Classical Liberalism in China: Some History and Prospects

Xingyuan Feng, Weisen Li and Evan W. Osborne

Econ Journal Watch, 2017, vol. 14, issue 2, 218–240

Abstract: We explore (classical) liberal thought in China. In China’s long recorded history, some ideas similar to subsequent Western liberal thinking have periodically appeared. Starting in the late nineteenth century, translated Western works on liberalism became available. Currently, because of political intrigue, liberal themes are rare in official academic or political settings, but much liberal thinking is freely available, networks of liberal aficionados exist, and their activities and ideas are accessible to the public. The influence of many of these ideas is still relatively weak, and there are concerns about growing restrictions on politically threatening views. But economists most influenced by liberalism have some role in public opinion, though less so in shaping public policy. Given the huge tasks ahead in Chinese reform, liberals need to strengthen these networks, and to gain support from entrepreneurs in particular.

Keywords: China; classical liberalism; economic reform; democratization; roles of government; formerly centrally planned economies; economy-wide country studies; growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 O5 P3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://econjwatch.org/File+download/981/FengLiOsborneMay2017.pdf?mimetype=pdf (application/pdf)
https://econjwatch.org/1076 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ejw:journl:v:14:y:2017:i:2:p:218-240

Access Statistics for this article

Econ Journal Watch is currently edited by Daniel Klein

More articles in Econ Journal Watch from Econ Journal Watch Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jason Briggeman ().