Hsiao Early Political Thought

Hsiao Kung-ch'uan (1897-1981) is an important scholar and political commentator in 20th century China. While past scholars focused on his academic studies, his political thoughts have gained more attention during the past few years. This article attempts to discuss the characteristics of his early political thoughts on freedom, democracy and state using his doctoral dissertation Political Pluralism written in America as the primary source and put his political thoughts during this period in the context of the main trends of political thoughts in early 1920s of China. Based on the analysis, this article also pays attention to the impacts of his early political thoughts as expressed in Political Pluralism on his later ideas and the uniqueness of his political thoughts.