Edmund S. K. Fung

The Alternative of Loyal Opposition: The Chinese Youth Party and Chinese Democracy, 1937-1949

AUTHOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this article was presented at the conference on Oppositional Politics in Twentieth-Century China, held at Washington and Lee University on September 20-22, 1990. The author is grateful for comments received from participants, especially Professors Thomas Metzger, Andrew Nathan, Frederic Wakeman, Jr., Herman Mast, III, and Roger Jeans. Special thanks are also due to the two anonymous referees whose criticisms have been extremely helpful.

State Building, Capitalist Development, and Social Justice Social Democracy in China’s Modern Transformation, 1921-1949

This article explores social democracy in China as an intellectual current and political movement, seeking to demonstrate, on one hand, its similaritiesto European classical social democracy and, on the other, its Chinese peculiarities. It revises the earlier historiography that viewed liberalism in China as irrelevant to the crisis of Chinese society at the time. Instead, it argues that social democracy, linked to state building, capitalist development, and social justice, was a dominant feature of Chinese liberalism and politics, which provided an impetus to China’s modern transformation. Many intellectuals, such as Hu Shi, Zhang Junmai, and Zhang Dongsun, were simultaneously liberal, democratic, and socialist. Their frustrations in the end had much to do with the dominant mainstream political culture, represented by the GMD and the CCP, and little to do with the liberal, democratic, or socialist creed itself.

Nationalism and Modernity: The Politics of Cultural Conservatism in Republican China

This article explores the political dynamics of modern Chinese cultural conservatism. It proceeds from the premise that modern Chinese conservatism, as distinct from traditionalism, was a response to modernity and, as such, a part of modernity. The article identifies the conservative with the nationalist, but not vice versa, and understands politico-cultural conservatism as politico-cultural nationalism. It will first trace the rise of modern Chinese conservative thought, revisit the ideas of two noted cultural conservatives Liang Shuming and Zhang Junmai, examine the politics of China-based cultural reconstruction, and then explore the conservative thought of the war period (1937-1945) to illustrate the interplay of war, culture and nationalism. It argues, basically, that although the conservatives did not defend the prevailing socio-political order as a whole, their understanding of politics from a cultural perspective was nuanced and that they stood in an ambiguous relationship with the existing regime and the party-state.

The idea of freedom on modern China revisited : plural conceptions and dual responsibilities

Western historiography on the idea of freedom in modern China has tended to focus on its conception as service to the state and social ends, as illustrated by studies of Liang Qichao’s democratic thought; as a result, many other interpretations have been overlooked. This article locates Chinese notions of liberty in a broader context as a fusion of personal, national, social, civic, and moral freedoms. After revisiting Liang Qichao’s conception of freedom, it posits six others that are mutually interactive—freedom as liberation; as self-development, independent personality, and responsibility; as democracy and human rights; as a spiritual cultural necessity; as a private realm; and as autonomy and self-mastery. The article offers a more nuanced understanding of the issue of the primacy of collective interests over individual interests by developing the notion of dual responsibilities, or the dualism between the sanctity of personal liberty and the public morality of service to society and state.Western historiography on the idea of freedom in modern China has tended to focus on its conception as service to the state and social ends, as illustrated by studies of Liang Qichao’s democratic thought; as a result, many other interpretations have been overlooked. This article locates Chinese notions of liberty in a broader context as a fusion of personal, national, social, civic, and moral freedoms. After revisiting Liang Qichao’s conception of freedom, it posits six others that are mutually interactive—freedom as liberation; as self-development, independent personality, and responsibility; as democracy and human rights; as a spiritual cultural necessity; as a private realm; and as autonomy and self-mastery. The article offers a more nuanced understanding of the issue of the primacy of collective interests over individual interests by developing the notion of dual responsibilities, or the dualism between the sanctity of personal liberty and the public morality of service to society and state.

Socialism, capitalism, and democracy in Republican China : the political thought of Zhang Dongsun

Zhang Dongsun (1886-1973), a leading scholar of Western philosophy in the Republican period, has been relatively neglected inWestern scholarship on twentieth-century Chinese intellectual history. Likewise, he has received little attention in Chinese academic circles— until recently. Zhang Yaonan (1995, 1998), Zuo Yuhe (1997, 1998, 1999a, 1999b), and Ke Rou (2000) have rescued him from long neglect, recognizing his significant contributions to studies of philosophy and culture, especially his theory of knowledge, or “epistemological pluralism,” as he called it. It is barely known that Zhang was also a political commentator whose valuable insights into some of the polemics of his timemade him a significant figure in educated circles. In particular, his views on socialism, capitalism, and democracy were diagnostic and reflective of some enduring themes in modern China, such as development, cultural change, political reform, and social transformation. These themes relate to wider questions about China’s past, present, and future and ways of achieving national salvation. As a public intellectual, Zhang was wrestling with the problems of politics, culture, and economics—problems similar to some of those facing theChinese government and political activists alike in the contemporary period. Not onlywas his thought significant in his time, but it is also relevant to present-day issues of economic and political reform in the PRC.

Were Chinese liberals liberal? : reflections on the understanding of liberalism in modern China

Chinese scholarship over the past ten years or so, it is often thought that the intellectuals of modern China misunderstood liberalism, and even distorted it, because they failed to recognize classical liberalism, especially the link between liberalism and a free market economy. Consequently, great harm was done to the cause of liberalism in the precommunist period. This is a neo-liberal view that raises the question: Were Chinese liberals liberal? To answer, it is necessary first to examine the factors that contributed to their understanding of liberalism and their specific concerns. If we find that they were not liberal enough in terms of classical liberalism, does it mean that they should be referred to by some other term?

Review Article : Recent Scholarship on the Minor Parties and Groups in Republican China

was being implemented, and in Taiwan after the lifting of martial law in 1987 and the subsequent trend toward political liberalization. Meanwhile, in the West, a number of historians have been working on the subject for some years. Scholarly interest has intensified since the Tiananmen tragedy of June 1989 when the issue of democracy was brought into sharp relief. The existing body of literature on the MPGs is relatively small. However, the subject is now an emerging field, one which could be exciting not only because of the new perspective it might offer on