Chinese History Revisited Book Foreword

The following is a translation of the foreword of the original Chinese version of the book.

In the 1980s, when I was writing the biography Xiong Xiling, Chinese Premier of the Republican Period, I started to systematically re-examine Chinese history. In those days just after China's reforms started, many continued to view history in terms of class struggle, forcing it into this straitjacket of revolutionary proletarian struggle even though it did not apply. Everyone was either a revolutionary or reactionary, even though these overly simplistic distinctions were clearly irrelevant. I reacted against this kind of analysis, and thought a more deeply thought analysis of Chinese history was needed.

Over the past twenty years, studies of Chinese history have improved much. But, on many major questions, the official versions of Chinese history have not made major improvements, and it could be said that they are even incoherent and inconsistent. Many Chinese are unwilling to take a hard look at Chinese history; this means that they do not have a clear understanding of our accomplishments, and are not able to learn from our own mistakes. There is not a clear consensus on what we should throw away, and what we should keep and preserve. As a result, what should have been discarded has been kept, and the core assets of our culture have been thrown away and treated as garbage.

For example, in ancient Chinese times, Laozi's (Lao-tzu) philosophy of respecting and following the ways of heaven, and governing without force; the Confucianists' philosophy of love for fellow humans and treating others as one would have them treat you; the Moists philosophy of universal love, equality and anti-violence were pushed aside as being overly idealistic and unrealistic. Instead violent authoritarianism and the way of the marshes (translators note: local powers which took over local responsibility for order when central authority was weak) were instead praised and prospered. Because the best parts of Chinese culture were not preserved, Chinese culture and civilization did not develop on a healthy path.

Every people needs to have a correct understanding of its own history and culture. Only through this understanding can it judge what is good and what is bad, setting it on a healthy path of development. It is very hard for a people which does not have a clear grasp of its past to have a bright future. If it does not have this understanding and consensus about its past, how can it face the future with confidence?

Even to this day, most Chinese view the Spring and Autumn Warring States period as a chaotic and dark period in Chinese history. If it was indeed such a dark period, then why was this a period where many competing schools of thought and philosophy competed in an open market of ideas? Why did so many philosophers, political and military theorists, scientists and writers flourish during this period? Why did Chinese society grow so much on the political, economic, and cultural levels all at the same time?

Even to this day, many view the Emperor Qinshihuangdi's political unification of China in the Qin Dynasty as a great political act, even though it was a violently totalitarian state. But these people fail to ask that if the Qin unification was such a great act, then why was it that China no longer produced such great political thinkers such as Laozi, Confucius and Mencius? Why has China been condemned to cycles of violent change which have repeated regularly for more than 2,000 years? Why did the Chinese live so miserably under the Qin Dynasty? And why did the Qin Dynasty have such a short life, and in the end, collapse so violently?

Even to this day, many view the Song Dynasty as authoritarian, corrupt, backward and weak, negating any of its contributions. But they forget to ask that if the Song Dynasty was so authoritarian, corrupt, backward and weak, why was it one of the leading cultures and civilizations of its time? Why did it produce gunpowder, the compass, movable type printing, just to name a few of its accomplishments? Why did Song political thought and its bureaucracy focus on worrying before the rest of the people, and celebrating after the rest of the people? Why did the Song produce the great concept of 人生自古誰無死，留取丹心照汗？

Even to this day, many praise the rules of the Qing emperors Kangxi and Qianlong as great periods of Chinese imperial history. But they forget to ask that if this was indeed such a great period in Chinese history, why was it that only 41 years later, China would come under attack from Britain, giving up Hong Kong to British rule, and having to recognize unequal treaties which humiliated China? Why did China become the sick man of Asia, with Chinese men wearing their hair in pigtails like idiots? Why did Gong Zizhen write 九州生氣持風雷，萬馬齊喑究可衰，我勸天公重抖擻，不拘一格降人才。

Now, many Chinese speak of a "revival of the great Chinese culture and civilization". But when they speak of this, have they really thought through what this great Chinese culture and civilization really is? Where has this greatness shone through? What are the parts of this civilization which they want to show? Who is really clear about this, and understands the real issues? If we are not even clear about what are the great parts of our own culture, then how can we even begin to talk about revival?

One cannot escape the feeling that although China has been through more than 30 years of opening and reform, Chinese still do not have a clear understanding and interpretation of their own history. They are unclear about what is progressive, what is backward, what is civilized and what is barbaric. It could be argued that during the Cultural Revolution in the 60s and 70s, when class struggle and proletarian revolution were the standard theory of the time, Chinese did not know the truth about their own history. But there really should be no excuse for such continued ignorance after China's reforms. How can a culture and civilization continue under these conditions? How can it move onto the future when it continues in a state of ignorance?

For this reason, I thought it was necessary to apply the standards of democracy, law, freedom and human rights to revisiting and understanding Chinese history in an organized way. It is especially important to do this now, because of China's rapidly growing economy and influence in the world. The ancient Chinese said that we should use the past as a mirror for the future, to understand why countries rise and fall. Only by taking a hard look at our own past and history can we understand how we got to where we are today, and to understand what we did right, and what we did wrong. We need to understand why we went wrong in the areas we did, so that we will not repeat the same mistakes in the future. If Chinese do not even know where they went wrong, how can they build a truly great country and civilization which is worthy of the rest of the world?

On a practical level, how do we change our current political system and rapidly growing economy to one which is democratic, civil, fair, free and harmonious society for all its citizens is a question we all need to deal with. Some say that the only way for China to improve is to go through a political revolution by copying the west, introducing elections, votes for everyone, political parties, and clear separation of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Others disagree, saying that western political systems work only in the west, and are not suited for China, and that they China must find its own path for development.

Can China completely copy the path of western political development? If not, then what should the path for political development be? If it is going to be "socialism with Chinese characteristics", then what is the political system for it? If China's current political system is perfect and does not need to change, then why were there political campaigns such as the anti-rightist, Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, all of which are now considered national tragedies? Faced with challenges of this kind, why did the system not resist at the time? When the national chairman, Liu Shaoqi was purged and died in jail, along with thousands of Chinese intellectuals and innocent Chinese, why did the system fail to protect them? Why is it that now officials link with businesses, turning public assets into private profits, waste of public assets, corruption, a widening income and wealth gap, environmental waste and pollution, the system has no way to deal with these widespread abuses? For this reason, it should be apparent to all, the Chinese political system not only needs to change, it needs to change faster. Otherwise, there will be no way for China to achieve its goal of a true democratic, civil, free and harmonious society, and a truly stable long-term growth goal cannot be attained.

History has proven that economic development cannot solve all of a society's problems; the only way this can be done is with a good, fair political system. The famous economist Yang Xiaokai has pointed out this issue in his article "The Disadvantage Which Comes Later". He says that because developing countries follow on later than developed countries, there are many things which they can copy from developed countries. There are two ways in which they can copy developed countries: they can copy the system, and they can copy technology and industrialization policies. By copying technology and industrialization policies, they can develop quickly on the economic level. Although this kind of development will lead to wealth and development in a short time, it lays the ground for many problems in the system which will only appear later in development, some of which may become so serious that they threaten the society and political system as a whole. For this reason, Yang hopes that China does not follow the Latin American model of development and neglect to build a fair and open society and become prosperous only for a short while, then fall back to where it started. For this reason, he believes that China must build a fair political system for all Chinese.

Yang argues that since the May Fourth movement in 1919, Chinese have placed too much emphasis on science and democracy, and not enough on freedom and government. He believes that freedom and government, on one level, are more important than science and democracy. He says that only by building a stable, accountable constitutional government can opportunism be limited; only then can the government become fair and can the creativity of the people be unleashed. This, he argues, is the path for China's long-term development, wealth and stability.

Following the events of June 4, 1989, Chinese society has undergone major changes. The country has become much stronger; when it comes to infrastructure development including communications, technology, energy, highways, railways, air travel and urban development, China has already reached, and in some ways surpassed, the level of many developed countries, and the standard of living of many of its citizens has improved. But on another level, the centralization of national resources and investment by the government without a revamp of the system, making it independently accountable, has led to major abuses. This has included government corruption by officials, including land use abuse, corruption on engineering projects, widespread power abuse by officials, a growing wealth gap between rich and poor, and other major social issues. China has become like a huge dragon which has grown fat and has no conscience. This is the natural result of China's current policies.

Faced with the current reality of rapid economic development and moral decline and decadence, many intellectuals have called for a stepped up pace of political reform, building constitutional government, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, thought, religion, press and assembly. Their argument is that this is the only way to put China on the path to democratic and civil society, and make China stable in the long run. This way, Chinese culture and civilization, not just economic development, will serve as a model for the rest of the world.

History has shown that there is no perfect society and civilization. Even in a constitutional democracy, there is corruption, abuse of power, and privatization of public assets for private use. But, in a constitutional democracy, these abuses do not become a part of the system and endanger the whole nation. Eventually, they are uncovered and the system corrects itself. The biggest problem for an authoritarian system is that it becomes part of the system, making public/private graft normal from top to bottom, and making it difficult to uncover because there is no oversight to the system.

Up till now, the western system of constitutional democracy has been the most liberal and open. It has been more effective in curbing power abuse and corruption, and has shared values across all society, without creating different values for different parts of society. So far, no one has been able to come up with a better, more fair political system than constitutional democracy. For this reason, Chinese should learn from it. Since the Chinese inventions of gunpowder, the compass, movable type and civil service exams were all adopted from China, why can't China adapt constitutional democracy?

When former Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang (translator's note: deposed after June 4, 1989 and put under house arrest, and died in 2005) published Prisoner of the State: The Secret Memoirs in Hong Kong, he put forth his thoughts in his later years. In his book, he clearly says: " In the future, there might come a form of government which is better than parliamentary democracy, but that is in the future. So far, now, there is nothing better. It is fair to say that in order for a country to modernize, it must only not practice market economics and develop its culture, it also must introduce parliamentary democracy. Otherwise, its markets cannot develop in a healthy and modern fashion, and it cannot develop into a civil society. Instead, it will become like many developing countries and China, powers will be sold and abused and the society will become decadent, and the gap between rich and poor will become wider."

These are the opinions of former Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang in his later years. His political conclusion is something we should all pay special attention to, as they are what he thought China needs to do to insure its future.

Of course, it would be difficult to introduce western-style democracy into a nation as huge as China, with its large population and history of several thousand years of authoritarian government. In several thousand years of history, there has not been western democracy. In China's more recent history, China tried to westernize and introduce constitutional government during the Republican period. These trials failed completely, pushing China's political development and society even further back, and millions of Chinese died in the process.

The question then becomes how to introduce this system of government while maintaining social stability and prosperity? Finding the answer to this challenge should become the main issue for social scientists. This should make people think: history should not be studied only for history's sake, nor should we only negate history, or use it to mock the present. Instead, we should learn from it and find a way to reform China's society and political system. To do this, we must learn from what has worked in the west, and bring it together with the best parts of Chinese history and culture. This is because any political system which is to succeed in China, must have its roots in China's own history and culture.

For this reason, in this book, I have chosen to compare Chinese and western history and have raised some questions: Why did China only produce an authoritarian form of government in its past, and did not produce pluralistic societies such as ancient Greece and Rome did? How did China's form of authoritarian centralism develop and grow? Why did China produce a leading civilization in the Tang and Song dynasties? How did the west produce constitutional government? How did the authoritarian government in the west during the Middle Ages successfully evolve into pluralistic government? Why did Chinese government fail to evolve from authoritarian to pluralistic government? What were the reasons for its failure?

At the same time, I have re-examined the Western Zhou dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing (the leading Chinese dynasties) and analyzed them, including Shang Yang's legalism and Qin's unification of China. In China's recent history, I have also studied the Opium wars, the 100 days of reform, the introduction of constitutional government, the 1911 Republican revolution, the May Fourth movement, the provincial government reforms of 1921, the constitutional reforms of 1946 and other major events of the past century. At the same time, I have also re-examined traditional Chinese political and social thought.

Because of my own limitations, my own point of view is not necessarily correct. But I believe that this is not most important; the most important thing is that we Chinese strive to understand the truth about our own history in an objective fashion. This will help us to reform our own political system and improve our own quality as a people and help our own culture and civilization to develop in a heathy fashion.

The heart of modern civilization is about how to limit the powers of government, and to protect and guarantee individual rights and freedoms. In the constitution of the United Nations passed on June 26, 1946, "improving fundamental human rights and respect for basic liberties" were one of the basic tasks for the United Nations. On December 10, 1948 the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first sentence says: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world... and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people."

Chinese are members of the human family, and China is a signatory of the constitution of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While the Republic of China government, which ruled China at the time, was responsible for implementing these commitments, Mao Zedong, then chairman of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party declared in October 1945 that Lincoln's principles "Of the people, by the people, for the people, and Roosevelt's four freedoms are basic principles we are committed to meeting. In agreements signed between the Guomindang (Kuomintang) and the Chinese Communist party, the Democratic League, Youth Party and other members of society, in 1945 and 1946, all signatories committed to making China a free, democratic, peaceful and wealthy nation.

The rise and fall of a nation depends on its respect for the rights of the individual, and whether it can make the transition from subjects to citizens. Yan Fu said: "A nation values national integrity, its people value freedom." He believes that a nation's success depends on individual rights. If a nation's citizens do not have freedom of thought and independent character, it is impossible for that nation to take the path of modernization. In his view, this is the essence of what makes a nation a truly great nation, and decides whether its citizens can become true citizens, and not be just subjects.

Some believe that the right to exist is the most basic human right. They argue that now that Chinese have the right to exist, they have the most important and most basic human right. But the right to exist is not unique to humans; pigs, dogs and other animals also have the right to exist. Ants have lives, and they also have the right to exist. To compare these animal rights to exist with human rights is a twisting of the true meaning of human rights, and an insult to humanity. Human rights are unique to the human species, and include freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly, just to name a few. These are the human rights protected by the constitution. In order to protect these rights, there must be an open political system. Without an open political system, there is no point in even discussing protection of human rights.

Today, Taiwan has taken the path to constitutional democracy. China should uphold its promises to its citizens and open up the political system, and transform the system to a constitutional democracy. Constitutional democracy should not be a promise held up in front of the Chinese people; there should be a schedule and a path. Having a plan would uplift the hearts of all Chinese, give them faith in their future, love for their nation, and a goal to focus on. This would be a major step in the development of China into a truly great nation.

Looking to the future, we cannot help but feel unlimited optimism for China. But looking at our past, we cannot help but feel pain and sorrow for all the Chinese who have suffered in the past. The previous mentality where the winner became emperor and the loser a bandit, the endless changes of dynasty, the violent authoritarianism, the corruption caused by a fundamentally flawed system and the uncontrolled power of the rulers all contributed to unlimited suffering. The uncontrolled spread of bureaucrats' powers have become a roadblock for healthy development and the seed for social instability. No matter what kind of political system a country chooses to adopt, in order for it to succeed, it must place constitutional government as a lead priority, and it must limit the power of government and respect individual rights.

A civilized society must solve its problems on a fundamental basis of democracy and rule of law; all must work within this framework. No citizen should be forced to do things which violate their own conscience. If they are, then there is no freedom to speak of. As long as each citizen does not violate the constitution and the law, their rights should be respected. As the philosopher Karl R. Popper said: " Every individual should only sacrifice for that which they choose to sacrifice for. No one should have the right to encourage another to sacrifice for an ideal." This should be a basic principle every civilized society should follow.

Western constitutional government is based on a basic mistrust of the use of power, and how it is used by those in authority. The Bible says that people should only trust in God. Because people cannot be trusted with power, limitations must be put on their power. So western countries created all kinds of ways to limit power and to diversify it. All of this was done to prevent its abuse. These included democratic elections, freedom of the press, multiparty politics, separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, and independent judicial investigating attorney power, trial by jury, putting the military under civilian control and so on. These systems were designed and perfected over several hundred years. Their goal was simple: to protect individual rights from government infringement. While they cannot solve all the problems of a society, they reflect the ideals of a just society, and are key to a nation's success.

In recent years, in order for China to achieve the dream of constitutional democracy, thousands of Chinese have sacrificed their lives, including Tan Hetong and Song Jiaoren. But so far, it has just been a dream, a reflection of the moon on the water, or a flower in the mirror. In 1911, China became the first republic in Asia, and in 1949, another Chinese republic was founded. Both times, all Chinese believed that true democracy had come. In the end, all were disappointed as it became clear that these were just new dynasties. Chinese freedom and democracy were still just dreams.

Why is it so hard for China to achieve democracy? Why is it so hard for Chinese to come close to freedom and democracy? This is a very difficult question. In order to answer this question, many have made contributions, but so far, there have not been clear answers. This book is based on the work of others, and attempts to answer these questions from the political, economic, cultural, religious and ethnic angles. Using analysis, I have attempted to answer these questions and to show a path as to how China may become a civil society. I hope that this book is able to provide it readers with some suggestions and help.

Xiao Jiansheng
August 20, 2009

Chinese History Revisited Book introduction

This website includes English excerpts to the Chinese language book Chinese History Revisited by Xiao Jiansheng. The book was banned in China in late 2006, but was published by New Century Press of Hong Kong.

The banning of the book by Chinese authorities has helped sales of the book in Hong Kong; since its release in September 2009, it has sold more than 16,000 copies, making it a best-seller. Korean language rights have already been sold, and other languages will follow.

Please visit here for a detailed interview with the author.