Voices from the Chinese Century: Public Intellectual Debate from Contemporary China

by Timothy Cheek (Editor), Joshua A. Fogel (Editor), David Ownby (Editor)

China’s increasing prominence on the global stage has caused consternation and controversy among Western thinkers, especially since the financial crisis of 2008. But what do Chinese intellectuals themselves have to say about their country’s newfound influence and power? Voices from the Chinese Century brings together a selection of essays from representative leading thinkers that open a window into public debate in China today on fundamental questions of China and the world―past, present, and future.

The voices in this volume include figures from each of China’s main intellectual liberals, the New Left, and New Confucians. In genres from scholarly analyses to social media posts, often using Party-approved language that hides indirect criticism, these essayists offer a wide range of perspectives on how to understand China’s history and its place in the twenty-first-century world. They explore questions such as the relationship of political and economic reforms; the distinctiveness of China’s history and what to take from its traditions; what can or should be learned from the West; and how China fits into today’s eruption of populist anger and challenges to the global order. The fifteen original translations in this volume not only offer insight into contemporary China but also prompt us to ask what Chinese intellectuals might have to teach Europe and North America about the world’s most pressing problems.

Genres: China, Politics, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Political Science

400 pages, Paperback

Published November 19, 2019

Reviews

[Javier Forment · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not repeat what people say about China as uncritically accepted. Go on to read about the chinese intellectual, political, economics, and social debate

[Redpoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone with an interest in China today, read this. I will leave it at that.

[Luke Eure · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read while in China and was helpful to get a bunch of intellectual viewpoints on things I was seeing while traveling, and that I had learned while reading history about China.

Some of my conclusions:
- I think the CCP does not have a strong ideology other than "we want to stay in power"
- the restricting on debate makes it very hard to form coherent ideology
- Chinese people on the whole are pretty happy with their government
- authoritarian regimes use arguments like "the poeple aren't ready yet for democracy" or "if we had democracy it would impede our economic growth". these arguments may or may not be true, but authoritarians will say them REGARDLESS of whether or not they are true.