Farewell to Revolution: Looking Back Upon China of the Twentieth Century
AuthorLi Zehou, Liu Zaifu
CountryHong Kong
LanguageTraditional Chinese
GenrePolitical theory, revolution
PublisherCosmos Books Ltd.
Publication date
1995
Media typePrint (book)
Pages312
ISBN9789622578111

Farewell to Revolution: Looking Back Upon China of the Twentieth Century (simplified Chinese: 《告别革命：回望二十世纪中国》; traditional Chinese: 《告別革命：回望二十世紀中國》; pinyin: Gàobié gémìng: Huí wàng èrshí shìjì zhōngguó) is a book written by Chinese philosopher Li Zehou and Liu Zaifu, and published by Cosmos Books Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Li and Liu argue in this book that class conflict will always exist, and should be solved via class reconciliation rather than class struggle, and thus oppose orthodox Marxism.[1] Li and Liu advocate "reform rather than revolution" and claim that the revolution has been "screwed up". They say that if China had followed the path of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao's constitutional reform, China might have gotten better results;[2] and propose the "four-stage agenda" of China's modernization as development of economy, individual liberty, social justice, and democracy.[3] Despite being questioned about their opposition to all revolutions, in a series of subsequent interviews they expressed their opposition only to the "violent French type revolution" and their support for the "glorious British type revolution".[4]

The book has been highly controversial since its publication.[5] Many scholars have described Li's views in the book as "cultural conservatism" or "neoconservatism".[3][6] Chinese officials and some scholars have even called Li's claims in the book "historical nihilism".[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Guo, Yingjie (2009). "Farewell to Class, except the Middle Class: The Politics of Class Analysis in Contemporary China". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 7 (26). Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  2. ↑ van Dongen, Els (2013). "重写中国近代史：二十世纪九十年代早期对现代性的回应" [Rewriting modern chinese history : echoing the modern during the early 1990s] (PDF). 民族认同与历史意识: 审视近现代日本与中国的历史学与现代性 [National Identity and Historical Consciousness: Examining Historiography and Modernity in Modern Japan and China] (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. ISBN 9787101093056. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  3. 1 2 Xu, Ben (1999). "Contesting Memory for Intellectual Self-Positioning: The 1990s' New Cultural Conservatism in China". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 11 (1): 157–192. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41490794. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "[年代访]刘再复：我和李泽厚的告别革命不是否定革命" [[Era Interview] Liu Zaifu: My "Farewell to Revolution" with Li Zehou is not a denial of revolution]. Phoniex culture (in Simplified Chinese). 2015-11-11. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  5. ↑ Mitter, Rana (2011). "1911: The Unanchored Chinese Revolution". The China Quarterly. 208 (208): 1009–1020. doi:10.1017/S0305741011001123. ISSN 0305-7410. JSTOR 41447787. S2CID 154756628. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Tang, Yijie (2015). "Some Reflections on New Confucianism in Chinese Mainland Culture of the 1990s". Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and Chinese Culture. China Academic Library. Springer Publishing. pp. 67–78. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-45533-3. ISBN 978-3-662-45533-3. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  7. ↑ Ownby, David (21 September 2021). "Chinese Intellectual Ecology". Palladium Magazine. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  8. ↑ Matten, Marc (18 October 2022). "Forum: Nation: M. Matten: Fighting for the Nation? The Campaign against Historical Nihilism in Contemporary China". H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
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