi's liberal ideas'., pp. 207–316. 23. Qin Hui, 'Shi jian zi you' ['Practicing freedom'], in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, p. 179. 24. Wang Yi, 'Tie gu huan rou yu wei fu lin chao—jian lun dang dai zhong guo da lu de zi you zhu yi' [This title can only be roughly translated into English as 'On Li Shenzhi and contemporary Chinese liberalism'], Qin Hui, 'Shi jian zi you' ['Practicing freedom'], in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China., p. 106. 25. Wu Guo guang, 'Cong Hu shi dao Li Shen zhi—zhong guo zi you zhu yi de li shi fa zhan pian lun' ['From Hu Shi to Li Shenzhi: some thoughts on Chinese liberalism']. 26. Liu Juning, 'Shifting paradigm and establishing order: liberalism and China's road to constitutionalism', pp. 174–176. 27. Reng Jiantao, Zai liang zhong xian zheng she ji zhi jian 'Between two types of constitutional designs', p. 149. 28. Xu Youyu, 'Liberalism or democratic socialism?', pp. 194–195. 29. Feng Chongyi, 'Social democracy and the Chinese constitutionalism movement in the 1940s', pp. 84–85. 30. Wu Guoguang, 'Fan zheng zhi de zi you zhu yihu shi de xian zheng si xiang he xian zheng zhu yi zai zhong guo de shi bai' ['Anti-political liberalism: Hu Shi's constitutional thoughts and the failure of constitutionalism in China'], in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, pp. 36–37. 31. Xu Youyu, 'Zi you zhu yi hai shi she hui ming zhu zhu yi? Qian yi wei ai zhong guo xiang zheng yuan li' ['Liberalism or social democracy?—Preliminary analysis on China's constitutional principles in future'], in Constitutionalism in China, pp. 188–189. 32. Li Ruiying, 'Jin ti xin zi you zhu yi si cao' ['Be on guard against the trend of neo-liberalism'], Guangming Daily, (9 November 2004). 33. Feng Chongyi and Qiu Yueshou, 'Jin ri zhong guo de zi you zhu yi, xin zi you zhu yi he zi you zhu yi xue pai' ['Present-day China's liberalism, neoliberalism and liberal school'], in The Wisdom of Reconciliation, pp. 49–50, 55–57. 34. It is necessary to distinguish social democracy from democratic socialism in the historical context. The former developed in the early twentieth century as a moderate branch of international socialism and later on a major leftist force in the West, while the latter was often associated with efforts to rectify the Stalinist one-party state in socialist countries and some communist parties in the West. But in China these two terms are often used alternatively, often because of the specific policies they commonly endorse. In general, they advocate an economic policy in favor of government intervention and social equity, and a political policy of broad democratic reforms starting from within the party. For a recent influential democratic socialist argument, see Xie Tao, 'Zi you min zhu she hui zhu yin neng jiu zhong guo' ['Only democratic socialism can save China'], available at: http://76.162.230.49/asp/zwginfo/da.asp?ID = 70161&ad = 11/14/2006. Xie is a retired high-ranking party intellectual and might be categorized as a 'party-democrat', as explained earlier in this review article. 35. Xu Youyu, 'Liberalism or social democracy?', p. 198. 36. In addition to the Chinese books and articles mentioned or quoted earlier in this article, some other publications may be useful for interested readers: Li Shitao, ed., Zi you zhu yi zhi zheng yu zhong guo si xiang jie de feng hua [The Debate on Liberalism and the Division of China's Intellectuals] (Changchun: Shidai Wenyi Publisher, 2000); and Xu Youyu, ed., Zi you de yan shuo [The Discourse of Liberalism] (Changchun: Changchun Publisher, 1999). Chen Yan's China's Awakening also devotes significant space for the development of liberalism. For articles, see 'Reflection on liberalism in the beginning of the new century', a forum in which Chen Fangzheng, Xu Jiling, Reng Jiantao, and Zhang Shixiong participated, and from which they published in The Twenty-First Century (Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 2001), pp. 4–33. Others include: Liu Tianyu, 'The evolution of the idea of constitutionalism in China during the last one hundred years' ['Xian zheng li nian zai zhong guo de bai nian bian zhou'], Modern China Studies [Dang dai zhong guo yan jiu] no. 4, (2005); Shan Zhengping, 'Modern China's liberalism' ['Xian dai zhong guo de zhi you zhu yi'], Modern China Studies no. 4, (2004); Li Weixing, 'The revival of liberalism in China in the 1990s' ['Jiu shi nian dai zi you zhu yi si xiang zai zhong guo de fu xin'], Modern China Studies no. 2, (2002). 37. Merle Goldman, From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China (Boston: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. 128–159. 38. Suisheng Zhao, ed., Chinese Democracy: The Lessons of the Failure (New York: Routledge, 2000). 39. For example, Gao Fang's 'My view on the trend of contemporary Chinese thought and culture', in Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, pp. 17–26, is a Marxist response to liberalism. 40. But the debate between liberals and the New Left has continued. For a most recent article on the debate between the two groups, see Xu Youyu, 'Jin ru er shi yi shi ji de zi you zhu yi he xin zuo pai' ['Liberalism and the New Left in the 21st century'], Modern China Studies no. 2, (2007), available at: http://www.chinayj.net/StubArticle.asp?issue = 070204&total = 97. Xu's most devastating attack on the New Left is his response to the New Left's criticism of liberals that they only cherish their or 'intellectuals'' freedom of speech, or 'freedom of nobles', as Gan Yang sarcastically called it, which has nothing to do with the everyday lives of the masses. Xu argues that it is liberals who have been active in various occasions of 'rights movement', defending peasant's rights to their land or to village elections and urban dwellers' rights to their properties against government's arbitrary land-use projects. The absence of the New Left from advocacies for the rights of these commoners, as Xu analyzes, is perhaps because they thought in these cases 'the victims are defending individual interest and private property, therefore they are far away from a capitalized "People" and do not deserve the New Left's support. … The criticism and protest of the New Left are always aimed at illusive and remote targets. They curse US imperialism from half an earth away, but turn a blind eye to the social injustices right next to them'. See Xu's article as quoted above, p. 35. But for a more sophisticated and well-grounded analysis on the debate between the New Left and the liberals, Ren Jiantao, as a liberal, has two chapters in his recent book Liberalism in the Thread of Modern Chinese Thought (ch. 6 and 7) which concerned readers may use as one example of reference. 41. For the research on Maoist influence in Vietnam in the mid-1950s, see Yinghong Cheng, 'Beyond Moscow-centric interpretation: an examination of the Chinese connection in Eastern Europe and North Vietnam during the era of de-Stalinization', Journal of World History, (Fall 2004), pp. 487–518. 42. For the research on Vietnamese intellectuals and party democrats around the time of the resurfacing of liberalism in China, see Zachary Abuza, Renovating Politics in Contemporary Vietnam (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001), especially ch. 3 'The Nhan-Van-Giai Pham affair and the legacy of dissent' and ch. 4 'The battle over intellectual freedom and freedom of the press'. 43. See footnote 5. 44. For details regarding Tran Duc Thao, see Shawn McHale, 'Vietnamese Marxism, dissent, and the policies of postcolonial memory: Tran Duc Thao, 1946–1993', Journal of Asian Studies 61(I), (2002), pp. 7–32. 45. Both Feng Chongyi and Qiu Yueshou mention Hu Ping and his On Freedom of Speech and Qiu Yueshou mentions Chen Kuide and his New Liberalism. See Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China, pp. 4 and 147. Additional informationNotes on contributorsYinghong Cheng * *Yinghong Cheng is associate professor of history at Delaware State University. The author would like to thank Edward Friedman, David Kelly and Guo Jian for their help and advice in this article.
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