In search of Chinese democracy : civil opposition in nationalist China, 1929-1949
"Fung examines the internal and external factors that shaped liberal thought in the 1930s and 1940s. He argues that the reasons the growth of democracy was retarded and then ended during this period were ultimately more political than cultural. He questions the assumptions that Chinese liberal intellectuals were averse to political engagement, that they had little real appreciation for the central principle of the liberal creed and little understanding of Western democratic thought, and that China lacked the intellectual foundations for democracy. He concludes that the Nationalist era contained the real germs of a reformist, liberal order that had been prevented from growing by party politics, a lack of regime leadership, and bad strategic decisions. The legacy of China's liberal thinkers during this understudied era, however, can be seen in the prodemocracy movement of the post-Mao Zedong period."--Jacket
Periodicals
xviii, 407 pages ; 24 cm
9780521771245, 9780521025812, 0521771242, 0521025818
1057992317
Machine derived contents note: Introduction
Part I. The Dictatorial Regime: 1. The nature of the Najing regime
2. Sun Yat-sen's conception of political tutelage
3. Sun Yat-sen's democratic thought
4. The legacy of Sun Yat-sen's thought
5. The dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek
6. Chiang Kai-shek and constitution-making
7. Conclusion
Part II. Setting the Opposition Agenda: 8. The issue of human rights, 1929-31
9. Hu Shi's opening salvo
10. Luo Longji's conception of human rights
11. Central concerns of the human rights group
12. Democracy and expertocracy
13. Conclusion
Part III. The National Emergency 1932-36
14. Political and intellectual responses
15. The National Emergency conference
16. A critique of Wang Jingwei's views on political tutelage
17. Sun Fo's reformist views
18. The advocacy of neo-dictatorship
19. Conclusion
Part IV. In Defense of 1933-36
20. Hu Shi's 'Kindergarten politics'
21. Zhang Xirou's defense of liberal values
22. Other pro-democracy views
23. Democratization within the framework of political tutelage
24. Are democracy and dictatorship mutually exclusive
25. Revisionist democracy
26. Conclusion
Part V. Wartime Politics: 27. The people's political council, 1938-45
28. The MPGs on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War
29. Formation of the people's political council
30. The early phase of the PPC
31. The early phase of the PPC
32. Renewed push for constitutionalism
33. Evaluation of the PPC
Part VI. Wartime Democratic Thought: 34. The GMD's wartime democratic rhetoric
35. The CCP's new democracy
36. The democratic thoughts of the MPG's and the Independents
37. Understanding democracy
38. Conclusion
Part VII. The Third Force Movement: 39. The Chinese Democratic League, 1941-45
40. Formation of the Democratic league
41. Organization and leadership
42. Views on democracy and the political platform
43. Relations with the CCP and the GMD
44. Mediation and opposition to Civil War
45. Conclusion
Part VIII. 'Peace, Democracy, and Unification', 1946
46. The political consultative conference
47. The PCCs ultimate failure
48. The notion of coalition government
49. Mediation of the third force
50. Reflections on the third force peace efforts
Part IX. The Last Stand of Chinese Liberalism: 51. The post-war pro-democracy setting
52. The third force revisited
53. Where are the liberals headed?
54. The liberal-equality debate
55. The Socialism-democracy relationship
56. The fate of civil opposition
57. Conclusion
Part X. Conclusion
"Digitally printed first paperback version 2006."