Postmodern-Postcolonial Criticism and Pro-Democracy Enlightenment

The article examines the People's Republic of China's modernization campaign in the context of Kantian enlightenment. In the 1980s, Chinese intellectuals believed that both democratic reform & economic growth were key elements in achieving this goal; today, however, many believe that d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern China 2001-01, Vol.27 (1), p.117-147
Main Author: Xu, Ben
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
China
Chinese culture
Commercialization
Cultural Revolution
Culture
Decolonization
Democracy
Elitism
Enlightenment
Enlightenment thought
History
Humanism
Intellectuals
Literary postmodernism
Modernity
Modernization
Morality
Peoples Republic of China
Political Development
Political Ideologies
Political philosophy
Political theory
Postcolonialism
Postmodern philosophy
Postmodernism
Postmodernist criticism
Reason
Social change
Social Development
Social theory
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Summary:The article examines the People's Republic of China's modernization campaign in the context of Kantian enlightenment. In the 1980s, Chinese intellectuals believed that both democratic reform & economic growth were key elements in achieving this goal; today, however, many believe that democracy is unrealistic & inappropriate for China. The author contests the latter view & argues that China still needs pro-democracy enlightenment. Topics include the abandonment of democracy in the 1990s; the rise of postcolonial theory & rejection of Western thinking; the ambivalent nature of modernity in China; the meaning of enlightenment without democracy; & the crisis of pro-democracy enlightenment in present-day China. The challenge facing China today is to reconcile postmodern-postcolonial criticism with the original goal of emancipation. 48 References. J. R. Callahan
ISSN:0097-7004
1552-6836
DOI:10.1177/009770040102700104