He's Imagery

Like people always ask himself "who I am, Where I come from, Where to go", the discussion on the present and future of socialism with Chinese characteristics includes considering what it is, how does it come into being and its future. This dissertation choose a bystander vision of "Western", and use John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jurgen Habermas as major research subjects, try to understand the evolution of China’s image of these Western scholars, as well as the Chinese way of development in the last century by summarizing their views of China in different periods of development and analyzing the impacts on Chinese intellectual.There are two main lines in this dissertation, the time line according to the visiting of Dewey, Russell, Sartre and Habermas, the logic line according to the development of Chinese road in the last century, including the intellectual’s exploration in May Forth Period, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the exploration of modernization after the reform and the opening up and the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.With the changes and developments in the East and the West, the changing Western View about China always difficult to present a complete image of China, showed a different tendency influenced by the observer’s own background. Dewey, Russell, Sartre and Habermas also viewed and understood China from different ways. Dewey understood Chinese culture through the comparison of Eastern and Western civilization. His advices of seeking a society of common life received little attention because of divorcing from the actual conditions in China. Russell’s view of China also came from a cultural perspective, he thought Eastern and Western cultures should supply each other’s needs. Russell suggested that China should take the Russian road to achieve industrialization and realize social transformation by the way between capitalism and socialism. Sartre formed a view of China in comparing with the Soviet Union, he thought that China had been formed Marxism with Chinese characteristics. But due to various factors, Sartre’s understanding of PRC was optimism. Habermas’s view of China based on the differences in Eastern and Western culture, emphasized the discussion and consensus between the East and the West.The influence of Western thinkers and theories on Chinese intellectuals and the road of development are fit with the development of China for centuries. This dissertation studied the influence of Western thinkers and theories by discussing "the dispute over Problems and-ism", the debate on socialism, discussion on humanitarian and the values of life, as well as the disputation on "China model" which were related to Dewey, Russell, Sartre and Habermas. In "the dispute over Problems and-ism", Hu Shi localized Dewey’s pragmatism, which had an influence on China, it promoted the early Chinese Marxist to combinate Marxism with China’s reality, pointed out the direction for the China road. Intellectuals has given a great attention to Russell’s theories of social transformation and magnified it in the communications. Therefore, when Russell recommended China to develop industry by following the Russian road without the implementation of National Socialism, the intellectual began a discussion of socialism and capitalism to find a suitable way for China. Sartre’s visit to China did not have a significant impact at that time, but his thought played a significant role in the discussion on humanitarian and the values of life during the1980s, which showed the awaken of the "individual" and the development of ideological liberation and Marxism research in China. As the spreading of Habermas’s thought and deepening of the study, it showed a influence on multi-field, interdisciplinary and localization features, which in accordance with the themes reflects by the modernization of political and public domain. The impacts of these characteristics throughout the reform of China. Analyzing the Chinese unique road and the "consensus" with the world by Habermas’s thought of self-reflection and critical spirit, we can understand the controversy about "China model" in the21st century from a new perspective.Overview the dissertation, the changes of Western view of China include the development of China road and Western thinker’s rethink of their civilization. Early Chinese Marxists choose Marxism-Leninism and the Russian road in order to achieve salvation and enlightenment. When Dewey and Russell came to China with their dream of revitalization of the Western civilization, they hoped Chinese culture could learn scientific from Western and the Western needed to make up the lack of philosophy of life. They agreed that China needed "change", but they believed that the direction of the China road was not necessarily the western one, although the two were in the same the process of modernization, China could make use of the advantage, summed up the lessons of the West, tried its own way of development. After the World War Ⅱ, Sartre came to China with his own socialist dream, he saw a socialism country which background was different from Soviet Union and faced contradictory challenges. He observed that China road was a unique, sinicized Marxism road. Since the reform and opening up, the Chinese fund a development road through hard work, initiative innovation and bold practice. When Habermas came to China with his dream of establishing a worldwide discourse of the "Cultural Interaction", he saw common concern in the East-West issues, such as human rights and modernization reflected in the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.In the communication between the East and West, the two main lines’ junction means the intertwining between the rethink of China’s development by the Chinese and the rethink of Western civilization and modernization by the West. In the intertwining, after centuries of exploration, the China road has developed an uniqued socialism way with Chinese characteristics, which is different from the West and the Soviet Union.