Reading Notes

Accompanying the new sense of national pride brought about by rapid economic growth is the rise of the so-called “Chinese special theory.” While emphasizing the differences between China and other countries, it gives the current system a legal cloak that is “in line with national conditions,” thereby rejecting structural reforms in basic theory. At the same time, it exaggerates the “incomprehensibility” of Chinese culture to foreigners and refuses to accept dissection and criticism of itself by people outside the Chinese cultural circle. In any case, the theory of “China Special” constitutes one of the pillars of “xenophobia” as mentioned by Li Kanru, and it has opened the door for some conservatives to “work behind closed doors”**. ...

In a certain sense, Orwell was my political enlightenment. When I was in junior high school, my history teacher gave me a thin little book on a lazy afternoon as a reward for improved exam results. The book was Animal Farm. That night, after I got home, I read it in one sitting. Although I did not yet understand Soviet history or the struggle between Stalin and Trotsky, this short fable still shocked me deeply. From then on, I began reading works of philosophy and ethics since the Enlightenment, and developed a strong interest in modern left-wing thought beginning with Rousseau. ...