Chinese New Left

Chinese New Left
Chinese New Left
Simplified Chinese	中国新左派
Traditional Chinese	中國新左派
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōngguó xīn zuǒpài
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	中国新左翼
Traditional Chinese	中國新左翼
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōngguó xīn zuǒyì

The Chinese New Left is a term used in the People's Republic of China to describe a diverse range of left-wing political philosophies that emerged in the 1990s that are critical of the economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping, which emphasized policies of market liberalization and privatization to promote economic growth and modernization.^[1]

Chinese intellectual Wang Hui links the emergence of New Leftism with the financial crisis of 1997 and the 1999 United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which damaged the credibility of liberalism in China, as well as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.^[2] Some of the Chinese New Left intellectuals enjoyed prominence, especially with the rise of Chongqing Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai, who promoted a set of socio-economic policies collectively termed the "Chongqing model", though they suffered a blow after the end of Bo's career in 2012 due to the Wang Lijun incident.

There is an ambiguity of the term New Left in discourse drawing from the diversity of the movement. Generally speaking, the New Left can be applied to a person who embraces leftist theories, ideals, and traditions rooted in variations of socialist ideology, and other schools criticizing postmodernism and neoliberalism.^[3]

The New Left's relationship with Maoism and capitalism is complicated. Although some schools of thought suggest that the New Left wants the return to mass political movements of the Mao Zedong era and an abandonment of capitalism, others believe that it combines capitalism's open markets with socialist elements (particularly in rural China).^[4] Additionally, the views within the New Left are diverse, ranging from hardline Maoists to more moderate social democrats.^[5]

^ Wang, Hui (2003). "The New Criticism". In Chaohua, Wang (ed.). One China, Many Paths. London: Verso. pp. 55–86. ISBN 1-85984-537-1.
^ Wang, Hui (2003). "The New Criticism". In Chaohua, Wang (ed.). One China, Many Paths. London: Verso. pp. 61–63. ISBN 1-85984-537-1.
^ Goldman, Merle (2015). "Review of China and New Left Visions: Political and Cultural Interventions". The China Journal (73): 266–269. doi:10.1086/679242. ISSN 1324-9347. JSTOR 10.1086/679242.
^ Cui, Zhiyuan. "How to Comprehend Today's China." Contemporary Chinese Thought. 37.4 (2006). Print.
^ "The princelings are coming". The Economist. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2023.

[1] Wang, Hui (2003). "The New Criticism". In Chaohua, Wang (ed.). One China, Many Paths. London: Verso. pp. 55–86. ISBN 1-85984-537-1.

[2] Wang, Hui (2003). "The New Criticism". In Chaohua, Wang (ed.). One China, Many Paths. London: Verso. pp. 61–63. ISBN 1-85984-537-1.

[3] Goldman, Merle (2015). "Review of China and New Left Visions: Political and Cultural Interventions". The China Journal (73): 266–269. doi:10.1086/679242. ISSN 1324-9347. JSTOR 10.1086/679242.

[4] Cui, Zhiyuan. "How to Comprehend Today's China." Contemporary Chinese Thought. 37.4 (2006). Print.

[5] "The princelings are coming". The Economist. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2023.

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