Culture and Social Transformations in Reform Era China

In the face of rapid and radical social changes since the late 1970s, contemporary China faces tremendous challenges. What is China transforming toward? What are the ideological positions and, more generally, cultural values that inform, question, and demand critical assessment of the social transformations in the reform era? This collection of essays aims at addressing these questions. Written by some of the leading intellectuals and thinkers in and outside of contemporary China, the essays, in different ways, examine the extent to which three major cultural resources, namely traditional, May Fourth, and socialist, have been (re)interpreted, (re)appropriated, and mobilized to address the challenges brought about by the changed and changing social and economic conditions of the reform era.

Cao Tian Yu, Ph.D. (1987) in Philosophy, University of Cambridge, teaches philosophy at Boston University, with special interests in philosophical issues related to modernity and globalization. His publications include The Chinese Model of Modern Development (Routledge, 2005).
Zhong Xueping, Ph.D. (1993) in Comparative Literature, University of lowa, is Associate Professor of Chinese Literature and Culture at Tufts University. She has written on contemporary Chinese literature, film, television drama, and other related issues including Mainstream Culture Refocused (University of Hawaii Press, 2010)
Liao Kebin, Ph.D. (1989) in Classical Chinese Literature, Hangzhou University, is Professor of Classical Chinese Literature at Peking University. He has published extensively, including monographs and articles, on Ming Dynasty literature, classical novel, and drama.