Debating Human Rights in China: A Conceptual and Political History

by Marina Svensson

Tracing the concept of human rights in Chinese political discourse since the late Qing dynasty, this comprehensive history convincingly demonstrates that―contrary to conventional wisdom―there has been a vibrant debate on human rights throughout the twentieth century. Drawing on little-known sources, Marina Svensson argues that the concept of human rights was invoked by the Chinese people well before the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and that it has continued to have strong appeal after 1949, both in Taiwan and on the mainland. These largely forgotten debates provide important perspectives on and contrasts to the official PRC line. The author gives particular attention to the issues of power and agency in describing the widely divergent views of official spokespersons, establishment intellectuals, and dissidents. Until quite recently the PRC dismissed human rights as a bourgeois slogan. Yet the globalization of human rights and the growing importance of the issue in bilateral and multilateral relations have forced the regime to embrace, or rather appropriate, the language of human rights, an appropriation that continues to be vigorously challenged by dissidents at home and abroad.

By exploring the relationship between domestic and international human rights discourses, this study offers new insights not only into the Chinese but also into the Western human rights debate. Students and scholars of China and of human rights will find this work an important tool for understanding one of the great issues of our time.

Genres: China

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of the concept of "human rights" in Chinese-language political discussions from the late Qing dynasty to the end of the 20th century. Contrary to orientalist advocates of "Asian Values", the term has an established history in political discussions in both mainland China and Taiwan.

Svensson claims that the concepts of "inalienable" and "innate" human rights did not have exact equivalents in Confucian morality, but they were easier to introduce with contemporary reformers' discussion about responsibility and human dignity in the late 19th century. Nor is the concept entirely a foreign imposition. After the introduction of Western works of political philosophy, these were eagerly used by Chinese writers and activists for their own ends - after the warlord period and the one-party rule of the Guomindang, both liberal and communist writers invoked the concepts of human rights to critique the government's abuses.

While the concept was still in use in Taiwan after 1949, it was more strongly suppressed in the mainland following the 1957 'Anti-rightist campaign', only reappearing in the 1970s after Mao's death, including the Democracy Wall movement of the late 1980s. While the government is drawn further into international organizations and treaties, it has had to reckon with the use of "human rights" vocabulary.

A nuanced and well-researched history.

[Floris Meertens]

Enorm rijk en interessant werk, wat zowel sterk universalistisch als gedegen objectief probeert te zijn.