ATS2039 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Hebei, Liu Shaoqi, Liberal Democracy
31 May 2018
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How have Chinese and Western Scholars Explained the Cultural Revolution!
Chinese!
-Professor Tang Tsou (ZOU): was a political scientist at the University of Chicago and was one of
the nation’s leading expert on modern China. In his book “The Cultural Revolution and Post-
Mao Reforms” he described The Cultural Revolution a functional expression of ‘people power’
that limited the power of the government and paved the way for reforms after the death of Mao.
So in otherwords, Tsou believes that without having the Cultural Revolution occurred, the
Chinese economic reform (改革开放) would not have occurred. He also mentioned that the
cultural revolution was necessary because the power of the government had grown excessively
and thus a correction was needed. Tsou states that the Cultural Revolution occurred because
the Chinese Communists had not yet found a satisfactory solution to the persistent problems
that had bedevilled China for seven decades.!
-Hu Ping: is the editor of the pro-democracy journal Beijing Spring, based in New York. He is
also a member of the board of directors of Human Rights in China, which is a non-
governmental organisation founded in 1989 by overseas Chinese students and scientists. They
actively engage in case and policy advocacy, media and press work. Essentially they provide
bridges and uncensored platforms for diverse Chinese voices. Hu Ping’s article was basically a
portrayal of his time during the Cultural Revolution and in the article he recalled the time when
he was 19 and had been sent to work in a production brigade in the suburb of Dukou in the
southern tip of Sichuan Province. He had described the Cultural Revolution as a dark and
tyrannical system, referring to Mao as the tyrant and the success of the Cultural Revolution had
created a broader and more severe political repression. Although during the decade of the
Cultural Revolution it escalated the development of unpredictable political persecution and
criminalised speech, Hu Ping believed that at the same time it helped to form freedom and
democracy within a small number of people. Hence the broad spread of the concepts of
freedom and democracy in contemporary China. Thus again, Hu Ping seems to view Cultural
Revolution as an important part of history that played out for the idea of freedom and
democracy to have been born.!
-Professor Hong Yung Lee (Korean): Professor Hong Yung Lee, although he is Korean, he had
worked at the University of Chicago where he worked with Tang Tsou, and under his guidance
he wrote his dissertation on the Chinese Cultural Revolution, ‘The Politics of the Chinese
Cultural Revolution. And how Lee described the Cultural Revolution was that it began as
conflict between party elites, but expanded rapidly into conflict between elites & the masses. !
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
How have chinese and western scholars explained the cultural revolution. Professor tang tsou (zou): was a political scientist at the university of chicago and was one of the nation"s leading expert on modern china. In his book the cultural revolution and post- Mao reforms he described the cultural revolution a functional expression of people power" that limited the power of the government and paved the way for reforms after the death of mao. So in otherwords, tsou believes that without having the cultural revolution occurred, the. Chinese economic reform ( ) would not have occurred. He also mentioned that the cultural revolution was necessary because the power of the government had grown excessively and thus a correction was needed. Tsou states that the cultural revolution occurred because the chinese communists had not yet found a satisfactory solution to the persistent problems that had bedevilled china for seven decades.
