Democrats within the Chinese communist party since 1989

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 17, Issue 57, 2008, Pages 673-688

  Chongyi, Feng ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMUNISM; DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION; DEMOCRATIZATION; ELECTION; LEADERSHIP; PARTY POLITICS;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 55549132974     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: 14699400     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670560802253378     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Ben Xu, Disenchanted Democracy: Chinese Cultural Criticism After 1989 (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999).
2. For dynamics of and projection for a democratic transition in China, see Bruce Gilley, China's Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).
3. See Feng Chongyi, 'Li Shenzhi he zhonggong dangnei ziyou minzhu pai' ['Li Shenzhi and liberal democrats within the Chinese Communist Party'], in Feng Chongyi, ed., Li Shenzhi yu ziyou zhuyi zai zhongguo de mingyun [Li Shenzhi and the Fate of Liberalism in China] (Hong Kong Press for Social Sciences, 2004), pp. 121-146. As a great blow to Chinese liberals, Li Shenzhi died on 23 April 2003. It should be pointed out that in the contemporary context liberal democracy is the only valid form of democracy, and any other form of 'democracy', such as 'people''s democracy', 'proletarian democracy', 'socialist democracy', or 'illiberal democracy' is an abuse of the term democracy. In theory and particularly in practice, two elements are essential for liberal democracy: The practice of election through multi-party competition as the only way to produce a legitimate government, and the establishment of a legal and political framework to fully protect personal freedoms or human rights.
4. Most active members of the group are retired officials and academics, such as: Du Daozheng, director of Yanhuang Chunqiu [Chronicles of China], former chief editor of Guangming Daily and former director of the State Press Bureau; Du Guang, former director of the Research Office and the Librarian of the Central Party School; Du Runsheng, secretary general of the Central Department of Rural Work in the 1950s and head of the Rural Policies Office of the CCP Central Committee in the 1980s; He Jiadong (died 2007), former deputy director of the Workers' Press; He Weifang, professor in law at Beijing University; Hu Jiwei, former director of the People's Daily; Jiang Ping, former president of the Chinese University of Political Science and Law; Li Datong, former chief editor of Bingdian [Frozen Point] a supplement of the Chinese Youth Daily; Li Rui, deputy minister of Water Resources in the 1950s and deputy chief of the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee in the 1980s; Li Pu, former deputy director of Xinhua News Agency; Li Shenzhi (died 2003), former deputy president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Lu Yaogang, former deputy chief editor of Bingdian [Frozen Point]; Qin Hui, professor in history at Qinghua University; Ren Zhongyi (died 2005), former Party Secretary of Guangdong Province; Wu Jinglian, senior research fellow at the Development Research Centre of the State Council; Xie Tao, former vice-president of the China People's University; Yang Jisheng, deputy director of Yanhuang Chunqiu and former senior journalist of Xinhua News Agency; Yao Jianfu, professor at the Research Centre for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture; Zhao Ziyang (died 2005), deposed General Secretary of the CCP; Zhong Peizhang, former director of the Theory Bureau, the Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee; Zhu Houze, former chief of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee; and Zong Fengming, former Party Secretary of Beijing Aeronautical Engineering University.
5. Li Shenzhi, 'Hongyang Beida de ziyou zhuyi chuantong' ['Promoting and developing the liberal tradition of Beijing University'], preface to Liu Junning, ed., Ziyou zhuyi de xiansheng: Beida chuantong yu jinxiandai zhongguo [The Harbinger of Liberalism: The Tradition of Beijing University and Modern China] (Beijing: Zhongguo renshi chubanshe, 1998), pp. 1-5
6. also in Li Shenzhi and He Jiadong, Zhongguo de daolu [The Road for China] (Guangzhou: Nanfang ribao chubanshe, 2000), pp. 242-246.
7. See Zhu Xueqin, '1998 nian ziyou zhuyi xueli de yanshuo' ['Discourse on liberalism in China in 1998'], in Lu Yuming et al., eds, Xueshuo Zhongguo [Theories in China] (Nanchang: Jiangxi jiaoyu chubanshe, 1999), pp. 202-224.
8. Hu Jiwei, 'Xin chun fang yan: Yige lao gongchandang yuan de shensi' ['Unrestrained comments at new spring: Reflections by a senior member of the CCP'], Beijing zhi chun [Beijing Spring] no. 34, (March 1996), pp. 6-14;
9. Hu Jiwei, 'Mingbian xingshuai zhilu, huainian Hu Zhao xin zheng' ['Understanding the causes for rise and decline in commemoration of new undertakings by Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang'], available at: http://www.ncn.org/asp/zwginfo/12/1/2005
10. Li Rui, 'Yingjie xin siji yao sijiang' ['Four stresses to usher in the new century'], Yanhuang chunqiu [Chronicles of China] no. 12, (1999), p. 5;
11. Li Shenzhi, 'Fifty years of storms and disturbance', China Perspectives no. 32, (November-December 2000), pp. 5-12;
12. Wu Jinglian, 'Zai zhonggong zhongyang xiu xian xiaozu zhuanjia zuotanhui shang de fayan' ['Speech at the expert forum of the constitution revision group of the CCP Central Committee'], available at: http://www.peaceball.com/news/gb/pubvp/02/07/2003
13. Guan Shan, 'Ren Zhongyi tan Deng Xiaoping yu Guangdong gaige kaifang' ['Ren Zhongyi's talks on Deng Xiaoping and the reform and opening in Guangdong'], Tongzhou gongjin [Advance in the Same Boat] no. 8, (2004), pp. 6-14;
14. Zong Fengming, Lixiang xinnian zhuiqiu [Ideal, Belief and Pursuit] (Hong Kong: Xinfeng chubanshe, 2004), pp. 380-396;
15. Yao Jianfu, 'Zhuyuan dang de shiqida chengwei zhongguo zhengzhishi de zhongyao lichengbei' ['Wish the 17th National Congress of the Party to become a milestone in Chinese political history'], ChinaEweekly no. 285, available at: http://www.chinaeweekly.com/15/01/2007
16. Zong Fengming, Zhao Ziyang ruanjin zhong de ranhua [Zhao Ziyang: Captive Conversations] (Hong Kong: Kaifang chubanshe, 2007);
17. Xie Tao, 'Minzhu shehui zhuiyi moshi yu zhongguo qiantu' ['The model of democratic socialism and the future of China'], Yanhuang chunqiu [Chronicles of China] no. 2, (2007), pp. 1-8.
18. Shang Dewen, Lun zhongguo de zhengzhi tizhi gaige [On Reforms of Political System in China] (Hong Kong: Zhonghuo guoji chuban jituan gongci, 2003).
19. Fang Jue, 'Zhongguo xuyao xin de zhuanbian' ['China needs a new transformation'], Beijing zhi chun [Beijing Spring] no. 57, (February 1998).
20. Du Guang, 'Jianshi gaige de shehui zhuyi fangxiang' ['Stick to the socialist direction of reforms'], unpublished manuscript, 2002.
21. Li Rui, 'Guanyu woguo zhengzhi tizhi gaige de jianyi' ['A proposal for the political reforms in our country'], Yanhuang chunqiu [Chronicles of China] no. 1, (2003), pp. 2-3. Actually this was a collective proposal because Li Rui drafted it through wide consultations and discussions with his like-minded Party elders.
22. Li Shenzhi, 'Heping fendou xing zhongguo' ['Rejuvenating China through peaceful efforts'], in Li Shenzhi, ed., Ershiyi shiji de yousi [Concerns about the 12th Century] (Hong Kong: Mingbao chubanshe, 2003), pp. 30-41.
23. Qin Hui, 'Ziyou zhuyi yu minzu zhuyi de qihedian zai nali?' ['Where is the joining point of liberalism and nationalism?'], in Li Shitao, ed., Minzu zhuyi yu zhuanxing qi Zhongguo de mingyun [Nationalism and the Fate of Transitional China], pp. 381-388;
24. Sun Liping, 'Huiru shijie zhuliu wenming' ['Joining the mainstream civilization of the world'], in Ibid., pp. 372-380;
25. and Li Shenzhi and He Jiadong, Zhongguo de daolu [The Road for China].
26. Harry Harding, 'Political development in post-Mao China', in A. Doak Barnett and Ralph N. Clough, eds, Modernizing China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1986), pp. 13-37;
27. Andrew Nathan, 'Totalitarianism, authoritarianism, democracy: The case of China', in Myron L. Cohen, ed., Asia: Case Studies in the Social Sciences (Armonk, NY: M. E Sharpe, 1992), pp. 235-256;
28. Minxin Pei, 'China's evolution toward soft authoritarianism', in Edward Friedman and Barrett L. McCormick, eds, What If China Doesn't Democratize: Implications for War and Peace (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2000).
29. Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996), p. 40.
30. H. Gordon Skilling, 'Interest groups and communist politics', World Politics 18(3), (April 1966), pp. 435-451;
31. H. Gordon Skilling, 'Interest groups and communist politics revisited', World Politics 36(1), (October 1983), pp. 1-27;
32. David S. G. Goodman, ed., Groups and Politics in the People's Republic of China (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1984);
33. Victor C. Falkenheim, ed., Citizens and Groups in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1987).
34. Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation p. 42. Their category, 'out-of-type change' here actually refers to transition to democracy. Ben Xu is much more pessimistic about the prospect of transition to democracy in China, and he coins the term 'neo-totalitarianism' to label the current Chinese communist regime, which according to him is moving backward from post-totalitarianism in reviving totalitarian control rather than moving forward to embrace democracy.
35. See Ben Xu, 'Zhongguo de "xin jiquanzhuyi" jiqi moshi jingxiang' ['The dead-end of China's neo-totalitarianism'], Dangdai Zhongguo Yanjiu [Modern China Studies] 12(4), (2005), pp. 4-26.
36. Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation pp. 46-51.
37. Xu Liangying, 'Tongdao zhiyou tongzhi Li Shenzhi' ['Grievance over the death of close friend Comrade Li Shenzhi'], in Ding Dong, ed., Huainian Li Shenzhi [In Commemoration of Li Shenzhi] (Hong Kong: Shidai shaoliu chubanshe, 2003), p. 34.
38. Because there was no private publisher in China and no public publisher dared to publish them, they were published without the name of the publisher and the copyright page, with financial support contributed by authors themselves. The books were distributed and sold through personal network. Following this example, in recent years many dissidents have published and distributed their books in the same way.
39. They can pass on their writings or write directly to the top leaders. See, for example, Li Rui: 'Zhi Hu Jintao bing Li changchun, Liu Yunshan tongzhi yijianzhu' ['Letter to Comrades Hu Jintao, Li Changchun and Liu Yunshan,18 March 2003'];
40. 'Zhi Hu Jintao tongzhi xin' ['Letter to Comrade Hu Jintao, 14 April 2003'];
41. 'Zhi Hu Jintao tongzhi xin' ['Letter to Comrade Hu Jintao, 11 February 2004'];
42. and 'Zhi Hu Jintao Wen Jiabao tongzhi xin' ['Letter to Comrades Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, 24 May 2004'], in Ding Dong, ed., Dazai Li Rui [Great Li Rui] (Hong Kong: Shidai chaoliu chuban youxian gongsi, 2005), pp. 455-467, 468, 483, 489-500.
43. Xie Tao, 'Minzhu shehui zhuiyi moshi yu zhongguo qiantu', pp. 1-8.
44. See also Feng Chongyi, 'Disan daolu shiji meng: Shehui minzhu zhuyi zai zhongguo de lishi huigu' ['A century's search for the third way: A historical perspective of social democracy in China'], Ershiyi Shiji [The Twenty-first Century], Electronic Edition, no. 7, (October 2002), available at: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/21c/supplem/essay/ 0207033.htm
45. and Feng Chongyi, 'The return of liberalism and social democracy: breaking through the barriers of state socialism, nationalism, and cynicism in contemporary China', Issues & Studies 39(3), (September 2003), pp. 1-31.
46. See Zhongguo Dangzheng Ganbu Luntan [Forums for Cadres of the Party and Government in China] no. 1, (2001), p. 11; no. 1, (2002), p. 19; no. 1, (2003), p. 25; no. 1, (2004), p. 10; no. 1, (2005), p. 23; no. 1, (2006), p. 18. The surveys have been published in the reports by members of Zhongguo shehui xinshi fenxi yu yuche keti zu [Analysis on and Predictions for the Situation Project Team] each year since 2000.
47. 'Full text of PRC Premier Wen Jiabao's news conference', available at: http://www.chinaelections.org/en/17/03/2007.
48. Yu Keping, 'Minzhu shi ge hao dongxi' ['Democracy is a good thing'], Xuexi shibao [Study Times] no. 367, (January 2007).
49. See Long Hua, Hu-Wen Xinzheng Neimu [Inside Stories of Hu-Wen New Policies] (Hong Kong: Xinhua caiyin chubanshe, 2004).
50. The CCP Central Committee Resolution on Several Issues about Perfecting the Economic System of Socialist Market Economy, passed at the 3rd Plenary of the 16th CCP Central Committee on 14 October 2003, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2003-10/21/ content_1135402.htm.
51. For details see Joseph Fewsmith, 'Promoting the development concept', China Leadership Monitor no. 11.
52. The idea of 'building socialist harmonious society' was first put forward by Hu Jintao in a speech at a meeting with key officials of the provincial level in February 2005, and elevated to the theme in the Resolution about Some Major Issues of Building Socialist Harmonious Society at the 6th Plenary of the CCP National Congress in October 2006.
53. 'Full text of PRC Premier Wen Jiabao's news conference', available at: http://www.chinaelections.org/en/17/03/2007.
54. The other five criteria are fairness and justice, honesty and fraternal love, full of vitality, stability and order, and harmony between people and nature.
55. The full text is available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/ 2005-10/19/content_3645697.htm.
56. Wen Jiabao, 'Building prosperous, democratic China', available at: http//www.chinaelections.org/en/03/04/2007.
57. Reporters Without Borders, Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index - 2006, available at: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.
58. Zbigniew Brzezinski et al., 'Will China democratize?', Journal of Democracy 9(1), (1998), pp. 3-64.
59. Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1995).
60. David M. Kotz with Fred Weir, Revolution from Above: The End of the Soviet System (London: Routledge, 1997).
61. In Li Rui's words, 'we cannot imagine non-democratic or anti-democratic socialism. We can even establish such a watershed: Socialism without democracy is fake socialism'. Li Rui, 'Zong qilai kan wo haishi bijiao leguan de' ['I am relatively optimistic as a whole'], Yanhuang chunqiu [Chronicles of China] no. 2, (2007), p. 13.