Debating the Socialist Legacy and Capitalist Globalization in China

"Re-engaging socialist cultural texts, the editors and contributors all prominent intellectual figures or leading New Left thinkers from China call for a vigorous engagement with the socialist past as 'a real force of critique and contestation as well as a source of aspiration.' Rang[ing] from an analysis of literary and cultural texts produced during the socialist era to an investigation of recent New Left literature and critiques, the essays in Debating the Socialist Legacy enjoin readers to ponder the imposing and in many cases urgent challenges of rethinking socialism in the post-revolutionary age. How might key socialist concepts be redefined and reimagined in the present? For example, in the case of that crucial term, 'the people,' should it be broadened [ ] to reflect contemporary socioeconomic realities [ ] or should it be narrowed to indicate subalterns/peasants/workers in contemporary China? This is but one of the daunting but pressing issues raised by the essays in this timely and engaging volume." - Jie Liu, Professor of Chinese, University of the Pacific, USA (Modern Chinese Literature and Culture Resource Center Publication, 2015)