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The article presents the paper "China's Political Party System," published by China's State Council Information Office in 2007. The document examines the political party system adopted by China, focusing on the role that multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party plays in China's social and political life. The author looks at China's basic political system as well as manifestations of socialist democracy. A brief introduction to the democratic parties of China is also presented.

This paper examines the challenges and possibilities facing democratic citizenship education in China. It starts by taking on the increasing political repression under Xi's regime and how it is marginalizing or silencing democratic discourses. Then it examines the rising economically-driven populist nationalism in China, and how it complicates the democratic pursuit. Next, the paper looks into the dominant Chinese cultural tradition, Confucianism, its antidemocratic tendencies and alliance with authoritarian forces. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential ways to combat the roadblocks and resistances to democratization. It emphasizes a more nuanced understanding of both China's historical trajectories and present aspirations, seeking possibilities for democratic breakthrough. It also proposes educational and curricular reform, deconstructing official moral education and introducing cultivation in civic virtues, for example, to promote democratic citizenship.

An emerging discourse contends that China has become a willing collaborator for digital technology abuse through substantial investments in Africa’s digital infrastructure, thus leaving digital power at the discretion of unstable African governments. However, it is unclear whether Chinese companies are willing collaborators with autocratic regimes in advancing China’s model of digital authoritarianism in the African continent. Despite the need to better understand the changing dynamics of China’s role in aiding authoritarian regimes through digital technologies, research that responds to these concerns remains empirically understudied and under-conceptualised. The central question this paper addresses is: How does China’s model of digital authoritarianism affect autocratic politics and the trajectory of authoritarian regimes in Africa? The article’s primary objective is to investigate allegations that China is promoting its internet model, which includes censorship and restrictions, through digital investments in African countries. A related aim is to examine how African governments have abused their digital infrastructure to undermine their electoral processes and roll back democratic gains made since the early 1990s. In grappling with these concerns, part of this paper’s contribution is to explore critical practices and meanings of power that appear to have produced trajectories towards digital authoritarianism in Africa. The paper’s main departure point is the proposition that democratic rollbacks can be only partially understood by tracing China’s digital footprints on the continent. The article finds proliferating discourses that China is exporting an authoritarian digital authoritarianism model to Africa misleading. Instead, the evidence suggests that African autocracies are exploiting the adoption of China’s model of the internet to roll back democratic gains through surveillance and censorship of civil liberties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether Hong Kong teachers and students perceived Liberal Studies and its ongoing curriculum review as politically driven during and after the Umbrella Movement, a large-scale civil disobedience campaign that took place in September 2014. The findings presented herein show that both groups disagreed with the claim that Liberal Studies was used as a political instrument to instigate students' participation in the protest movement. Moreover, they also reveal that teachers have maintained their neutrality towards controversial issues related to politics during Liberal Studies lessons. Whilst the participating teachers and students considered the government's proposed reform of Liberal Studies to be politically motivated, they held differing attitudes towards the addition of more China-related elements to the subject. On the basis of these results, this paper analyses the potential role of Liberal Studies in the democratisation of local society. It also provides an indication of the curriculum's dynamic nature, explanation of students' resistance to the review policy and suggestions for the subject's future development.

This paper discusses how teachers explore teaching controversial issues in the Japanese language classroom to Japanese language learner (JLL) or culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students who have different cultural and political backgrounds. Assuring educational opportunities with consideration of JLLs' background is important especially in this globalized world. Students who spent several years in their home countries had missed the earlier part of the culture in the host countries, and they do not internalize host culture fully. Lack of cultural knowledge or literacy would lead to inequality of attainment. The research was conducted in a Japanese language classroom for Chinese from People's Republic of China (ROC) newcomer students in a commercial night public high school in Japan. This study examines how a Japanese teacher were aware of the cultural aspects of students, searched for appropriate methods to teach controversial issues. The research methods are participatory observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers. Through interaction with Chinese newcomer students, the Japanese teacher's cultural and political awareness and political correctness was induced as he observed what the students needed to know and experience. The teacher tried to infuse students with global awareness in his hybrid history embedded Japanese language class. The concept which were not relevant to the political status of the country of origin, neutrality between the country of origin and Japan, were explored during the lessons.

The issue of education and democracy has become more and more important in China. This paper firstly explains the theory of democracy in Chinese classrooms, and then focuses on the Chinese banzhuren who is responsible for classrooming, an important educational area equal to instruction. We illustrate how Chinese students achieve development through classrooming, and show the activities, relationships and self-awareness from the perspective of developing the individual and community democratically. Finally, this paper discusses a new direction of democracy in Chinese classrooms in the global context, with the view of making education and society better.

Big digital companies have become key elements in economy, communication, education, and politics in 21st century societies. The neutral ideology in their digital platforms, applications, and services, as well as the exponential growth in their activities can be used by world superpowers —especially the United States and China— to implement geostrategical operations, massive social manipulation or influence democratic processes with the objective of increasing their power and dominance over other nations. The aim of this paper is to state the different strategies of digital expansionism performed by the United States and China, and, additionally, to showcase the negative consequences of these strategies on the population and democracies of the European Union. The first section of this paper will define the concepts of digital sovereignty and digital expansionism as well as their importance in 21st century geopolitics. Next, the important role that big digital companies have on digital expansionism will be analysed, and the usage of digital authoritarianism and digital instrumentarianism performed by the United States and China will be further examined. Finally, the negative consequences of the implementation of these methods in the democratic systems of the European Union will be analysed, as well as what possible solutions there might be for said consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key task in the establishment of a university charter is ensuring that the text of the charter is in conformity with the law, in compliance with regulations, and rational. This paper proposes a system of observed indicators for textual expression in private university charters in China, including 6 dimensions for Level 1 indicators and 20 key elements for charter content. Through textual analysis of the charters of 105 private undergraduate universities in China, the authors found that, in terms of their textual expression, private university charters universally exhibit issues such as incompleteness of the key elements of content, failure to highlight individual characteristics, an imbalanced internal power structure, unstandardized operations, imperfect mechanisms for democracy and oversight, and so on. The state's implementation of categorized management of nonprofit and for-profit private schools should be regarded as a golden opportunity to further strengthen the effective supply of external institutions for private universities, perfect the internal governance structures of private universities, improve the mechanisms by which academic organizations at private universities exercise their roles, and achieve effective linkage between private university charters and concrete internal regulations. [Translated by Carissa Fletcher.]

One of the reasons often advanced for the study of Western civilization is its history of scientific and technical prowess. Advances in science and technology have resulted in the many conveniences of modern life: air travel, automobiles, and smart phones, to name just a few. These are fruits of the Baconian project, which emphasized observation and measurement in the study of nature as part of an endeavor to "establish and extend the power and dominion of the human race itself over the whole universe." Bacon identified three inventions that separated the ancients from the moderns: (1) the magnetic compass; (2) gunpowder; and (3) printing. Of interest is the last, which has been the object of considerable scholarly attention during the past few decades. The advent of printing has been credited with initiating a revolution that resulted in increased literacy, an enlarged market for books and other publications, and an increased flow of news, information, and knowledge. In short, printing helped to lay the foundations for the development of modern democratic polities, so much so that freedom of the press is held to be fundamental to democracy. It so happens that printing appeared first in China, as well as the other two inventions Bacon cites. China has its own heritage of technical prowess. Paper, which was crucial for the development of printing in the West, was also invented in China. Without paper, the print revolution would have at least been delayed. The author's interest initially lies in the response in China to the advent of printing. A print revolution in the Western mode did not occur. Consideration of this nonevent will lead to what lies near the heart of Chinese civilization and to what the author thinks people gain from the study of China. In this article, the author looks at writing as literature and as linguistic medium, and at the interaction of at least two of the three perfections (calligraphy, poetry, and painting). (Contains 2 exhibits, 2 figures and 7 footnotes.)

Transnational political communication today is being reconfigured by digital technologies and global power transition. Authoritarian state actors such as China are increasingly active on global social media platforms such as Twitter to directly advance their preferred frames with foreign publics in Western democracies, most notably in what could be called Chinese Twiplomacy contesting narrative globally over contentious issues. This paper problematises such Twiplomacy from authoritarians to Western democracies as 'networked transnational frame contestation', arguing that the political and cultural distance between the sending and target countries, the networked affordance of social media, and the national prism of the target countries, all contribute importantly to the complexity of such frame contestation. Through a case study on China's Twiplomacy in contesting coronavirus narrative in the UK, this paper further provides empirical evidence on how 'networked transnational frame contestation' works between politically and culturally distant countries. Using a mixed-method approach combining social network analysis and discourse analysis, this study finds that China's emotion-evoking discursive strategy draws traction but the authoritarian nature of the highly centralised networkedness and that of its discursive strategy, together with the strong cultural discordance with British publics, lead to networked recontextualisation of its intended frames in Britain. British publics, heavily relying on British political elites and press for foreign affairs, invoke shared cultural reference to recontextualise Chinese frames into culturally resonant counterframes. This study proposes a paradigm of 'networkedness within cascades' to understand frame contestation between politically and culturally distant countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Karl Popper's critical rationalism, criticism is the only way we have of systematically detecting and learning from our mistakes so as to get nearer to the truth. Meanwhile, it is arguable that the emphasis of Confucianism on creating a hierarchical and harmonious society can easily lead to submission rather than opposition, producing a conformist rather than critical mind. A question arises here as to whether Confucianism tends to denigrate criticism and thus run counter to critical rationalism. In this paper, I first argue that Confucianism prizes criticism and critical discussion, for which ample justification can be found in Confucian classics. Then I compare Confucianism with critical rationalism and assess the compatibility between them.

In light of decades of formal denouncement of Deweyan ideas in China and the increasingly authoritarian practices under its current leadership, the recent revival of engagement with Dewey's work among Chinese educators and intellectuals appears extraordinary as well as paradoxical. How is it possible that a project as ardently democratic as Dewey's could gain popularity (and potential sustainability) in what appears to be a consistently nondemocratic regime? As we celebrate the centennial of Dewey's visit to China and the substantial resurgence of his philosophy there, the trajectory of these promising signs cannot be determined without also digging into the enigma embedded within the current paradox. This paper explores and resolves this paradox by drawing upon Dewey's concept of democracy to evaluate China's state of affairs in democratic terms. I argue that Dewey presents an alternative that illuminates not only the democratic elements currently in China, but also the ground for an intercultural dialogue on democracy from which China and other countries may benefit in this global age.

This article aims to investigate how the discourse on national identity is approached in the new Taiwanese citizenship curriculum. The differing opinions on Taiwan's relationship with China and the constant threat from this rising superpower have deterred the explicit promotion of either a Taiwanese or Chinese identity. The new curriculum follows a strategy of "intentional ambiguity", where neither identity is mentioned. In this "polysemous" form, the curriculum has been criticized for staying silent on the question of cultivating a national identity. However, the curriculum developers interviewed for this paper suggested that parents and pupils who examine the new curriculum can find support for whichever national identity they favor since it is designed in such an inclusive manner. They can then simultaneously reflect on the multiple, divergent or competing meanings behind the "polysemous texts" and this "hermeneutic" process of reasoning can then facilitate the choice of national identity with maximum acceptance.

The modernization theory contends that there is a link between education and democracy. Yet few empirical studies have been done to investigate the role of higher education on promoting democratic values in the Chinese context. Using China General Social Survey 2006, this paper generates several findings which are not completely consistent with the existing theoretical explanations on political development. Specifically, the college-educated Chinese citizens not only agree that there is need to improve democracy, but support various types of political participation and resist the government-oriented petitioning. However, though entrepreneurial elites (private business owners) and political elites (Chinese communist party members) demonstrate preference to democracy in principle, empirical evidence suggests that they are much less likely to support political participation that challenges the authoritarian regime in China compared to knowledge-based elites (college-educated adults).

Based on a comprehensive collection of facts, this paper conceptually outlines and graphically visualizes five powerful political-economic change drivers that are bound to shape the world in the medium term. These "megacycle trends" include: (1) Liberal democracies under attack; (2) Fight against multiethnicity and multiculturality; (3) Increase in global debt; (4) Emergence of a multicentric world; and (5) Slowing of China's rise. To succeed, it is of crucial importance for a powerful group of innovative leaders around the world to understand, shape, and leverage these inflective global supertrends together with inspired and aligned followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the primary problem of the public, as advanced in "The Public and its Problems," which Dewey described as the need to improve "methods of debate, discussion, and persuasion" for the purposes of "perfecting the process of inquiry" (Dewey, 1927/1954, p. 208). I first situate these modes of communication as a central problem within Dewey's conceptualization of democracy. I then argue that controversial issue discussion and milieus matter for the extent to which the public's problem can be resolved. Finally, I address the ways in which China struggles with reflective inquiry relative to controversial issue instruction and revisit the universal imperative of unencumbered inquiry into all beliefs and forms of knowledge.

This is the fourth of five commentaries discussing Zongjie Wu's essay, "Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation". It argues that he may have committed two methodological mistakes in his contrast between traditional Chinese education and contemporary Chinese (and Western) education: reverse-Orientalism and a form of fundamentalism. It will then argue that the distinction Wu's essay correctly reveals is not between China and the West, but between forms of a philosophical education and those of the mass education. In contemporary Western democratic education, the philosophical, political, and mass forms of education are collapsed into one, mass education, and by arguing for preservation of philosophical education on a mass level, Wu also implicitly adopts this conflation position. However, this commentary will argue that this conflation needs to be corrected, and the traditional Confucian education actually tries to strike a middle way between, and to correct, the forms of pre-democratic Western education and democratic education. (Contains 6 notes.)

This article examines the "back to tradition" movement in Chinese schools and its political nature. It focuses on the launch of the "education in Chinese traditional virtues" project in the 1980s and various new developments at the present time, which continue a revival of Confucianism in Chinese society and education. The paper looks into the domestic and international background of the movement, the political nature of the Confucian tradition, and the government's support for the movement. The essay explores a resurgence of Confucianism in Chinese schools through moral education and the larger political purpose it serves. The article reveals how a popular grass roots education movement reflects particular social and political needs during changing times and how pedagogical functions of an education initiative become entangled with, and even overshadowed by, political demands within a politically centralised system.

From 1919 to 1921, John Dewey travelled and lectured in China. He received a thunderous welcome and exercised a tremendous influence in China, however, very little has been written about it. The first purpose of this article is to investigate Dewey's visit to China and his influence on Chinese education. The second is to examine the various social and ideological forces with which Dewey's progressivism co-existed and interacted in shaping China's current educational system, and to determine which force(s) exert the strongest influence. China's educational system today is defined and guided by a synthesis of various social and ideological forces--traditional Confucianism, Deng's pragmatism, Maoism, and Dewey's progressivism. These forces, although often theoretically exclusive of one another, have in practice been woven into the tapestry of the system at all levels. This paper encourages readers to learn from others in improving their own educational systems.

Compares the educational systems, particularly nonformal education, of India and China, and the impact on education of sociopolitical factors, history, government, ideology, languages, and cultures. Includes differences and similarities in educational facilities, personnel, methods, some national statistics, and charts of the education systems in both countries. (MF)

This paper evaluates the minimum living standard guarantee program (Dibao) in rural China using several methods including the income approach, the multidimensional poverty approach, and a proxy means test approach. We find that the targeting accuracy of the program appears greater the more comprehensive the evaluation method used—but all these methods find low levels of targeting accuracy. Because Dibao fund allocation is largely decided by the villagers, who take a more holistic view in selecting "poor" households than the various evaluation methods, we argue that the low targeting efficacy may be due to the lack of comprehensive evaluation method, as opposed to the low targeting of the program itself. This paper argues that the community-based targeting used by the Dibao program may be a better way to combat poverty in many developing countries, as it requires less administrative capacity and overcomes the difficulties of identifying poor households that qualify for assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, views regarding cyberspace and the usage of digital means by governments shifted from hopes of cyber-utopias to fears of cyberdystopias, fuelled by increasingly heavy limitations imposed on Internet freedoms and online privacy rights worldwide, a tightening grip of authoritarian regimes on cyberspace, disinformation campaigns, censorship, internet shutdowns, digitally-enabled mass surveillance both online and offline and so on. Thus, the discussion will be centred on Russia's and China's usage and export of digital authoritarianism, while also considering steps taken by liberal democracies to counter such actions, focusing on the role of the US and of the E U a nd i ts m ember-states. This paper will start with a literature review regarding digital authoritarianism and an exploration of how Russia and China are using and exporting it. States such as Russia and China are using digital means to bolster and expand their authoritarian regimes, while also exporting digital authoritarianism to other like-minded governments around the world, creating an unignorable challenge for liberal democracies and civil society groups everywhere. Finally, the paper will also address potential courses of action and policies that liberal democracies and international organisations can take for countering digital authoritarianism. For instance, they should promote an alternative model for digital governance and governance through digital means, starting by promoting digital liberties and privacy rights instead of trying to limit them for national security purposes (e.g., the case of encryption). Thus, liberal democracies should respond to digital authoritarianism by further bolstering democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the role of Canadian and Chinese universities, which are expected to contribute to national cultural identity, examining the link between universities, cultural identity, and democracy in the world community, illustrating ways in which academic cooperation could enhance democratization, and comparing different ways scholars have conceptualized the link. (SM)

Responds to a videotape presentation of debates that occurred on January 13, 1988, between three educators and a group of youths of Shekou, China. Argues that criticism of the students is superficial and misleading. Notes the needs of the region for cultural, educational, and athletic facilities and rejects the argument that Shekou is ideologically out of step with China. (NL)

Chinese university students seem to feel their best hope for bringing about change lies in conforming outwardly to the policies of the government while seeking a chance to study in a Western country. Students are increasingly studying Western languages and monitoring Chinese and United States policies concerning international educational exchange. (MSE)

Criticizes the dominant educational policy in China that produced curriculum-centered, elitist education. Advocates reform that reflects John Dewey's pragmatism, linking education to social development, practical needs, and individual growth. Surveys past efforts at education reform. Sees education as the primary instrument of democracy. (CH)

This paper examines the challenges and possibilities facing democratic citizenship education in China. It starts by taking on the increasing political repression under Xi's regime and how it is marginalizing or silencing democratic discourses. Then it examines the rising economically-driven populist nationalism in China, and how it complicates the democratic pursuit. Next, the paper looks into the dominant Chinese cultural tradition, Confucianism, its antidemocratic tendencies and alliance with authoritarian forces. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential ways to combat the roadblocks and resistances to democratization. It emphasizes a more nuanced understanding of both China's historical trajectories and present aspirations, seeking possibilities for democratic breakthrough. It also proposes educational and curricular reform, deconstructing official moral education and introducing cultivation in civic virtues, for example, to promote democratic citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development fails to greatly increase demand for liberal democracy in China. Is China an exception to modernization theory? If so, why? This paper studies these questions by analysing five waves of Asian Barometer Survey data from 2002 to 2019. We have three major findings. First, the shift of political values exhibits an inverted U-shaped curve with the mid-2010s as its turning point. Second, the better educated and more media exposed turned conservative much faster than the rest after the mid-2010s. Third, to trace the mechanism of this unusual reversal and divergence, we resort to a Difference-In-Differences model, taking political indoctrination, measured by media exposure and education, as treatment and the post-2013 era as treatment time, finding that political indoctrination significantly explains political cultural backsliding. Our findings enrich modernization theory by identifying the "interceptive" power of the state between economic development and cultural shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an essay written soon after the author's return to the United States after teaching at a University in China at the time of the Tiananmen Square tragedy. Explores issues of teaching overseas and the reality of Americans being caught in the midst of political turmoil. Remembers sacrifices made by Chinese students and teachers to test the limits of democracy. (SR)

Discussion of the possible changes in Hong Kong in 1997 when rule passes to the People's Republic of China focuses on the uncertain future of libraries and librarians. Topics discussed include the political climate; the departure of qualified Chinese librarians; and the growth of libraries and computerized systems. (LRW)

Based on data sources systematically tracking government activity such as budgets and bill hearings, the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory literature has demonstrated that policy processes in both democracies and nondemocracies feature long periods of stasis interrupted by dramatic changes. However, there is a lack of research that systematically examines China's policy process. In response, this article introduces a new dataset drawn from China State Council Gazettes from 1980 to 2019 to measure policy punctuations and agenda diversity in China. We find that punctuations in China's policy process are more intense than those in democracies. The findings further show that China's policy process features more positive punctuations than negative punctuations. We also find an overall increasing trend of agenda diversity and a pattern of alternation between agenda expansion and concentration across the forty years analyzed in this paper. These findings provide new long-term evidence regarding patterns of policy stability and change in the Chinese context and contribute to our understanding of China's politics of attention and its linkage with information inefficiency and survival politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The May Fourth movement is widely recognized as a watershed within Chinese cultural and political history, but it was also a significant local episode within a global history of science activism. Quaintly idiosyncratic as Chen Duxiu's "two gentlemen," Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science, may appear, they have also animated (in only somewhat less personified form) a transnational "conversation" very much alive today. Focusing on neglected Marxist participants, this paper reconstructs meaningful snatches of that long conversation in China, Russia, Britain, the US, and Japan. It finds that Chinese voices contributed in timely and important ways, especially on the problem of imperialism for science and democracy. It further shows that Marxists, in China and beyond, have shared certain modernist values with their liberal counterparts, including a faith in the democratic potential of universally valid scientific knowledge; however, they have offered highly divergent perspectives on what constitutes democracy and how it relates to science, challenging liberal efforts to separate science from politics and highlighting the contradictions generated by capitalism. A fuller understanding of the significance of Marxist and Chinese contributions to the cumulative discourse on science and democracy, and a livelier engagement with their voices, will help generate more liberatory socio-technical imaginaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent cultural studies scholarship, native terms have been used to understand the affective state of a society. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the term "spicy Taiwanese sister," regarding its derogatory gender implications in the context of Taiwan's popular culture. Then, it discloses the strategic appropriation of the gendered term in the presidential campaign from 2019 to 2020. This analysis reveals why the affective campaigning led to a triumph of Taiwan's democracy. The affect and effect of this presidential campaign could not have been fulfilled without the China factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the political institution of Hong Kong is not fully democratic and is incompetent in channeling public opinion to the executive branch, the Hong Kong media perform the “surrogate democracy function,” wherein they act as the representative of the Hong Kong people in monitoring the government. This simultaneously provides a breeding ground for media populism. Focusing on newspaper editorials and reports on issues of public finance in Hong Kong, this paper analyzes the rhetoric of media populism, which has become part of the journalism culture of the city since the transfer of sovereignty. The paper reveals that media populism is formed by the construction of a populist diagnostic frame, which implies antagonism between the rich government and the deprived people. The populist diagnostic frame is exercised by (1) lexical creations that imply the government–people relation in public finance, (2) omitting inter-class redistribution by in-grouping both the middle class and the lower class as “the people,” and (3) validating the people’s will by interpreting poll results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the emergence and evolution of direct elections (DE) for officials at township-level government in China using social evolutionary theory. The explanations provided by existing research using modernization theory or rational choice theory are not sufficient for fully understanding innovation and change of grassroots democratic institutions across China as a whole. This paper argues that the experiment of DEs at the township level is an institutional reform driven by external forces. Under the pressure of financial crisis, a small number of county-level political elites challenged existing thinking and initiated this institutional innovation. The diffusion, continuation and subsequent breakdown of this innovation was the result of the interactions between the external actors of local political elites, the central government, and public opinion led by media and scholars following major fiscal structural changes. Our research finds that during the period of continuation, it is the central government who plays the most pivotal role amongst the external actors and continues to determine the future evolution of this institutional innovation. This paper concludes that a social evolutionary approach has strong explanatory power regarding analyzing institutional changes around local elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the final decades of the 20th century, the majority of modern Sinophone scholars believed that Confucianism was an outdated and obsolete ideology that was not only unsuitable for the development of modern science and democratic societies, but also responsible for the deep social and political crisis that had branded China for the previous two centuries. Modern New Confucians, however, never assumed that the Confucian system was responsible for such a situation. Most of them believed that Confucianism was compatible with science and democracy. Moreover, the majority of them assumed that the East Asian cultures would never be able to develop truly democratic structures of their societies unless they incorporated the appropriate elements of their own, i.e. Confucian, traditions. This paper critically analyses the theoretical models of Tang Junyi and Mou Zongsan on the possible revival and development of Confucian proto-democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the basis of Asianist sympathy for 'New China', as the People's Republic was often styled, in the early 1950s by examining the writings of Indian diplomats, journalists and academics. These elite Indians either visited China as part of a 1951 delegation, making them witnesses to the ongoing New Democracy experiment. Since their experiences of China were definitely not comprehensive and hinged on the Chinese state's goodwill, the interesting question to ask is not whether these first-hand accounts of 'New China' were accurate but in what ways the Chinese revolution was made comprehensible in light of the Indian elite's own priorities as nation builders and social activists. This paper reconstructs major tropes of the Chinese revolution that appealed to Indian observers – self-sufficiency, empowerment of workers and peasants, a palpable sense of social vitality – and underscored their enthusiasm for Beijing. Most significantly, communism was subsumed in favourable accounts of 'New China' as a nation and society-building project. The Chinese revolution, the nature of which was still in flux, was absorbed into and understood through India and Asia's long struggle against Euro-American domination. In addition, the Chinese revolution was deployed as an example with which Indian observers assessed contemporary developments in their own country. The celebratory reception of 'New China' in India suggests that the subsequent rapport between the Chinese and Indian states was a result of not only high-level diplomatic manoeuvres but also pan-Asian epistemological bridging between socialist revolution and decolonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]