Osaka University
Forum on China
Discussion
PapersinContemporary
China
StudiesNo.2020-4

A Study on Post-war Chinese Liberal Intellectual’s Debatesover “Economic Democracy” (1945–1949):
Examining The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road

LIN Lizhao （Translated by Jake O）

Discussion Papers in Contemporary China Studies, Osaka University Forum on China No.2020-4

A Study on Post-war Chinese Liberal Intellectual’s Debatesover “Economic Democracy” (1945–1949):
Examining The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road*

December 5, 2020

LIN Lizhao（Translated by Jake ODAGIRI）*

This article is an English translation of 林礼釗 “戦後中国自由主義知識人の『経済民主』論争（1945–1949）：『観察』『周論』『新路』を素材に” (『阪大法学』第 69 巻第 3・4 号) November 2019.
 Assistant Professor, Osaka University Graduate School of Law and Politics (linlizhao407@yahoo.co.jp)
 PhD Candidate, Osaka University Graduate School of Letters

Introduction
Liberalism in China was introduced from the West into the late Qing dynasty’s thought world by
Yan Fu(厳復)1 and Liang Qichao(梁啓超)’s2 forerunning attempts.

Following the New Cultural and May

Forth Movements in the 1910s, liberalism became a widely recognized trend of thought by the 1930s thanks
to the efforts of Hu Shih(胡適)3.

However, along with the changes of liberalism throughout the world froma focus on the rights of freedom in the nineteenth century to a focus on equal rights and social rights in thetwentieth century, China’s liberalism reflected on the economic and social problems—i.e., monopolies,
poverty, and unemployment—based on principles of private enterprise, and it was a new liberalism which
was in contrast to the classic style of liberalism.
the beginning” [Xu 2000: 33].

It has been said that “China’s liberalism was ‘new’ from

Furthermore, from the 1930s, the influence from the United Kingdom’ssocialism, the Soviet Union’s socialism which spread fear throughout the world, and the greatly revised theprinciples of the classic style of economic liberalism to overcome financial crises known as the New Deal in
the United States of America, caused constant changes in China’s liberalism.

The Chinese intellectuals

were particularly influenced by Harold Laski (1893–1950), the representative thinker on social democracy.
One feature of Laski’s thought was to establish a parliamentary democracy, defer the basic policies ofliberalism, and use them to harmonize equality and justice policies of socialism.

Laski’s writings were

widely read not only in Europe but had an influence on Asian intellectuals and had a particularly strong
presence among the political thoughts of students and the younger generation [Deane 1955: 3].

Many of

Laski’s writings were translated into Chinese in the 1930s and 1940s which spread his political thoughts
among the intellectuals of the time. Laski also had many students from China at the London School of
Economy, where he was a professor. Laski’s thoughts on social democracy became the basis of modern andcontemporary Chinese liberalism4.

During the political development of China from the 1940s, the divisionof policies for liberalism and socialism became exceedingly vague and there was an aim to harmonize thepolicies [Xu 2000: 29, 32].

China’s liberalism was born, developed, and transformed from the end of the

Qing dynasty to the 1940s; however, it was post-war China in which this liberalism was actively discussed
and there was an anticipation for a realized democratic and constitutional government.
Even with the violent process of establishing the People’s Republic of China, post-war China(1945–1949) saw an increase of attention given to the topic of a democratic and constitutional government
which it had never historically seen before.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP) and the Chinese

1

Yan Fu (厳復 1854–1921) was a thinker and translator from the late Qing dynasty. He studied in the UK.
He translated and introduced modern Western thought to the thinkers in the late Qing dynasty.
2
Liang Qichao (梁啓超 1873–1929) was a thinker, journalist, and politician from the late Qing dynasty.
Disciple to Kang Youwei (康有為) and participated in the Hundred Day’s Reform; after failing, he fled toJapan. He proactively introduced Western thought and advocated a constitutional monarchy and citizenreform.
3
Hu Shih (胡適 1891–1962) studied in the USA and learned about pragmatism under the direction of
Dewey. He was a young leader in the May Fourth Movement. During the Sino-Japanese war he was a
diplomat in the USA and after the war was the president of Peking University. He fled to the USA in 1949
and relocated to Taiwan in 1958. He is a representative Chinese liberal.
4
For more information on Laski’s theories and their influence on Chinese intellectuals during the 1930s and1940s see: Sun 2000; Sun 2012; Wu 2012.
1

Communist Party (CCP) respectively had discussions regarding the justified process, maintenance, andprocurement of the “foundation of the nation” and “revolution.” However, there was a so-called “third
power” of democracy (i.e., the China Democratic League) that put distance between the parties, their policies,
and the space for speech and this united the liberal intellectuals 5 .

They appealed for peace, freedom,democracy, and a constitutional government in the public space for speech and they actively expanded thediscussion regarding how the Chinese government should be organized.

Three weekly magazines, The

Observer (観察), Universitas (周論), and The New Road (新路), were in the public sphere as representative
mediums for a space of speech.
These mediums in the public sphere allowed the liberal intellectuals appeal the construction of ademocracy in post-war China and appealed to the reality of a “democracy” and “economic democracy.”Inother words, this was the basis of thought for the protection of individual freedom and rights, establishmentof a democracy instead of a dictatorship for a democratic government, economic equality, freedom of
vocation choice, correction of disparities, and a welfare-oriented society which sought to realize a democracyin the economy by means of a peaceful revolution.

Democracy was represented by liberalism and economic

democracy was represented by socialism; as a result, both were democratic perspectives.

There was ademocratic vision embedded in the harmonious achievement of blending both liberalism and socialism.
Even though many previous studies have looked at the democratic government, the same cannot
be said about the economic democracy.

For example, regarding the material contained in The Observer,

there are many studies that look at the thought of freedom and democracy by the intellectuals such as Chu
Anping (儲安平)6; however, there are not sufficient studies looking at the thought regarding the economic
democracy [Xie 2005; Yanagi 2006; Chen 2009; Han 2015; Lin 2017].

This paper primarily looks at thematerial contained in The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road in order to understand how the thought
regarding the economic democracy in post-war China, makes this content clear, and re-thinks the thought of

5

In Chinese the word for “liberal (liberalist)” is “自由主義知識分子 (Ziyouzhuyi Zhishi Fenzi)” and“intellectual” is “知識分子 (Zhishi Fenzi)”. The meaning of “intellectual” has been debated over by manyscholars. For example, Murata Yūjirō 1999: 772–773; Yang Kuisong 2013; Edward Said 1996, etc. Based onthese debates, I would like to define “intellectual” as a person who works to hold specialty knowledge in a
specific field, and at the same time somebody who has an interest in politics and the benefits of society; aperson who has a message and opinion for the masses and will express those thoughts and ideas. The
intellectuals written about in this paper are expressed their ideas in the public space with the intention torepresent the masses and their main responsibility was to search for how relative autonomy could be attainedat the state and governmental levels. The liberalists written about in this paper wanted to see a realization ofa freedom and equality on the individual level by distancing themselves from the main power and accepting
the opinions of others. This does not mean that this research is only on the “third power” intellectuals. This
paper aims to look at all intellectuals that voiced their opinions in the public forums and to analyze theircomments as widely as possible.
6
Chu Anping (儲安平 1909–1966?) graduated from Kwang Hua University in Shanghai in 1932 andstudied in the UK for about two years in 1936–1938. He founded The Observer in September 1946 andestablished himself as a journalist. In 1949, he actively supported the new government following theestablishment of the People’s Republic of China. Later he became the chief editor of Guangming Daily (光明日報). In June 1957 he declared “power to the party” and became member of the extremist right wing; hewas persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and went missing in September 1966. Regarding research on
Chu Anping and his thoughts see my paper: Lin 2017.
2

liberalism in post-war China.
In particular, this paper looks at the content of The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road andintroduces the liberal intellectuals that used this media for expression and surveys how they proposed
democratic perspectives.

Then, the content of how the liberal intellectuals argued for an economic

democracy is evaluated and it is made clear that it did not simply mean economic equality.

Also, thesituation of Japan during the same time is considered and the democracy in post-war China is re-evaluated.
The post-war period in China was a time when a “new China” was being established and thearguments regarding democracy and a constitutional government were actively in development.
period is when the idea of realizing democracy was at its height.

This

Also, economic theories had already been

actively tested in this period and were proposed once more following the reformation liberation in the 1970s.
Therefore, exploring the democratic thought during this era is not simply reflecting on the past, it gives
significance to present-day China’s democratic system and the construction of democratic shifts in China’s
future.

Ⅰ. Post-war China’s and Speech Space
Liberalism in China experienced its emergence, progress, changes, and historical upsurge from thelate Qing dynasty to the 1940s.

In post-war China, the government actively took ideas primarily from the

USA regarding international liberal movements and connections and moved toward a model with freedomof speech.

However, restriction on the freedom of speech strengthened once again in response to the civil

unrest [Nakamura 2004: part 1].

Regardless of this situation, varying thoughts appeared in the post-war

circles of thinkers in which democracy, freedom, and a constitutional government was actively discussed.
With a suffrage boom [Xu 1991] among the intellectuals and a push for freedom of speech as a background,newspapers and magazines were printed in various regions and an interest toward political media became
apparent.

Using these media outlets, the intellectuals shared their ideas and values regarding democracy,

freedom, and liberalism.

This section introduces and surveys the three representative magazines The

Observer, Universitas, and The New Road, and evaluated their stance and philosophies.
1) The Observer
The weekly magazine The Observer 7 was founded on September 1, 1946 in Shanghai by Chu
Anping, and this magazine was preceded by The Observer (Keguan 客観, November 1945–April 1946)
which was also founded by Chu in Chongqing.

The Observer aimed to “present opinions regarding mattersof the state” and “contribute to the progress and discipline of the youth” on the basis of being an independentand nonparty outlet.

It boasted four fundamental positions: “democracy” for the people, their ultimate

welfare, protection of the people’s freedom, and improvement of happiness; “freedom” to protect theperfection of the people’s character through the law; “progress” for scientifically based industry andmodernization; “reason” for to peacefully solve any conflict without impulse or power.

7

For more research on The Observer, see my paper: Lin 2017.
3

With the “spiritdemocratic principles and tolerance,” it was emphasized that other people’s freedom of thought should be
respected just as one respected their own freedom of thought and they sought to cultivate the seeds for the
freedom of thought [“Our Interests and Position”, The Observer, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept. 1, 1946].

Until

publication was suspended on December 24, 1948, there was a total of five volumes, one hundred fourteen
issues.

The first issues had four hundred units published and this later increased to one hundred thousand

units and there were around one million readers which extended to academia, government officials, andmilitary personnel [“Our Self-Criticism, Activity Responsibilities, and Policies on Editing”, The Observer,
Vol. 6, No. 1, Nov. 1, 1949]. The Observer lead the public opinion at the time and it strove to continue asa third party not affiliated with the CNP or CCP with an influential power not seen in any other magazine.
Along with the seventy-eight names for the contract writers 8 , The Observer consisted of two
hundred fifty-one intellectuals that centered around Chu Anping. Among these names were writers activein the post-war Chinese speech and press such as university professors, specialists from various fields, andjournalists. There were also many elite individuals that held positions in government facilities who had
experiences studying abroad and had direct contact with liberalism in Western countries.

Furthermore,names such as Wang Ganyu (王贛愚), Gong Xiangrui (龔祥瑞), Wu Enyu (呉恩裕), and Zou Wenhai (鄒文海) can be confirmed as those who studied under Laski.

There are many theories mentioned and direct

quotes from Laski in The Observer that shows the influence Laski had among many Chinese intellectuals9.
In The Observer, there were columns dedicated to specialist, special serialization, and observation
report articles.

In the specialist column there were a variety of articles regarding politics, thought, andculture in which critical opinions were published which made The Observer a speech space in post-war Chinathat criticized the government, appealed for peace, and acted as a spokesman for freedom, peace, and aconstitutional government.
2) Universitas
The weekly magazine Universitas 10 was founded on January 6, 1948 in present day Beijing.
Until publication was suspended that November, there was a total of two volumes, fourty-three issues
published.

1948 was the year that a constitutional democracy was carried out and it was written that “thisis the year that we will carry out a constitutional government so this is the year that we will begin to learn
about democracy” [“Learning about Politics”, Universitas, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. 16, 1948].

Universitas denied

the popular idea that the CNP was friendly with the USA or that the CCP was friendly with the Soviet Unionand they advocated reason over emotions.

Under the idea of science, objectivity, and calmness, they

8

These were the names of the intellect contributors that were acknowledged by Chu Anping. There wereother contributors whose names were not added to the front cover. Hu Shih(胡適)’s name can be seen on the
cover but he never submitted to the magazine.
9
Regarding Laski’s theories see “The Mote and the Beam”, The Observer, Vol. 3, No. 8; “Is Europe Donefor?”, The Observer, Vol. 3, No. 17; “America Strides the World”, The Observer, Vol. 3, No. 20; “Getting onwith Russia”, The Observer, Vol. 4, No. 3.
10
For research on Universitas there are three articles I have found and I anticipate more research on this
topic. See: Li 2009; Ma 2010; Zheng 2015.
4

anticipated the constitutional democracy and called for a reformation in the CNP in order to realize a peacefuldemocratic revolution.
Although the names of the editors were not shown on the cover of Universitas, the three individuals
that were in charge of editing were Lei Haizong (雷海宗)11, a professor at Tsinghua University, He Lin (賀麟), a professor at Peking University, and Zhu Guangqian (朱光潜), a professor at Peking University.

Lei

Haizong was requested to be an editor of the magazine by Wu Zhuren (呉鑄人), a member of the CNP branch
in Beijing, and worked under the condition of a neutral standpoint of “not belonging to a party” [Ma 2010:
366–367].

The majority of the seventy-nine writers were professors at Peking University or Tsinghua

University and they were intellectuals with experience studying abroad.

It was not unusual to be affiliatedwith the CNP like Lei Haizong, but regardless of their political affiliation, they maintained an adherence toliberalism.
In Universitas there were columns dedicated to the society and specialty discussions; in later issues
there was a column called “Youth Park” which was dedicated to submissions by younger writers.

Otherthan societal issues, there were special issues on the problems in China’s economy and liberalism that debatedissues regarding China’s government, economy, and society.

There were also special issues focusing on theyounger generation that places emphasis on the enlightenment of university students.

Universitas focusedon young university students and university teaching staff which had an impact in the academic world in
Beijing and Tianjin from its first published issues [Ma 2010: 365].
3) The New Road
The weekly magazine The New Road12 was founded on May 15, 1948 in Beijing by the Chinese
Society Economy Research Institution.

Until its indefinite publication cessation by the CNP on December

18, 1948, The New Road had published two volumes, thirty issues.

The Chinese Society Economy ResearchInstitute, established in March of 1948, was structured closely to the Fabian Society and was centered around
fifty participants that included a few intellectuals [Kubo 2011: 310].
In the “Publication Acknowledgment” of The New Road, it was clearly stated that the Chinese Society
Economy Research Institution was not a political party and a list of “Thirty-Two Articles” professed that they
were not a party network.

They declared that it was the duty and right for them to publicly state theiropinions regarding different issues.

In the “Thirty-Two Articles” they also called for the public to take astance on the democratization of the government, modernization and industrialization of the economy,
protection and establishment of social equality.

They declared this as a starting point to debate issues on

the Chinese government, diplomacy, economy, and society and that “we want to investigate the many11

Lei Haizong (雷海宗 1902–1962) studied history in the USA in 1933. He wrote articles on dictatorshipgovernments and was a core member of the Zhanguoce (戦国策) group. Recently their thoughts on freedom
have been reevaluated as not being completely abolished. He was criticized for not going to Taiwan in 1949
and being right wing. Regarding research on Lei Haizong see: Jiang 2001.
12
Regarding research on The New Road in China see: Wei 2004; Dai 2005; Yang and Wang 2007. In Japan,
Kubo 2011 explores the features of The New Road group’s features and their context in thought on economy.
5difficulties of today under the rise and fall of the powers in the world and so we created this magazine toshare the wisdom of many people that look to the future of China” [“Publication Acknowledgement”, The
New Road, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 15, 1948].
There were seventy primary authors for The New Road of which many were teaching staff atTsinghua University and Peking University and they had experience studying abroad in the UK and the USA.
There were members, for example, Gong Xiangrui and Wu Enyu, that had influence from Laski’s socialist
democracy thought, Jiang Shuojie (蔣碩傑) was a student of Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992), and Xu Yunan(徐毓枏) was a student of John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946).

From the stance of liberalism, The New

Road sought for the possibility of a new economic order and their argument was that they had “advanced
under the gentle coordination of Keynesianism and social democracy” [Kubo 2011: 314].

The key figuresin The New Road were Wu Jingchao(呉景超), head of editing, Liu Dazhong (劉大中),head of economy
column editing, Qian Duansheng (銭端昇) and Lou Bangyan (楼邦彦), head of political column editing,and Xiao Qian (蕭乾), head of literature column editing.
There were columns for critical circles, debates and speeches, specialist fields, and “our opinion”
in which there were active debates on problems in post-war China.

The critical circle and debate andspeeches columns were styled as dialoged and debates where politics, economy, society, and international
issues were discussed.
Road.

The “our opinion” column contained articles on the shared opinions of The New

Furthermore, issues concerning the modernization of the economy were clearly introduced to thereaders and there was even a column established that covered economic issues.

This was a feature not seenin The Observer or Universitas.
Regarding the similarities and differences in The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road, firstof all they all had specialty and correspondence editorials and there were many authors that can be seen in
all three magazines which shows the network and interaction of intellectuals13.

This also points to the factthat in post-war China, intellectuals were able to use the speech space to write in a variety of mediums inwhich they exercised active speech.

From the stand point of their mentality, they were able to criticize theparty’s desire for peace and democracy by taking the stance of being a third party. The understanding that
democracy was a harmony between a political democracy and economic democracy was another sharedfeature in these three magazines.

On the other hand, compared to the astute political criticism found in The

Observer, a stance of peaceful reformism was emphasized in Universitas. A logical analysis of economic
policies and society issues by specialists and researchers could be found in The New Road which shows it tohave a high level of academic specialty.

Ⅱ. Democratic Perspectives of Liberal Intellectuals
How did the liberalism intellectuals understand and interpret democracy in the post-war China

13

There are twenty-five names that overlap as contributors in The Observer and The New Road, and twenty
in The Observer and Universitas. There are seventeen names that overlap in The New Road and Universitas.
There are seven names that overlap in all three magazines.
6speech space?
Understanding of democracy in The Observer is expressed in the publication acknowledgements.
Democracy must reflect the will of the people, it protects freedom and rights, and “a democratic government
aims for the ultimate welfare of the people and improvement of happiness.”must allow the people’s discussion.

Also, “the policies of a state

The course of action of the state must be decided by the people. The

responsibility for all policies must be accepted by the people.”

The Observer understood this political

freedom as a “political democracy” and that “democracy is not limited to political activities but it should
extend to economic activities, and not only a political democracy but an economic democracy is needed”[“Our Interests and Position”, The Observer, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept. 1, 1946].
It is well-known that liberalism which appears in the establishment of the modern state and society
encourages growth in a parliamentary and democratic government and it also contributes to the advancementof a capitalist economy.

However, self-correction is unavoidable in the advancement of a capitalist

economy where liberalism collides ideologically with freedom and equality.

From the mid-nineteenth

century, the rescue of the subaltern became an important political issue because of the correction of economic
and societal inequality brought on by a private enterprise individualism.

Chu Anping criticized the resultof a free rivalry in which “the wealthy become more wealthy and the poor became more poor.” He pointed
out that this was a merit in the UK’s “fair play” policies in which “the nineteenth century’s main theme was‘political freedom’ but in the twentieth century the main theme is ‘economic freedom and social equality’”[“Labour Party Takes on the Administration”, Oriental Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 18, 1945]. A professor at
Peking University, Fu Sinian (傅斯年), stated:“humanity is demanding freedom and equality. [...] For the past one-hundred years liberalism hasbrought equality in the laws of the people; but by assisting capitalism, it has encouraged an economic
inequality. [...] If there is not economic equality, all other equalities become lies and freedom will nolonger be genuine freedom.”
This was understood from Roosevelt’s “freedom from want” as economic equality and it also emphasized
the importance of freedom [“Roosevelt and New Liberalism”, Ta Kung Pao, Apr.29, 1945].
This focus on social and equal rights was widely recognized throughout China and mostintellectuals accepted the idea of “distributive justice”. Justice was regarded similarly as “social justice” or“economic equality” and this concept was adopted alongside freedom which was an important core concept.
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian idea of “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”
became the backbone for wide acceptance.

This idea of “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”

was of utmost value to the Chinese intellectuals and they understood that individualism would not bring thisto reality; but it was achievable by the intervention through laws of the state and policies of welfare.

Theemphasis of social justice and economic equality issues was not only in the results of a rational reflection inWestern capitalism, but it was also visible in the perceptive understanding of the reality in China at that time
[Xu 2000: 36, 44–45]. Furthermore, even though China’s liberalism thought was receptive to the influenceof the UK’s social democracy thought and the Soviet Union’s socialism thought, it greatly transformed these7

ideas.

In the editorial Ta Kung Pao, Xiao Qian explained the integration of liberalism and socialism as:“liberalists respect the individual in political and cultural facets which deepens the color inindividualism.

In light of the terrible result of the disparity between the rich and poor in the economy,

the liberalists have come to a rational agreement and the color of socialism is not weak.
nothing more than a simple synonym.

Liberalism is

It can be replaced with progressivism or with social democracy”[“Beliefs of Liberalists”, Ta Kung Pao, Jan. 8, 1948].
Wu Enyu pointed out that “after WWII, [liberalism and socialism as major thought] have met
together in recent trends and will compromise” [“Recent Trends in Contemporary Political Thought”, The
Observer, No. 12, Jan. 26, 1946].

This was an appeal to the intellectuals in the speech space in post-war

China that there would be an integration, harmony, and establishment of liberalism and socialism; as a result,
this integration became the main way of thinking in China’s liberalism.

This is seen very clearly in the

democratic perspective that democracy must be a “political democracy” and “economic democracy”.
This concept of political democracy and economic democracy was described in the following
manner:“The importance of the current debate on democracy is that the notion of ‘political democracy’ and‘economic democracy’ lacks harmony.
representative British liberalism.

The concept of political democracy is rooted in the[...] On the other hand, the concept of economic democracy is fromsocialism, in particular communism.

[...] Political democracy emphasizes the individual and economic

democracy emphasizes the equality of mankind” [Xiao Gongquan (蕭公権), “Arguing Democracy”,
The Observer, Vol. 1, No. 7, Oct. 28, 1946].
“There is political democracy in the UK and the USA; however, it is unclear if economic democracy
actually exists.

There is economic democracy in the Soviet Union; however, political democracy does

not exist or it is lacking.

[...] We do not have a deeply rooted political democracy and economic

democracy, both are compatible, and they must be compatible” [Wu Shichang (呉世昌), “Political
Democracy and Economic Democracy”, The Observer, Vol. 1, No. 5, Sept. 28, 1946].
This viewpoint can also be confirmed a report by Luo Longji (羅隆基)14 for the China Democratic
League’s political report. Luo reported that “the UK and the USA’s political democracy was achievable via
the Soviet Union’s economic democracy and it will create a democracy model for China.
democratic system is what China is currently looking for” [Luo Longji 1945].

[...] This

On the other hand, Tsinghua

University professor Liu Dazhong was very serious about understanding issues behind the USA’s insufficient
political democracy and the inadequacy of the Soviet Union’s economic democracy.

At the same time, Liu

understood that political and economic democracy was a “double democracy” and “the goal of these two is

14

Luo Longji (羅隆基 1986–1965) received a PhD in economics in the USA, also studied in the UK andFrance. Was a member of Crescent Moon Society (新月派)—a human rights group—with Hu Shih (胡適).
Luo Longji formed the China Democratic League in 1941 and became a chair member in 1953. He wascriticized for being an extreme rightist.
8

to unite all people of the world. [...] So they must be compatible and they are necessary requirements foreach other” [“Political Democracy and Economic Democracy”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 13, Aug. 7, 1948].
A universal viewpoint was understood in the public domains regarding political and economic
democracy being a necessary part of democracy.

Even though there were different understandings in the

representative USA and Soviet Union, political democracy was understood as liberalism and economic
democracy was understood as socialism.

A harmonious fulfillment of these two democracies was widely

understood and accepted to be a worthy democracy for China.

Ⅲ. Debates Regarding Economic Democracy1) Defining Economic Democracy15
It is currently understood that the meaning of democracy is to protect the rights of the people,
personal rights, and freedoms through the establishment of a politically democratic system instead of adictatorship.

This includes factors such as public voting, political freedom, separation of power,

competitive political parties, and control of laws.

For example, National Central University professor Wu

Shichang, based on the definition of the British and USA systems, stated “the people can freely criticize thegovernment’s policies and administration, change the administration in a non-violent manner, the people canfreely organize political parties and associations, and they can participate in politics via a competitive election”
in the form of a political democracy [“Political Democracy and Economic Democracy”, The Observer, Vol.
1, No. 5, Sept. 28, 1946]. Yenching University professor Xiao Gongquan understood democracy as the
chance and power to “speak and understand, to freely choose a peaceful life, to peacefully chose thegovernment and administration” [“Arguing Democracy”, The Observer, Vol. 1, No. 7, Oct. 28, 1946].

NewRoad emphasized that “the systemization of politics, democratization of the system, socialization of
democracy” as the fundamental ideals behind law-governing, constitutional government, civilian politics,
competitive political party system, general voting, and regional government in their “Thirty-Two Articles”[“First Claims of the Chinese Society Economy Research Institute”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 15,
1948].
There were, however, many opposing interpretations of economic democracy were also presented
which furthered the debates regarding the fundamental content.
economic democracy was interpreted by the intellectuals.

This paper is an examination of how

In the weekly magazine Democracy (民主), Luo

Longji interpreted economic democracy as “a society that comparatively distributes property and wealthequally while protecting the rights of the people to live and work.

A democracy financially maintains therights of freedom and equality for the people” [“Political Democracy and Economic Democracy”,
Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2, Dec. 16, 1944].

Professor of economics at Tsinghua University Wu Qiyuan (伍啓元) stated “an economic democracy allows the people to enjoy freedom and equality at the economic level”[“Democratic Economy and Economic Democracy”, Ta Kung Pao, Feb. 10, 1946]. Another professor of
economics at Tsinghua University Dai Shiguang (戴世光) agreed by stating that freedom in an economic

15

This section is based on my paper: Lin 2017.
9democracy is based on “freedom from want” and freedom from unemployment as interpreted in Roosevelt’s“Four Freedoms” and that equality is to be understood as “an equal opportunity for education and financial
expansion” [“Arguing the Fundamental Policies for China’s Economic Revolution”, Universitas, Vol. 1, No.
1, Jan. 16, 1948].

Chief of economics at Yeching University Zheng Linzhuang (鄭林荘) understoodeconomic democracy to be “financial justice,” and that the right to work and right to live should at least be
included [“Economic Justice and Societal Security”, The Observer, Vol. 2, No. 3, Mar. 15, 1947].

Liu

Dazhong, who was educated in econometrics, stated that “fair chance, streamlined pay, encouragement ofprogress, and balance of wealth” should be included and in order to accomplish this, sufficient requirements
were also argued.

These requirements include a spread of equal education, protection of income under aset standard, enforcement of a progressive taxation system for income, protective system for the freedom of
vocation, and protection of the state’s policies and competitive market [“Political Democracy and Economic
Democracy”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 13, Aug.7, 1948].

Regarding the goal of economic democracy,

Liu thought that there should be a fair and universal standard of life [“Political Democracy and Economic
Democracy”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 13, Aug. 7, 1948] and Dai stated “the wealth of society should berationally distributed in order to give a fair result for the people expanding the economy” [“Arguing theFundamental Policies for China’s Economic Revolution”, Universitas, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. 16, 1948].

The

China Democratic League summarized this by stating “the wealth should be equalized in order to solve thegap between the rich and poor which will equally protect the people’s economy” [“China Democratic League
Platform”, 1945].

Even though Chu Anping did not give a systematic opinion on an economic democracy,

he proposed the problem with the people’s livelihood was in “welfare politics”.

He argued that the biggest

issue in China was “welfare politics” which “prioritizes the will of the people and prioritizes the life of thepeople financially.

The government must let the people have housing, clothing, provisions, tools for

manufacturing, and jobs” [“Reacting to the Unchangeable with Ten Thousand Changes”, The Observer, No.
9, Jan. 5, 1946].
Even with these statements and ideas, it is difficult to rigidly define economic democracy.

The

intellectuals had an active debate on whether the economic policies should be public or private, planned or
market based which will be explored later in this paper. It is worth noting that keywords such as economic
equality, economic freedom, distribution of wealth, equal opportunities, social welfare, freedom of vocation,
gradual nationalization, favorable economic planning can also be confirmed.

Due to these facts, this paper

does not agree with the idea that “economic democracy” can simply be stated as “equality”—i.e., social or
financial equality—as can be seen in previous research [Yanagi 2003]. Although equality is one of the mostimportant keywords in economic democracy, freedom of vocation and protection of a competitive market arealso included as protective rights in economic freedom.

Therefore, this paper defines economic democracy

as having financial equality and financial freedom in which there is a protection of the rights of financial
equality and financial freedom.
Furthermore, even though socialism and economic democracy are important keywords, this10

“socialism”16 is not only limited to the socialism found in the Soviet Union but it is socialism in the broad
sense.

There were many intellectuals that anticipated the realization of economic expansion seen in policies

set forth by the Soviet Union’s and these intellectuals were joined by others that modeled their frameworkon that of a gradually progressive social democracy.

In July of 1945, the Labour Party in the UK won thegeneral vote by three hundred thirty-nine seats which gave financial support to begin the complete adoptionof socialistic policies based on Keynesianism.

The realization of a welfare state established by the Labour

Party—i.e., the Attlee administration—gave hope to the Chinese intellectuals.

For example, Fu Sinianstated that the victory of the Labour Party would encourage China and praised the Labour Party’s socialistic
economic policies as “carrying out social welfare policies under the principle of economic freedom” and “ithas many more times the socialistic factors than Roosevelt’s New Deal.”

Fu also greatly anticipated a newmodel of an integrated liberalism and socialism set forth by the UK and the USA which would create a
utopian country established on socialism and liberalism [“Evaluating the UK’s General Election”, Ta Kung
Pao, July 30, 1945].

Wu Qiyuan compared the economic democracies of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe,

the UK, France, and the USA and stated “China should create a model based on the UK and France, adopt
the democratic policies in the financial world, and this should be executed as a soft socialism” [“Arguing the
Future of China from the Perspective of World Though”, The Observer, Vol. 2, No. 7, Apr. 12, 1947].

Chu

Anping also showed interest in socialism by stating “the people of present day China want a socialist anddemocratic government” [“China’s Political Situation”, The Observer, Vol.2, No.2, Mar.8, 1947]; however,the “socialist” being used here is in the broad sense in which he saw the path to realizing an economic
democracy was by modeling a system on the UK Labour Party’s social democracy. Regarding the victoryof the Labour Party’s victory, Chu Anping declared “executing socialism does not mean that we need to takethe same path as Moscow” and this would create a new history in which the Labour Party’s government
would introduce a system of policies [“Labour Party Takes on the Administration”, Oriental Magazine, Vol.
41, No. 18, 1945].

This social revolution by the Labour Party’s government was later introduced to Chinese

readers in articles of The Observer (vol. 2, no. 9).

Peking University professor He Lin also explained thatthe execution of an economic democracy would differ from that of the methods seen in the Soviet Union
based on the peaceful manner in which the UK was democratically executing socialist policies and this model
was the most progressive and efficient manner in which to realize an economic democracy [“Where is theSoviet Union Headed?”, Universitas, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. 16, 1948].
2)A Public or Private System
Economic intellectuals came up with an economic democracy in the form of socialism as theantidote to the economic gaps and inequality found in the expansion of a capitalistic economy.

The

intellectuals in post-war China adhered to the idea of an economic democracy and gradually began tostrengthen their desire for this.

As previously stated, if they were to understand an economic democracy as

16

The realization of “freedom” and “equality” here refers to a world history issue that criticizes the harmful
effects of capitalism and looks at the protection policies for the subaltern in society that is sought after insocialism. See Mizuha 2007.
11

a system that protects financial equality and freedom rights, it must also include these rights in the concept.
This relationship of freedom and equality shows up in an economic democracy which caused them to actively
ask how they could concretely realize this democracy and what kind of economic system would be suitablefor China.

One of these debates focused on ownership systems and if they should be public or private.

In order to avoid the harmful effects of private enterprise and to realistically distribute wealth inan equal economy, it was agreed upon that the fundamental ideal of socialism was to make production
methods public.

It was stated that “regarding the public system of production, the majority or liberalists

agreed or showed an attitude of approval” [Wei 2004: 102].

In The New Road’s “Thirty-Two Articles,” it

was written that “the state should use appropriate methods, expand the state’s resources, realize employment
for all people, fairly distribute promotion, and raise the standard of living” in order to overcome limited
possession and to have all privately owned land bought by the state to make them state owned; furthermore,
fundamentally all monopolized or privately owned mining and manufacturing, as well as all financial
institutions were to be operated by the state in which all of the land would progressively become owned andoperated by the state [“First Claims of the Chinese Society Economy Research Institute”, The New Road,
Vol. 1, No. 1, May 15, 1948].

Peking University professor Jiang Shuojie, who studied economic theory

under Hayek, pointed out that the inequality caused by income and distribution brought upon by a private
economy could be resolved by taxing income and inheritance.

He also pointed out that it was possible forthe regional liberals to adopt socialism which would “take away the need to make all production methods
part of the state” making it a freely competitive socialism by keeping a combination of both privately andstate-run businesses [“Choosing the Economic System”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 3, May 29, 1948].

The

economist Ma Yinchu (馬寅初) held a similar view and stated:“we do not need to completely adopt a capitalist freely competitive system like the UK and the USA
just as we do not need to completely adopt a system in which everything is public like in the Soviet
Union.

We have insisted on a system of a hybrid economy in which both state-run and privately owned

business can co-exist” [“The Path of China’s Economy”, Jingji Pinglun, Apr. 26, 1947].
Leader of the China National Democratic Construction Association Shi Fuliang (施復亮)’s opinion was also
very representative.

He pointed out that the Chinese economy was not able to immediately walk the pathof socialism so it would be positive to use the rational private economy which brought forth efficacy and theprogress of techniques; this would expand the state-run businesses while protecting the privately run
businesses in an economic system he called “new capitalism”.

This new capitalism was a hybrid ofownership that included the state-run system, private capitalism, small business, and small agriculture.

This

was an economic system of hybrid and transition models that anticipated the expansion of a socialist economy[“The Abolishment of Exploitation and Increase of Production”, The Observer, Vol. 4, No. 4, Mar. 20, 1948].
“In order to achieve a rational economic ‘equality,’ it is a necessary condition that at least the majorityof production methods are public.

However, public production methods limit economic freedom.

Economic freedom is necessary in political freedom and we cannot abandon this.

12

One of the maintasks of political scientists and economists is to find a compromise to this contradiction” [“Economic
Freedom, Socialism, and Plans for New Investment”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 21, Oct. 2,1948].
Even though it was anticipated as a final goal to make public the socialistic production methods to
avoid private enterprise, there were many opinions that a hybrid and national system needed to be realized.
This was probably the most efficient method of comprise for the intellectuals.
3) Planned Economy or Market Economy
Another issue outside of possession was how to realize a suitable economic system for China.
The intellectuals regularly debated about “planned economy” and “market economy”—sometimes as “fair”
and “efficient”—in order to solve the issue of how to achieve freedom and equality in an economic democracy.
However, both planned economy or market economy needed to be realized with the general idea of socialism
as a premise because they understood that a financial system was necessary to conform with socialism which
would definitely arrive.
It was Peking University’s professor of political science Wu Enyu that put emphasis on financial
equality and advocated for the effectiveness of a planned economy.

Under the direction of Laski, he wrote

a doctoral dissertation on Marx’s social and political thought after which he was awarded a PhD.

In TheObserver he emphasized that in order to create a better life—improvement and preservation of existence—
public systems were necessary [“Arguing Humanity and Independent Production”, The Observer, Vol. 3, No.
4, Sept. 20, 1947] and later in The New Road he also appealed for the need of a planned economy for life[“Thinking about the Necessity of Planning from the Perspective of Humanity”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No.
9, July 10, 1948].

Tsinghua University professor Zhao Shouyu (趙守愚) expressed that it was not the time

to abolish the system for a planned economy on the grounds that “it is not just the method or system of aplanned economy but a tool in which to maintain the life of the economy.”

He emphasized that if there wasno planned economy in socialism, the power of executing policies would weaken.

It was necessary to havea planned economy in order to maintain the minimum level of daily life provisions and distribution of
production materials [“The Name and Fruits of Economic Freedom”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 21, Oct. 2,
1948].

Furthermore, in The New Road a special issue titled “Is it Necessary to Have a Plan for a Socialist

Economy?” two specialists exchanged their respective ideas in a dialogue style.

Fu Sheng (負生) 17

emphasized that there is a need for a planned economy in socialism because “a public system and planned
economy are two essential factors to socialism that cannot be separated;” from the perspective of production
and distribution in particular, a higher standard of life for the people becomes a goal of socialism, therefore,
it is necessary for a plan to redistribute wealth [“Plans are Necessary for a Socialism Economy”, The New
Road, Vol. 1, No. 16, Aug. 28, 1948].
In response to this idea of emphasizing a planned economy, Tsinghua University professor of
economy Wu Jingchao proposed that there is a possibility to establish a system that adopts both socialism
and a market economy as a pricing mechanism.
17

He believed that economic freedom in an economic

Fu Sheng is thought to be a pen name used by Wu Enyu (呉恩裕).
13democracy was connected to consumers and their freedom to choose a vocation which would be violated
through the execution of a planned economy [“Arguing Economic Freedom”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 21,
Oct. 2, 1948].

He proposed a combination of public system and pricing mechanism by “focusing on

economic equality and economic freedom as the same thing.

However, in my theory, even though socialism

will bring us economic equality, a planned economy will deprive consumers of their freedom.

Only througha combination of socialism and pricing mechanism will we be able to attain equality and freedom”[“Socialism and Planned Economy Can be Separate”, The New Road, Vol. 2, No. 5, Dec. 11, 1948]. Also,
Chun Sheng (春生)18, drawing upon Hayek’s words, emphasized that there was no need for a correlation
between a planned economy and socialism because “it is possible to have no plans in socialism and it is also
possible to have many plans in socialism.”

He also pointed out that it is possible to utilize a pricing

mechanism in socialism by first understanding the harm of having freedom of consumer choice, freedom of
vocation choice, hinderance of rational production material distribution, increase of economic operation cost,
and the possibility of economic power focus and monopoly [“Plans are not Necessary for a Socialist
Economy”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 16, Aug. 28, 1948].

Furthermore, regarding Fu Sheng’s comments,

Chun Sheng proposed “plans to publicize all production is a totalitarian socialism economy and an unplanned
publicization of production is a liberal socialist economy” and he reemphasized “I agree with a liberalsocialist economy.

[...] Even though we want socialism, we do not need a planned economy” [“Plans are

not Necessary for a Socialist Economy”, The New Road, Vol. 1, No. 16, Aug. 28, 1948].
Although Wu Enyu and Wu Jingchao had varying arguments regarding the issues in what would
be the most efficient system in an economic democracy, it is important to note that their understanding ofsocialism was quite different. While Wu Enyu advocated for a publicized planned economy based on thesystem in the Soviet Union, Wu Jingchao sought for a combination of a publicized and pricing mechanism
based on policies of a social democracy.
Another point of debate was proposed which was a theory to create a compatible economy
consisting of both planned and market economies.

Peking University professor and American economy

specialist Chen Zhenhan (陳振漢) emphasized that although a planned economy is necessary for socialism,
a complete planned economy is not necessary.

He proposed to leave parts of the free pricing system while

executing a centralized planned economy which would speed up the compatibility between economic growthand equality [“Choosing a Hybrid and Planned System”, The New Road, Vol. 2, No. 5, Dec. 11, 1948].
Regarding this proposition, Jiang Shuojie pointed out that it was necessary to have a centralized plan for anationwide adoption and national defense, welfare for public education and sanitation, railways and watersupplies in order to prepare for inflation because a pricing mechanism make “it is necessary to execute an
economic democracy and protection of economic freedom.”

This would lead to a focus on free pricing

mechanism which was based on the theory of a hybrid economy following mass planning [“Socialism andPricing Mechanism”, The New Road, Vol. 2, No. 5, Dec. 11, 1948].

Peking University professor of

economics Zhao Naituan (趙廼摶) expanded with his own theory that liberal economy policies should be the18

Chun Sheng is thought to be a pen name used by Wu Jingchao (呉景超).
14pillar of individualism and free competition based on an economic democracy.

He concluded that

disadvantages existed in a truly free economy and absolutely regulated economy, therefore a progressive freeand regulated economy “is the goal of China’s economic policies by utilizing a hybrid of a progressive
capitalism and soft socialism” [“Liberalism and Economy”, Universitas, Vol. 2, No. 4, Aug. 6, 1948].

Thistheory of a hybrid economy can be confirmed in reports by the China Democratic League.
“China’s financial policies regarding the expansion of industry absolutely must harmonize a planned
and free economy. [...] By expanding both economies and, at the same time, encouraging private
enterprises, the chance for free competition for all private must be protected” [Luo Longji 1945].
If the protection of economic equality and economic freedom rights are to be understood as“economic democracy,” the tension of economic equality and freedom in the aforementioned arguments andhow they reached a level of compatibility are issues that also must be considered. As it has been pointedout “economic liberalism in post-war China was achieved and formed by economic arguments on theories ofsocial democracy to market fundamentalism and many other theories” [Kubo 2001: 310]. This means thatsocial democracy advocated by Chu Anping and Wu Jingchao, Soviet Union styled socialism advocated by
Wu Enyu, market fundamentalism advocated by Jiang Shuojie, and Keynesianism advocated by Xu Yunan
all coexisted in the economic democracy.
To simply summarize the contents of the debates regarding an economic democracy: first, it must
be based on the idea of economic equality, protection of all rights including economic freedom, redistributionof wealth, equality of chance, and life quality improvement; second, aim for socialism in the broad sense;
third, recognition of a progressive state ownership and hybrid ownership system; and fourth, which has themost important feature, the pursuit of a socialistic economy that includes a planned economy based on theideas of Keynesianism, market fundamentalism, and a soft social democracy19.

Conclusion
In regards to the political democracy and economic democracy in Chinese democracy that wasargued in this paper, the question remains if, just as in Chinese liberalism, Chinese democracy is the same asother democracies. To answer this, a comparison is made with the situation in Japan.

In 1946, the GHQ

requested to have the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science and Culture structured and Miyazawa
Toshiyoshi, a professor of law at Tokyo Imperial University, was chosen to be the main member of theeditorial board.

Following the enforcement of the new constitution, philosopher of law Otaka Tomo’o(formerly a professor at Tokyo Imperial University) and economist Ōkōchi Kazuo wrote and published asocial studies textbook titled Democracy in 1948–1949 and it was used until 195320.

19

The following is a

Regarding a further analysis of the fourth point, see Kubo 2011.
I found a book on the National Diet Library (国立国会図書館) digital collection called Democracy Vol.
1 (民主主義 上); I have also found a newspaper article related to this book called “Reprinting the HighSchool Textbook Democracy” (『民主主義』高校教科書を復刻) in Asahi Shinbun (朝日新聞), Aug. 21,
1995.
20

15

summary of how this textbook discussed democracy.
The three fundamental facets of democracy are: one, respect for all people; two, the spirit of
democracy is not only in political or social life but is also necessary in economic life; three, democracy inpolitics, democracy in society, and democracy in economy.

The goal for democracy in politics is to“improve welfare in the public domain and to allow all people the equal opportunity to pursue happiness.”
The realization of this begins with the people’s individual right to participate in choosing the political leaders.
The understanding of democracy in society is “regardless of race, gender, faith, or age, all people have equal
opportunities offered to them.”

Regarding democracy—as an economic democracy—in the economy isthat “all people have equal financial opportunities which will close the financial gap between the capitalists
and workers.”

This thought is further emphasized as “the mission of democracy in the economy is to protect

the distribution of a fair economy by respecting each other’s rights which will raise the standard of life forall people and will build a better society.”

It is also pointed out that “among the three facets of democracy,

there is one which has not been adequately achieved and that is an economic democracy.

[...] The

fundamental solution for this problem in the economic democracy is anticipated to be in a combination with
political democracy” [Ministry of Education, Science and Culture 1948: 2, 152, 203–207].
Compared to the debates regarding democracy in China at the same time, it can be understood thatthe so-called “democracy in politics” is “political democracy” in “political freedom,” “democracy in society”
is “political democracy” in “political equality,” and “democracy in the economy” is “economic democracy”.
These ideals of freedom, equality, and societal rights are clearly written in the Constitution of Japan, draftedin November of 1947 and executed in May of 1948. Many of these fundamental rights are also reflected in
the Constitution of the Republic of China which was drafted and executed around the same time of January
1947 and December 1947.
By focusing on a harmony between liberalism and socialism it can be said that the hybrid ofplanned and market economy in the Chinese democracy was modeled on the social democracy that from theUK.

From this, the democracy that China sought for was not too far off from having a universality and theincomplete modernization of China was not too far from being a universal modernization.
This paper focused on analyzing how the debates in The Observer, Universitas, and The New Road,
public domains of speech, were formed and how the liberal intellectuals in post-war China understood theformation of democracy by respecting the freedom and equality of the individual, independence, generosity,and rationality.

The features of democracy that the liberal intellectuals presented are that democracy is apolitical democracy which protects political freedom and rights and that it involves economic democracy
which protects economic equality and economic freedom rights. Both of these ideas were hybrid and they
sought for a harmony between liberalism and socialism.

Regarding economic democracy, the compatibility

between financial equality and freedom were argued in which a socialism in the broad sense was sought.
Under the connection of many theories regarding economy, there was a gradual transition from social
democracy to market fundamentalism and they engaged in a socialistic economy that included a planned
economy.

16

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18大阪大学中国文化フォーラム・ディスカッションペーパー No.2020-4
大阪大學中國文化論壇 討論文件 No.2020-4

戦後中国自由主義知識人の「経済民主」論争（1945-1949）：『観察』『周論』『新路』を素材に
林

礼釗

要旨
⽇中戦争終結から中華⼈⺠共和国成⽴までの激しい国共内戦が展開された戦後中国（1945-1949）において、⺠主・憲政の課題がかつてないほどクローズアップされることとなった。中国国⺠党と中国共産党はそれぞれの「建国」と「⾰命」の正統性を維持・調達するために、⺠主・憲政に関する議論を各⾃展開していった。しかし、現実の政治や公共⾔論空間において⼤きな存在感を⽰したのが国共両党から距離を置くいわゆる「第三勢⼒」の⺠主諸党派や公共論壇に結集する「⾃由主義知識⼈」 （以下、「」省略）であった。彼らは、公共の⾔論空間において平和・⾃由・⺠主・憲政を訴え、中国の政治体制のあり⽅をめぐって論争を活発に展開していった。その⾔論空間として機能していた代表的な公共論壇には週刊誌『観察』（1946.9-1948.12）、『周論』（1948.1-11）と『新路』（1948.5-12）がある。
これらの公共論壇を通じ、⾃由主義知識⼈らは戦後中国に相応しい⺠主のあり⽅について、「政治⺠
主」と「経済⺠主」の実現を訴えていた。それはすなわち、個⼈の⾃由・権利の保障や、独裁にかわる⺠主的な制度の樹⽴という政治⾯での⺠主主義と、経済的平等、職業選択の⾃由、格差の是正、「福利社会」の実現といった経済⾯での⺠主主義を平和的な変⾰によって実現しようとする考え⽅であり、「政治⺠主」は⾃由主義によって代表され、「経済⺠主」は社会主義（広義の社会主義）によって代表されるという⺠主観であった。その⺠主には⾃由主義と社会主義の調和的達成という理想的な⺠主像
が埋め込まれていた。
しかし、従来の研究では、「政治⺠主」についての考察は多く⾏われたものの、「経済⺠主」に関する検討は⼗分とは⾔えない。したがって、本稿は、
『観察』
『周論』
『新路』を主な素材として、戦後中国
⾃由主義知識⼈が引き起こした「経済⺠主」論争を整理し、その中⾝を明らかにし、戦後中国の⾃由主
義と⺠主思想を再考する。具体的には、まず、
『観察』
『周論』
『新路』を中⼼に、戦後中国の⾔論空間とそこに結集した⾃由主義知識⼈らを簡単に紹介した上で、彼らが共有している⺠主観を概観する。
次に、⾃由主義知識⼈らが起こした「経済⺠主」論争を素材に、その中⾝を具体的に検討し、それは単なる「経済的平等」を意味しないことを明らかにする。最後に、同時代の⽇本をも視野に⼊れ、戦後中国の⾃由と⺠主を共時的に再検討する。

担当委員（⾼橋慶吉*）*

大阪大学大学院法学研究科・准教授
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