After 1949, the Party carried out a contradictory policy toward the intellectuals: On the one hand, it indoctrinated them in Marxism- Leninism-Maoism, which was imposed comprehensively and intensively than Confucianism had been on the traditional literati. On the other hand, it tried to stimulate the intellectuals to be productive in their professions. Like Stalin, the political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party looked to writers and artists to transform "the human soul" according to the Party's dictates. The Party's first effort to mobilize intellectuals to its cause began in Shanghai in the mid-i93os, primarily among the writers. Before the Party came to power and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, virtually every turn in the political climate and often major political moves were signaled by vehement debates and polemics in the literary realm. Hsiao Chűn was one of the few intellectuals to speak out against the violence that accompanied the land reform of the late 1940s.

Religion in Chinese Society

The Party and the intellectuals

INTRODUCTION During the Sung (A.D. 960–1279) and early Yuan (1279–c. 1320) dynasties, China's agricultural and industrial production, its domestic commerce, and its economic contacts with the “outside world” all expanded dramatically, reaching levels that far surpassed anything known in earlier periods of Chinese history. In recent years, William H. McNeill, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, and F.W. Mote have been among those who have argued that these developments not only had a profound effect on Chinese civilization, but on that of much of the rest of Eurasia. As Professor McNeill has put it, “New wealth arising among a hundred million Chinese began to flow out across the seas [and significantly along caravan routes as well] and added new vigor and scope to market-related activity. Scores, hundreds, and perhaps thousands of vessels began to sail from port to port within the Sea of Japan and the South China Sea, the Indonesian Archipelago and the Indian Ocean. Most voyages were probably relatively short, and goods were reassorted at many different entrepots along the way from original producer to ultimate consumer … [A]n increasing flow of commodities meant a great number of persons moving to and fro on shipboard or sitting in bazaars, chaffering over prices.” By the time Marco Polo began his seventeen-year stay in China during the mid-1270s, this “increasing flow of commodities” meant that substantial quantities of Chinese raw silk, silk textiles, porcelains, and other goods were being carried by ship and caravan to other parts of Asia, to East Africa, and the Middle East, to the Mediterranean trading area, and even to the major markets of northwestern Europe.

Ming China and the emerging world economy, c. 1470–1650

Like Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, on coming to power, continued to develop his ideas in a context different from that within which he had operated while in opposition. In so doing, he modified, adapted and elaborated positions which he had adopted earlier. In many respects there was substantial continuity, but there were also startling ruptures and reversals and, in addition, Mao struck out in new directions which he had never previously had the occasion to explore. One important constant in the development of Mao Tse-tung's thought was his concern to adapt Marxism, or Marxism-Leninism, to the economic and social reality of a back ward agrarian country, and to the heritage of the Chinese past, which for Mao was no less real. Prior to the conquest of power, the first aspect of this project involved devising theoretical justifications for attributing to the peasantry a political role greater than that implied by the model of the October Revolution, and more specifically for the strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside. In this respect, it might have been assumed, and probably was assumed by Mao himself in 1949, that Chinese practice, and Chinese theory, would move closer to that of the Soviet Union.

Mao Tse-tung's thought from 1949 to 1976

The naturalization of andean christianities

The success of the Communist Revolution stripped modern Chinese literature of its urban component. Most literary historians agree that the May Thirtieth incident marked a crucial turning point: modern Chinese literature moved, in the memorable phrase of Ch'eng Fang-wu, from ' literary revolution' to ' revolutionary literature'. The leadership of the league of Left-wing Writers consisted nominally of an executive committee of seven standing members: Hsia Yen, Hung Ling-fei, Feng Nai-ch'ao, Ch'ien Hsing-ts'un, T'ien Han, Cheng Po-ch'i and Lu Hsun. The seven-year record of the league was one of continuous debates against all kinds of ' enemies': beginning with Lu Hsun's polemic with the liberal Crescent Moon Society, the league combated successively the conservative proponents of 'nationalist literature', the left-leaning 'third category' writers, and finally some of its own members in the debate on' mass language' and in the famous battle of the ' two slogans' connected with the league's sudden dissolution in 1956.

Religion in Chinese Society

Citations

The Party and the intellectuals

Ming China and the emerging world economy, c. 1470–1650

Mao Tse-tung's thought from 1949 to 1976

The naturalization of andean christianities

Literary trends: the road to revolution 1927–1949

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