Debating China’s Economic Reform: New Leftists vs. Liberals

Abstract

There have been heated debates on outcome and orientation of China's economic reforms which started in the late 1970s. Though most of the previous studies on Chinese politics concentrate on the role of elites in policy-making, I argue that the intellectual discourse over policy have become increasingly salient in the post-Mao period.

Mass media, new technology, and ideology: An analysis of political trends in China

“…Xu, 2001). The grand polemics could be summarized as revolving around the following concerns: (1) market economy and social inequality: the New Left argues that market economy causes social inequality, and Liberalism considers that the root cause of social inequality is political control; (2) China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and globalization: Liberalism supports more international cooperation, but the New Left and Cultural Conservatism argues that China is involved in an unequal system of global capitalism; (3) how to evaluate the Cultural Revolution: the New Left considers the heritage of the Cultural Revolution to be positive, whereas Liberalism evaluates it negatively; (4) how to assess the May 4th New Cultural Movement and China's modernization: Liberalism defends the Enlightenment of modernization since May 4th and emphasizes core values of freedom and democracy, but the New Left and Cultural Conservatism highlight the problems of modernization and predict that China will become a colony of the West; (5) the international issues: the New Left and Cultural Conservatism support extremist nationalism but Liberalism opposes it (H. Li, 2010;Y. Xu, 2006).…”

“…It is therefore a common view among liberal scholars that the remedy lies in the perfection of the rules and policies governing markets, reforms in the political system, tort and legal reforms, and checks on political elites to ensure the more equitable distribution of the fruits of economic reforms. These represent the major points of departure between Liberalism and the New Left (H. Li, 2010;Wei, 2011;J. Yang, 2001).…”

“…Xu, 2006). These debates have not only attracted attention from establishment intellectuals and technocrats but also an increasing number of Chinese netizens (H. Li, 2010). Using the same database, our previous studies empirically examined the basic features and related conceptual relationships of the three political ideologies and general social opinions guided by these ideologies (Y.…”

“…In fact, the rise and spread of Liberalism, the New Left, and Cultural Conservatism in China were intimately connected with people's daily practices with their use of mass media and new technologies. There are multiple venues in mass media for spreading different political ideologies (H. Li, 2010). On 28 November 1997, Zhu Xueqin put together a panel of articles in the Southern Weekend to commemorate the death of contemporary liberalism thinker Sir Isaiah Berlin.…”

“…Sun, Chen, Li, & Fan, 2006). Scholars noted that the advancement of the Internet has led to the rapid spread of the intellectual debates among the general public, because sensitive topics are spread more easily and quickly online (H. Li, 2010).…”