Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-l82ql Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T18:29:14.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of History in Party Struggle, 1962–4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Merle Goldman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As opposed to the practice of the early 1960s of expressing dissent through plays, short stories and literary forums, by 1962 and 1963 dissidence was expressed through discussions on Chinese history. Like the literati of old, Chinese intellectuals used their interpretations of history as criticisms of the regime, and the regime used contrary interpretations as rebuttals. While these debates were in actuality a subtle struggle over policy, they touched on some fundamental questions as to the dynamics of the historical process, the role of traditional values and the nature of man. They were conducted with a degree of sophistication and balance that had not been exhibited since the Communists had come to power.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 51 , July 1972 , pp. 500 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

* This article is a condensation of a paper to be published in Chalmers Johnson (ed.), Ideology and Politics in Contemporary China. It grew out of a conference on the same subject held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in August 1971.Google Scholar

1. See Merle, Goldman, “The unique ‘blooming and contending’ of 1961–2,” The China Quarterly, No. 37, 01–03 1969, pp. 54–83.Google Scholar Also in John Wilson, Lewis (ed.), Party Leadership and Revolutionary Power in China (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 268–303.Google Scholar

2. Quotations from the conference on Confucianism were reprinted in Kuang-ming Jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily) (KMJP), 17–18 08 1963Google Scholar, in Survey of the China Mainland Press (SCMP), No. 3070, p. 2.Google Scholar

3. Liu, Chieh, “Mo Tzu's love for all without distinction and his utilitarianism,” Hsüeh-shu Yen-chiu (Academic Research), No. 1, 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3128, p. 6.Google Scholar

4. Feng, Yu-lan, “Criticism and self-criticism in the discussion on Confucianism,” Che-hsüeh Yen-chiu (Philosophy Research), No. 6, 1963Google Scholar, reprinted in Chinese Studies in History and Philosophy (New York: International Arts and Science Press), I, No. 4, 1968, p. 77. Douglas Paal has written a comprehensive study of Feng Yu-lan's views in the 1950s and '60s in an unpublished monograph at Harvard University, “Feng Yu-lan: Tradition and Scholarship in Communist China.”Google Scholar

5. Chinese Studies in History and Philosophy, I, No. 4, 1968, p. 68.Google Scholar

6. Hsü, Ch'i-hsien, “Kuan-yü tao-te ti chieh-chi-hsing yü chi-ch'eng-hsing ti i-hsieh wen-ti-yü (Wu Han t'ung-chih shang-chüeh)” (“Some problems on class character and the inheritability of morality (a discussion with Comrade Wu Han)”), KMJP, 15 08 1963, p. 5.Google Scholar

7. Wu, Han, “Shuo tao-te-ching ta Hsü Ch'i-hsien t'ung-chih” (“Furthermore on morality – a reply to Comrade Hsü Ch'i-hsien”), KMJP, 19 08 1963, p. 2.Google Scholar

8. Discussion in KMJP, 6 and 7 10 1963, p. 5.Google Scholar

9. Shih, Liang-jen, “Several questions regarding the class nature of morality and its inheritability,” KMJP, 1 12 1963, p. 4.Google Scholar

10. The historical issues in this controversy are analysed by Stephen, Uhalley, “The controversy over Li Hsiu-ch'eng,” The Journal of Asian Studies, 02 1966, pp. 305–17.Google Scholar

11. Li, K'an, “In refutation of the new ‘venerate Confucius’ doctrine,” KMJP, 17 and 18 08 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3070, p. 3.Google Scholar

12. The Hsin Chien-she editorial was reprinted in KMJP, 23 01 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 2924, p. 5.Google Scholar

13. Nan-fang Jih-pao (Southern Daily) (Canton), 3 11 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3128, p. 7.Google Scholar

14. Lin, Kan-ch'üan, “Historicism and class viewpoint,” Hsin Chien-she, 05 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3162, pp. 15–17.Google Scholar

15. Hsü, Ch'i-hsien, KMJP, 15 08 1963, p. 5.Google Scholar

16. A section of this article was reprinted in Yao, Wen-yuan, “Lüeh-lun shih-tai ching-shen wen-t'i yü Chou Ku-ch'eng hsien-sheng shang-chüeh” (“A brief discussion of the problems of the spirit of the age”), KMJP, 24 12 1963, p. 3.Google Scholar

17. Ibid.

18. Chou, Ku-ch'eng, “T'ung-i cheng-t'u yü fen-pieh fan-ying,” (“Unified whole and separate reflection”), KMJP, 7 11 1963, p. 2.Google Scholar

19. Yao, Wen-Yuan, “P'ing Chou Ku-ch'eng hsien-sheng ti mao-tun kuan,” (“On Mr Chou Ku-ch'eng's views on contradictions”), KMJP, 10 05 1964, p. 2.Google Scholar

20. Chou, Yang, “A fighting task confronting workers in philosophy and social sciences,” in Current Background (CB), No. 726, p. 2.Google Scholar

21. Ibid. p. 4.

22. Ibid. p. 15.

23. Ibid. p. 21.

24. Ibid. p. 23.

25. Ibid. p. 24.

26. Ibid.

27. Mao, Tse-tung, “Comment on Comrade K'o Ch'ing-shih's report,” Long Live Mao Tse-tung Thought, in CB, No. 891, p. 15.Google Scholar

28. Mao, Tse-tung, “Instruction of the Central Committee on strengthening of learning from each other and overcoming conservatism, arrogance and complacency,” Long Live Mao Tse-tung Thought, in CB, No. 892, p. 15.Google Scholar

29. Chinese Literature, No. 5, 1966, pp. 13–14.Google ScholarPubMed For an interpretation of this poem as an attack on China's external enemies, see Stuart, Schram, “Mao as a poet,” Problems of Communism, 11–10 1964, pp. 42–3.Google Scholar

30. Jeremy Ingalls in an unpublished manuscript has analysed the relationship between Mao's poems and the Chinese classics, the Chinese language and political developments.Google Scholar

31. Long Live Mao Tse-tung Thought, in CB, No. 892, p. 15.Google Scholar

32. Ai, Heng-wu and Lin, Ch'ing-shan, “‘I fen-wei erh’ yü ‘ho erh erh i’” (“One divides into two and two combine into one”), KMJP, 29 05 1964, p. 5.Google Scholar

33. Chou, Liang-hsiao, “The anti-feudal nature of peasant wars,” JMJP, 2 07 1964, p. 6.Google Scholar

34. “Instructions concerning literature and art,” Long Live Mao Tse-tung Thought, CB, No. 891, p. 41.Google Scholar

35. Chin, Wei-min and , Li-Yun-ch'u, “Some queries on the spirit of the times,” JMJP, 2 08 1964Google Scholar, in CB, No. 747, p. 25.Google Scholar

36. Ibid. p. 29.

37. Ibid. p. 28.