Giorgio Strafella - Intellectual Discourse in Reform Era China: The Debate on the Spirit of the Humanities in the 1990s

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Intellectual Discourse in Reform Era China

This book explores intellectual discourse in reform era China by analysing the so-called debate on the spirit of the Humanities, which occurred in the years 19931995, and which is recognised by scholars as one of the most interesting, influential and important debates of the 1990s. This debate, in which Chinese intellectuals reflected on reform-era mass culture and on their role in society, was the first debate in China after the crackdown of 1989 and the launch of new economic reforms after Deng Xiaopings 1992 southern tour. The book, drawing on a large corpus of texts and a wide range of individual positions, demonstrates how Chinese intellectuals, having to face the combination of political repression and economic liberalisation, conceptualised and reacted to both. The book reveals the scale and complexity of the debate, the nature of intellectual life in China, the status and relevance of intellectual voices in society, the divisions within the intellectual sphere as well as shared concepts and ideals, and how the key factors of political repression and economic liberalisation which remain central in China today were defined and articulated.

Giorgio Strafella is a research fellow in the Department of Chinese Culture and Society at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland.

Routledge Contemporary China Series

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com

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153 State Propaganda in Chinas Entertainment Industry

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154 Assessing the Balance of Power in Central-Local Relations in China

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155 Television Regulation and Media Policy in China

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156 Space, Politics, and Cultural Representation in Modern China

Cartographies of revolution

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157 The Occupy Movement in Hong Kong

Sustaining decentralised protest

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158 The Chinese Family Today

Edited by Xu Anqi, John DeFrain, and Liu Wenrong

159 Television Drama in Contemporary China

Political, social and cultural phenomena

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160 Intangible Cultural Heritage in Contemporary China

The participation of local communities

Edited by Kuah Khun Eng and Liu Zhaohui

161 Intellectual Discourse in Reform Era China

The debate on the spirit of the Humanities in the 1990s

Giorgio Strafella

First published 2017

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Giorgio Strafella

The right of Giorgio Strafella to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Strafella, Giorgio, author.

Title: Intellectual discourse in reform era China : the debate on the spirit

of the humanities in the 1990s / Giorgio Strafella.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge

contemporary China series ; v. 161 | Includes bibliographical

references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016026356 | ISBN 9781138696730 (hardback) |

ISBN 9781315523453 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: HumanitiesChinaHistory20th century. | China

Intellectual life20th century. | Popular cultureChinaHistory

20th century.

Classification: LCC AZ791 .S79 2016 | DDC 001.3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016026356

ISBN: 978-1-138-69673-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-52345-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

To my mother

Contents

The project that reaches its completion with the publication of this book has benefited from the encouragement, support and advice of a number of people. I should like to thank in particular Daria Berg, Andreas Fulda, Steve Tsang, Rana Mitter, Jeremy Taylor and Peter Sowden. I wish to express my gratitude also to Ales-sandra C. Lavagnino, Francesca Frigerio, Giuliana E. Garzone, Joseph Poon, Yang Rongrong, Zhang Yongfen, Yang Shen, all the interviewees, the staff of the Shanghai Library network, my friends and my family.

Research for this book was made possible by a generous pre-doctoral scholarship from the University of Milan; a European Union Research Scholarship; a PhD Scholarship from the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham; a fieldwork grant from the Universities China Committee in London; an additional fieldwork grant from The University of Nottingham; and support from the University of St Gallen.

1
Introduction

Topic and aims

Individuals who combine a concern for political issues with non-technical or humanistic erudition such as a mastery of historical facts and interpretations, philosophical thought, literature and writing have long held a prominent and privileged position in Chinese society. They have animated the political sphere of the country from the imperial bureaucracy to the reformist and revolutionary movements of the twentieth century. Founding members of the Chinese Communist Party such as Chen Duxiu (18791942) and Li Dazhao (18881927) belonged to this category. Mao Zedong (18931976) himself wrote poetry and philosophy, read dynastic annals, quoted from the classics and prided himself on being Chinas foremost interpreter of Marxism-Leninism. Figures of this ilk articulate thoughts and opinions in an especially eloquent and diversified fashion, and historically their identity has been central to the definition of China and its culture. This is why listening to Chinese humanists and reflecting on their mindset greatly enhances our understanding of China.

This book aims at doing so by focusing on the words of Chinese humanists during a key juncture in the contemporary history of their country and the world. By analysing the debate on the spirit of the Humanities As this book will show, the debate offers invaluable insights into the responses of Chinas humanists to the repercussions of those events across cultural production and social life, revealing disagreement as well as shared categories and ideals. Moreover, it constituted the last gasp of intellectual debate before the spread of Internet use in the country, which has profoundly changed the role and influence of the intellectual elite in society.

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