Asian Studies 331CS - Chinese Socialism/20th Cent.

During the last two decades, China has emerged as a world superpower, transforming her image from a poverty-stricken communist country. The Communist Party itself has led the nation's development of a capitalist economy, in contradiction to its official ideology. How can we understand this historical irony? Was Chinese communism, together with world Marxism, defeated by capitalism? What can China's experience with socialism tell us today? To answer these questions, this course will explore various versions of Chinese socialism--anarchism, social democracy as well as Marxism--from the late Qing period to the present.