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The Chinese Reassessment of Socialism, 1976-1992
A momentous debate has been unfolding in China over the last fifteen years, only intermittently in public view, concerning the merits of socialism as a philosophy of social justice and as a program for national development. Just as Deng Xiaoping's better advertised experiment with market- based reforms has challenged Marxist-Leninist dogma on economic policy, the years since the death of Mao Zedong have seen a profound reexamination of a more basic to what extent are the root problems of the system due to Chinese socialism and Marxism generally? Here Yan Sun gathers a remarkable group of primary materials, drawn from an unusual range of sources, to present the most systematic and comprehensive study of post-Mao reappraisal of China's socialist theory and practice.
Rejecting an assumption often made in the West, that Chinese socialist thought has little bearing on politics and policymaking, Sun takes the arguments of the post-Mao era seriously on their own terms. She identifies the major factions in the debate, reveals the interplay among official and unofficial forces, and charts the development of the debate from an initially parochial concern with problems raised by Chinese practice to a grand critique of the theory of socialism itself. She concludes with an enlightening comparison of the reassessments undertaken by Deng Xiaoping with those of Gorbachev, linking them to the divergent outcomes of reform and revolution in their respective countries.
Rejecting an assumption often made in the West, that Chinese socialist thought has little bearing on politics and policymaking, Sun takes the arguments of the post-Mao era seriously on their own terms. She identifies the major factions in the debate, reveals the interplay among official and unofficial forces, and charts the development of the debate from an initially parochial concern with problems raised by Chinese practice to a grand critique of the theory of socialism itself. She concludes with an enlightening comparison of the reassessments undertaken by Deng Xiaoping with those of Gorbachev, linking them to the divergent outcomes of reform and revolution in their respective countries.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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February 5, 2023
Detailed and well organized book. Lays out its purpose: to examine how China reassessed socialism during Deng Xiaoping's reign, and explains the debates and ideas that motivated these discussions following Mao's death. There is even a section that compares the Chinese reassessment to the Soviet reassessment which gives the overall reassessment even greater context outside of just domestic debates.
However, as a consequence of its great detail in explaining the debates' currents and ideas, reading it requires a familiarity with communist theory and modern Chinese history. I would recommend Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China as a precursor to understanding this period in time and having a historical context to this idea dense topic.
However, as a consequence of its great detail in explaining the debates' currents and ideas, reading it requires a familiarity with communist theory and modern Chinese history. I would recommend Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China as a precursor to understanding this period in time and having a historical context to this idea dense topic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review