With underlying fidelity to primary sources, Adrian Chan has produced an original account of the evolution of Marxism in China. This controversial and extraordinary analysis confronts the traditional scholarship of the West, which is still overshadowed by the Cold War, and of China, which is burdened by party orthodox. It posits a tension between the proponents of the Marxism and the Scientific Marxist-Leninist versions of Communism, and it challenges the received view that Chinese Communism was a pale Soviet model contaminated by traditional Chinese ideas.

Table of Contents

A Marxian message to the pre-industrialized societies; social and economic conditions in China; road to Marxism; Chinese Marxism through the Cold War prism; the first fruits 1 - the removal of delusive prejudices; the first fruits 2 - towards a Marxian cultural theory; Mao Zedong's thought; Chinese Marxism in action -two case studies; the thermidorean reaction - a crisis of legitimacy.

Author Biography

Adrian Chan is Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.