In Search of Chinese Democracy: Civil Opposition in Nationalist China, 1929–1949

by Edmund S. K. Fung

• ISBN13: 9780521771245
• ISBN10: 0521771242
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Why modern China has been unable to institutionalize democracy is a long-standing topic of debate and the ultimate subject of this book. The greatest momentum for democracy, Edmund Fung contends, emerged between 1929 and 1949 with civil opposition to the one-party rule of the Guomindang. This analysis of China's liberal intellectuals and political activists who pursued democracy in the 1930s and 1940s, fills a gap in the historical literature on the period between May Fourth Radicalism and the Chinese Communists' accession to power. Fung argues that the reasons the growth of democracy was thwarted during this period were ultimately more political than cultural. The Nationalist era contained the germs of a reformist, liberal order, which was prevented from growing by party politics, a lack of regime leadership, and bad strategic decisions. The legacy of China's liberal thinkers can be seen, however, in the pro-democracy movement of the post-Mao period.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
A Note on Romanization	xvi
Abbreviations	xvii
Introduction	1	(25)
The Dictatorial Regime	26	(25)
The Nature of the Nanjing Regime	26	(4)
Sun Yat-sen's Conception of Political Tutelage	30	(2)
Sun Yat-sen's Democratic Thought	32	(6)
The Legacy of Sun Yat-sen's Thought	38	(3)
The Dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek	41	(5)
Chiang Kai-shek and Constitution Making	46	(4)
Conclusion	50	(1)
Setting the Opposition Agenda: The Issue of Human Rights, 1929-1931	51	(31)
Hu Shi's Opening Salvo	55	(3)
Luo Longji's Conception of Human Rights	58	(7)
Central Concerns of the Human Rights Group	65	(9)
Democracy and ``Expertocracy''	74	(6)
Conclusion	80	(2)
The National Emergency, 1932-1936: Political and Intellectual Responses	82	(32)
The National Emergency Conference	86	(6)
A Critique of Wang Jingwei's Views on Political Tutelage	92	(4)
Sun Fo's Reformist Views	96	(2)
The Advocacy of Neo-dictatorship	98	(14)
Conclusion	112	(2)
In Defense of Democracy, 1933-1936	114	(30)
Hu Shi's Kindergarten Politics	115	(4)
Zhang Xiruo's Defense of Liberal Values	119	(2)
Other Prodemocracy Views	121	(5)
Democratization Within the Framework of Political Tutelage	126	(6)
Are Democracy and Dictatorship Mutually Exclusive?	132	(6)
Revisionist Democracy	138	(4)
Conclusion	142	(2)
An Abortive Democratic Experiment: The People's Political Council, 1938-1945	144	(39)
The MPGs on the Eve of the Sino-Japanese War	146	(8)
Formation of the People's Political Council	154	(5)
The Early Phase of the PPC	159	(7)
Renewed Push for Constitutionalism	166	(13)
Evaluation of the PPC	179	(4)
Wartime Democratic Thought	183	(47)
The GMD's Wartime Democratic Rhetoric	185	(3)
The CCP's New Democracy	188	(2)
The Democratic Thoughts of the MPGs and the Independents	190	(23)
Understanding Democracy	213	(15)
Conclusion	228	(2)
The Third Force Movement: The Chinese Democratic League, 1941-1945	230	(33)
Formation of the Democratic League	232	(4)
Organization and Leadership	236	(4)
Views on Democracy and the Political Platform	240	(7)
Relations with the CCP and the GMD	247	(8)
Mediation and Opposition to Civil War	255	(4)
Conclusion	259	(4)
``Peace, Democracy, Unification, and Reconstruction,'' 1946	263	(35)
The Political Consultative Conference	264	(15)
The PCC's Ultimate Failure	279	(3)
The Notion of Coalition Government	282	(4)
Mediation of the Third Force	286	(6)
Reflections on the Third Force Peace Efforts	292	(6)
The Last Stand of Chinese Liberalism	298	(39)
The Postwar Prodemocracy Setting	299	(5)
The Third Force Revisited	304	(3)
Where Are the Liberals Headed?	307	(10)
The Liberty-Equality Debate	317	(10)
The Socialism-Democracy Relationship	327	(4)
The Fate of Civil Opposition	331	(3)
Conclusion	334	(3)
Conclusion	337	(16)
Selected Bibliography	353	(30)
Glossary	383	(10)
Index	393