Wei Jingsheng THE FIFTH MODERNIZATION (1978) // Rong Jian: A China bereft of thought (2013)
NB: These pieces are posted as a salutation to the Chinese peoples struggle for democracy, and in humble remembrance of the 30th anniversary of the massacre at Tien An Men on June 4, 1989. DS
China continues to deny Tiananmen, but we won’t let the world forget: Rowena Xiaoqing He
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Tiananmen Square massacre marked with Hong Kong vigil
Wei Jingsheng THE FIFTH MODERNIZATION (1978)
Rong Jian: A China bereft of thought (2013)
see also
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China continues to deny Tiananmen, but we won’t let the world forget: Rowena Xiaoqing He
'Sacred day': Chinese remember Tiananmen killings by fasting
Tiananmen Square massacre marked with Hong Kong vigil
Carma Hinton The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Pt 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gtt2JxmQtg
Carma Hinton The
Gate of Heavenly Peace, Pt 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0lgc4fWkWIWei Jingsheng THE FIFTH MODERNIZATION (1978)
At the present, the
media no longer play up the themes of dictatorship of the proletariat and class
struggle. One reason is that this line of propaganda was used as sort of a
magical potion by the Gang of Four, who have now been overthrown. Another reason,
which is even more important, is that the people have had enough of all that
and can no longer be deceived. Wei Jingsheng
According to the laws
of history, the new will not come about until the old is gone. Now that the old
is gone, the people are rubbing their eyes in eager anticipation. Finally, with
God's blessing, there is a new promise - the Four Modernizations. Chairman Hua,
the wise leader, and Vice-Chairman Deng (who the people consider even wiser and
greater) have defeated the Gang of Four. Now democracy and prosperity, so
earnestly sought by those who shed their blood at Tian-an-men, seem soon to be
realized. After the arrest of
the Gang of Four, people eagerly hoped that Vice-Chairman Deng, the so-called
"restorer of capitalism," would once again appear as a great towering
banner. Finally, Vice-Chairman Deng did return to his post on the Central
Committee. The people were indeed excited, inspired, and ... [sic]. However, to
the people's regret, the hated old political system has not changed, and even
any talk about the much hoped for democracy and freedom is forbidden. People's
living conditions remain the same and the "increased wages" are far
behind the soaring commodity prices... read more: http://weijingsheng.org/doc/en/THE%20FIFTH%20MODERNIZATION.html
The last one hundred years of Chinese thought has been a topic of abiding
interest to me. With the question of Chinese modernity as my starting point, I
have examined and contemplated the changes that have occurred in Chinese
thought in the period from the 1898 Hundred Day Reform to the 1930s. I have
sought to analyse and assess the three major currents of thought in modern
China – liberalism 自由主义,
Marxism 马克思主义and conservatism 保守主义.
When I first completed this essay, my plan was to continue my research into Chinese thought since the founding of the People’s Republic, to provide a general account of this period of history through which we are still living. As luck would have it, the Unirule Institute invited me to speak on this topic, which forced me to quicken the pace of my research. I hope that today’s discussion will allow me to deepen my still incomplete understanding.
When I first completed this essay, my plan was to continue my research into Chinese thought since the founding of the People’s Republic, to provide a general account of this period of history through which we are still living. As luck would have it, the Unirule Institute invited me to speak on this topic, which forced me to quicken the pace of my research. I hope that today’s discussion will allow me to deepen my still incomplete understanding.
The title of my talk
‘A China Bereft of Thought’ is likely to offend many people who may react and
ask, ‘Where, then, would you put those scholars who conduct research on Chinese
thought?’ The scholars present here are clearly thinkers, so how can China be
without thought? Moreover, there is no shortage of thinkers in China who have
produced substantial research over the years. In judging China to be ‘bereft of
thought’, I mean the overall situation, in the sense of thought as something
that the nation as a whole has produced. Of course, I will also evaluate the
state of thinking in the Chinese academic world. The subheading for ‘A China
bereft of thought’ is ‘the situation of thought in China around the start of
the Reform Era’. The outline below is approximately 10,000 words long. The
finished work is likely to be four or five times longer. Let me elaborate my
views on this topic in five sections... read more:
see also
Modi blows hot air at China in a rally in Arunachal Pradesh - forgetting Vajpayee's surrender in 2003
Lily Kuo - 'The last time I saw Granny Pu': 85-year-old mother of Chinese dissident seized by police
