New Leftism in the People's Republic of China is an ideological tendency in opposition to capitalism that first arose during the mid-1990s. Most members of this left wing tendency appear to be scholars in their 30s to early 40s. New Leftistm is seen as being more appealing to students in China today than liberalism or neoliberalism — problems faced by China during its modernisation, such as inequality and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, are becoming more serious. It is also known as 'neo-leftism'. This box:      Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately [1] owned and operated for profit and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Leftism redirects here. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Modernization is the process of changing the conditions of a society, an organisation or another group of people in ways that change the privileges of that group according to modern technology or modern knowledge. ...

Overview

New Leftists can usually be divided into two main groups: (1) believers in either postmodernism or Mao's interpretation of Marxism; and (2) those who support Chinese nationalism. The Chinese New Left's origins lie mainly in scholarly people who were heavily influenced by the idea of postmodernism in universities in the Western world before coming back to China in the mid-1990s. They tend to think that the social problems faced by China are caused by capitalist loopholes and corruption. Postmodernism is a term used in a variety of contexts to describe social conditions, movements in the arts, economic and social conditions and scholarship from the perspective that there is a definable and differentiable period after the modern, or that the 20th century can be divided into two broad periods. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The May Fourth Movement in 1919 marked a turning point in the history of Chinese nationalism. ... Postmodernism is a term used in a variety of contexts to describe social conditions, movements in the arts, economic and social conditions and scholarship from the perspective that there is a definable and differentiable period after the modern, or that the 20th century can be divided into two broad periods. ... The term Western World or the West (also on rare occasions called the Occident) can have multiple meanings depending on its context (i. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... The term loophole could refer to a number of things: See Embrasure; a slit in a castle wall Loophole (1954 movie) Loophole (1981 movie) for other meaning see Loophole at Wikionary Cash Loopholes ...

The name

The name was first applied in the late 1990s. Their foremost thinker is Wang Hui, and he explains how they did not choose this term:

The first stirring of a more critical view of official marketization go back to 1993... But it wasn't till 1997-98 that the label New Left became widely used, to indicate positions outside the consensus. Liberals adopted the term, relying on the negative identification of the 'Left' with late Maoism, to imply that these must be a throw-back to the Cultural Revolution. Up till then, they had more frequently attacked anyone who criticised the rush to marketization as a 'conservative' - this is how Chi Zhiyuan was initially described, for example. From 1997 onwards, this altered. The standard accusatory term became 'New Left'... ^[1] The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution; often abbreviated to 文化大革命 wénhuà dà gémìng, literally Great Cultural Revolution, or even simpler, to 文革 wéngé, Cultural Revolution) in the Peoples Republic of China was a struggle for power within the...

Actually, people like myself have always been reluctant to accept this label, pinned on us by our adversaries. Partly this is because we have no wish to be associated with the Cultural Revolution, or for that matter with what might be called the 'Old Left' of the reform-era CCP. But it is also because the term New Left is a Western one, with a very distinct set of connotations – generational and political – in Europe and America . Our historical context is Chinese, not Western, and it is doubtful whether a category imported so explicitly from the West could be helpful in today's China. ^[2] The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution; often abbreviated to 文化大革命 wénhuà dà gémìng, literally Great Cultural Revolution, or even simpler, to 文革 wéngé, Cultural Revolution) in the Peoples Republic of China was a struggle for power within the... The New Left is a term used in different countries to describe left-wing movements that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

Groups

A sub-group of this strand of New Leftists are more radical, adhering to Marxism as originally interpreted by Mao and as executed during approximately the first twenty years of the PRC's existence. They believe firmly that China is, and has been for some time, moving away from the communist path, which has resulted and will continue to result in the rise of capitalists who will further exploit peasants and workers, as they did in China before 1949. Similarly to the worldwide Maoist movement, this strain of New Leftists are against the Chinese government's policy of "openness" and economic reforms; correspondingly, they do not consider Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward to have been wrong-headed. Since the early 20th century, Radical Left has been used as an umbrella term to describe those on the political left who adhere explicitly and openly to revolutionary socialism, communism, or anarchism. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Capitalism generally refers to in philosophy and politics, a social system based on the principle of individual rights, including property rights. ... In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: in fact, hunger and harsh winters were realities for the average European in the... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛澤東思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), also called Marxism-Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), is a variant of communism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893&#8211... Economic reforms have triggered internal migrations within China. ... Mao redirects here. ... The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution; often abbreviated to 文化大革命 wénhuà dà gémìng, literally Great Cultural Revolution, or even simpler, to 文革 wéngé, Cultural Revolution) in the Peoples Republic of China was a struggle for power within the... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

These New Leftists are also against capitalist democracy and have nostalgia for the idealism of the "revolutionary Maoism" of a generation ago, in contrast to the corruption and money-centeredness they see in current Chinese society. Many of these New Leftists also regret the erosion of guaranteed employment, education, health care, and other former gains of the Chinese Revolution that have been largely lost in the new profit-driven economy. In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Health care or healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions. ... The Chinese Revolution may refer to: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912, which led to the founding of the Republic of China, also known as the Republican Revolution. ... Profit, from Latin meaning to make progress, is defined in two different ways. ...

Zhengzhou incident

On December 24, 2004, four Chinese protesters were sentenced to three-year prison terms for distributing leaflets entitled "Mao Forever Our Leader" at a gathering in Zhengzhou honoring Mao Zedong on the anniversary of his death.^[3] Attacking the current leadership as "imperialist revisionists", the leaflets called on lower-level cadre to "change (The Party's) current line and to revert to the socialist road." The Zhengzhou incident is one of the first manifestations of public nostalgia for the Mao era to make it to the international press, although it is far from clear whether these feelings are widespread. In any case, it is an example of Marxist Chinese New Leftistm in action. December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Demonstrators march in the street while protesting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16, 2005. ... Zhengzhou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), formerly called Zhengxian (traditional form: Chengchow) , is a prefecture-level city and the capital of Henan province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Imperialism is the policy of extending the control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. ... Revisionism is a word which has several meanings. ... Look up cadre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Politics In politics, the line or the party line is an English language idiom for a political party or social movements canon agenda, as well as specific ideological elements specific to the organizations partisanship. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ...

Current disputes

Chinese New Leftists are often criticised by liberal intellectuals, who consider China not to be liberal enough, both economically and politically. These liberals tend to think that inequality and the widening gap between rich and the poor are serious problems, but that these problems exist in every developing country and constitute a necessary stage of development. Liberals also criticise postmodernism, which they argue is inappropriate for China because it is still not developed enough, and at the moment does not yet face some of the particular problems that have occurred in some developed countries that in turn gave rise to postmodernist thought. Democracy and personal freedoms are seen by these liberals to be important for China, although perhaps not attainable in the near future. The liberal critics and Chinese New Leftists have fiercely debated throughout the mid-1990s and early 2000s. An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate on, or ask and answer questions with regard to a variety of different ideas. ... The feasible regions of linear programming are defined by a set of inequalities. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Postmodernism is a term used in a variety of contexts to describe social conditions, movements in the arts, economic and social conditions and scholarship from the perspective that there is a definable and differentiable period after the modern, or that the 20th century can be divided into two broad periods. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

Current plans for a "New Socialist Countryside could be seen as a concession to New Left ideas.^[4] It is significant that the idea of privatising the land has not so far been accepted. Currently it is used privately but cannot be sold, unlike urban property. Britain's Financial Times has been expressing concern at an apparent stagnation in China's economic reforms.^[5] The Financial Times (FT) is an international business newspaper printed on distinctive salmon pink broadsheet paper. ...

Sources

1. ^ One China, Many Paths, edited by Chaohua Wang, page 62
2. ^ Ibid., page 62
3. ^ Maoists in China Get Three Year Prison Sentences for Leafleting: A Report on the Case of the Zhengzhou Four, Monthly Review, January 2005.
4. ^ [1] China launches ‘New Deal’ for farmers. (Financial Times, 22 Feb 2006)
5. ^ [2] China is stagnating in its ‘trapped transition’ (Financial Times 23 Feb 2006)

Monthly Review is a socialist magazine published in New York City. ... The Financial Times (FT) is an international business newspaper printed on distinctive salmon pink broadsheet paper. ...

See also

• Wang Hui
• Dushu
• One China, Many Paths
• Chinese liberalism

External links

• The high price of illness in China (BBC report).
• China is stagnating in its ‘trapped transition’
• A Sharp Debate Erupts in China Over Ideologies - New York Times, 12 March
• Dividing the Big Family Assets - from New Left Review
• Chinese Nationalism and the 'New Left'
• New Left or Old Mencius? - about Chinese 'New Left' theorist Wang Hui
• The Intellectual Scenario in China – 1990-2003
• Contemporary Political Philosophy in China
• Chinese Nationalism and the 'New Left'