Reread a Century (Volume 4: Social and Humanistic Debates in 20th Century China)

Author: Xu Guoli
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
Features: The term "century" used in the title of this book refers, in principle, to the years of the 20th century that have already passed since 1900. The entire book is divided into 5 volumes, each covering approximately 20 years, with these being approximate time limits rather than precise dates. The scope of the articles included primarily focuses on those published openly in mainland China, especially in the past 50 years. This is not only due to well-known reasons but also primarily for the sake of highlighting the theme, concentrating the perspective, and considering factors such as volume, format, and reality.
III. The term "social and humanities" in this book mainly refers to content with the nature of "" (trends) of the era and "" (hot topics) of reality. Even for such content, only the essential parts are selected, prioritizing their representativeness and timeliness rather than merely scientific or academic value. Therefore, materials that clearly contradict or oppose the normal development of social and humanities, such as the "Cultural Revolution," are included in selected excerpts to preserve the truth, as they reflect, in a certain sense, the actual state of social and humanities of that time and have a long duration.
The term "debate" in this book includes exchanges with explicit debate subjects as well as statements with implicit debate subjects. The debates cover both specific viewpoints of certain articles and broader tendencies and trends. Of course, the debates here are primarily normal "discussions" or "debates," while some extraordinary "debates" (such as "great criticism") can be treated as "exceptions." Additionally, the selected "debates" are mostly those with significant influence and a "dramatic" atmosphere.
The term "rereading" in this book has two meanings: one is to provide documentary materials for readers to read independently, and the other is to offer a brief summary for shared reading with the readers. Of course, this should be a reading with a sense of reflection and retrospection. The book has certain academic value.