1. The first thought emancipation was symbolized by the debate on the “truth criteria” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which set the stage for China's de-Mao-ization and justified Deng's economic reform. The second one took place in 1992 after Deng's southern tour inspection, in which he called for getting rid of the ideological entanglement with “isms” and accelerating the reform.

2. The post-Mao conservative leftism differs from the Maoist radical leftism in that the former aims to preserve traditional socialist institutions while the latter wanted to restructure them in a more revolutionary way.

3. On the ideological battle in the post-Mao era, see Brugger, Bill and Kelly, David, Chinese Marxism in Flux (California: Stanford University Press, 1991)Google Scholar; Chen, Feng, Economic Transition and Political Legitimacy in Post-Mao China: Ideology and Reform (New York: State University of New York Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Sun, Yan, The Chinese Reassessment of Socialism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995)Google Scholar; and White, Gordon, Riding the Tiger: The Politics of Economic Reform in Post-Mao China (California: Stanford University Press, 1994).Google Scholar

4. Andrew Nathan and Tianjian Shi argue that one dimension of China's unofficial ideology in the post-Mao era is the popular grievance against the ongoing change. See their xyd“Left and right with Chinese characteristics,” World Politics, No. 48 (07 1996), pp. 528–29.Google Scholar One point this article tries to make is that the popular grievance has begun to be reflected in the official ideological debate.

5. This point was emphasized by Deng Xiaoping on many occasions. At the CCP's 15th National Congress, Jiang Zemin made the same claim.

6. Gongqin, Xiao, “Zhongqi gaige maodun, weiji yu zhengzhi chongtu de kenengxing” (“Contradictions, crisis, and the possibility of political conflict in the middle phase of the reform”), in Shanghai lilun (Shanghai Theory), No. 1 (1995), p. 67.Google Scholar

7. Xiaoping, Deng, “Zai Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai dengdi de tanhua yaodian” (“The key points of the talk in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shanghai”), Deng Xiaoping wenxuan (Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1993), pp. 372–73.Google Scholar

8. ibid.

9. Wanyanshu appeared in some overseas Chinese publications immediately after their underground circulation in Beijing. Part of their contents were revealed in China in 1998 by Licheng, Ma and Zhijun, Ling's Jiaofeng (Confrontation) (Beijing: Jinri Zhongguo chubanshe, 1998).Google Scholar See n. 47. The versions of wanyanshu this article analyses come from Ziliu, Shi (ed.), Beijing dixia wanyanshu (The Ten-thousand-word and Other Underground Writings in Beijing) (Hong Kong: Minjing chubanshe, 1997).Google Scholar

10. Ziliu, Shi, The Ten-thousand-word, p. 10.Google Scholar

11. Yaihou zhoukan (Asian Weekly), 10–16 06 1997, p. 47.Google Scholar

12. See Deng Xiaoping wenxuan, p. 302.Google Scholar

13. Quite a few anti-reform anieles appeared in major official newspapers in Beijing, with such titles as “Using Four Cardinal Principles to regulate the reform and openness,” “On pluralist views of bourgeois liberalism,” “Who says that socialism cannot be clearly defined?” etc. See Licheng, Ma and Zhijun, Ling, Confrontation, pp. 160–63.Google Scholar

14. Jianguo, Wu, “Dangqian gaige zhi wo jian” (“My views on the current reform”), Zhenli dezhuiqiu, No. 8 (1991).Google Scholar

15. Zhonghua, Chen, “Chongti xing ‘zi’ yu xing ‘she’” (“Rementioning whether the reform was capitalist or socialist”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu. No. 8 (1991).Google Scholar

16. Si, Qing, “Wen yi wen xing zi haishi xing she” (“Asking whether it is capitalism or socialism”) Zhenli de zhuiqiu. No. 11 (1991).Google Scholar

17. Xin, He, Wei Zhongguo bianhu (In Defence of China) (Shangdong: Shangdong chubanshe, 1996), pp. 46, 68, 72, 325.Google Scholar

18. See Xin, He, “Lun dangdai zibenzhuyi”.Google Scholar (“On contemporary capitalism”). This was a speech He made in 1991, published in Zhenli de zhuiqiu in 06 1997Google Scholar, and apparently used as ammunition in the leftist attack on the reform.

19. Ibid. p. 132.

20. For an analysis of neo-conservatism in the 1990s, see Chen, Feng, “Order and stability in social transition: the neoconscrvative political thought in post-1989 China,” The China Quarterly, No. 151 (1997), pp. 593–613.Google Scholar

21. Deng Xiaoping wenxuan, p. 375.Google Scholar

22. Ping, Li (ed.), Jiedong de niandai (The Years of Thaw) (Beijing: Jingji ribao chubanshe, 1997), p. 376.Google Scholar

23. Yifeng, Wu, “Sheme shi siyouhua” (“What is privatization”), Dangdai sichao (Contemporary Currents of Thought), No. 2 (1996).Google Scholar

24. Youwei, Li, “Guanyu suoyouzhi ruogan wenti de sikao”Google Scholar (“Reflections on some issues on the ownership system”), in Ziliu, Shi, The ten-thousand-word, pp. 176, 183.Google Scholar

25. Ibid. p. 172.

26. Dao, Min, “Jianxi ‘zibenzhuyi yiqian de shehuizhuyi’” (“A brief analysis of ‘socialism prior to capitalism’”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu, No. 6 (1997), pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

27. Xing, Tong, “Wo guo ping-fu chaju zhongzhong biaoxian” (“Various manifestations of the gap between the rich and the poor in our country”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu, No. 2 (1996), pp. 22–23.Google Scholar

28. Cheng, Yi, “Siying jingji wenti ruogan ziliao” (“Some data on the issues on the private economy”), Dangdai sichao, No. 2 (1996), p. 20.Google Scholar

29. Guangchun, Zhou, “Waishang jiajin qiangzhan wo guo shichang” (“Foreign businesses are speeding up to take over the market of our country”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu, No. 2 (1996), pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

30. Licheng, Ma and Zhijun, Ling, Confrontation, pp. 268–273.Google Scholar

31. This was Jiang Zemin's summary of Deng's ideas in his political report to the 15th National Party Congress.

32. In his inspection tour in 1992 Deng claimed that planning and market were not essential to distinguish socialism and capitalism. They were only certain economic means that could be practised by both socialist and capitalist systems. Deng Xiaoping wenxuan, p. 373.Google Scholar

33. Berger, Peter and Luckman, Thomas, The Social Construction of Reality (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966), p. 17.Google Scholar

34. This is an excerpt of Jiang's speech on 3 March 1996 to the Party's leading cadres participating in both the National People's Congress and the Political Consultive Conference.

35. See, for example, wanyanshu no. 3, Ziliu, Shi, The Ten-thousand-word, p. 165.Google Scholar

36. Hao, Zhou, “Zhengzhi de hexin – zhengzhi fangxiang he zhengzhi lichang” (“The core of politics – political direction and political position”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu, No. 3 (1996), p. 11.Google Scholar

37. Xing, Mei, “Jingji gongzuo yao jiang zhengzhi” (“Economic work must heed politics”), Zhenli de zhuiqiu. No. 3 (1996), pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

38. However, while there was no official response to the first wanyanshu, an individual took up the challenge and lauched a counter-attack on his own. In March 1997, Fan Liqin, who used to serve as a board member of the national association of disabled people led by Deng Pufang, the son of Deng Xiaoping, presented a 5,000-word counter-criticism article to the National People's Congress and Political Consultive Conference. Entitled “Reforms and openness cannot be shaken – comments on Deng Liqun's wanyanshu,” Fan's article was directly targeted at Deng Liqun. But it was far from a powerful counter-criticism, due to its poor organization, unclear logic, and worse, bad style (e.g., it was full of personal attacks, satires and even invectives).

39. However, according to some reports, Jiang's original speech was much longer than the one appearing in the newspapers. It was rumoured that some issues Jiang talked about were not made public. For example, he re-emphasized Deng's call for the prevention of leftism in his 1992 tour. In regard to the reform of SOEs, Jiang pointed out that public ownership did not equal state ownership. He proposed measures for furthering the reform of SOEs, including multiplying the forms of public ownership and reducing the scope of state economy. Kaifang (Openness), No. 129 (09 1997), p. 27.Google Scholar

40. Remin ribao (People's Daily), 30 05 1997.Google Scholar

41. Xin is the chief editor of Qiushi, the official periodical of the CCP, and the vice-president of the Central Party School.

42. Zhongguo jingji shibao, 29 07 1997.Google Scholar

43. Zhongguo jingji shibao, 5 08 1997.Google Scholar

44. Zhongguo jingji shibao, 12 08 1997.Google Scholar

45. Ping, Li, The Years of Thaw, pp. 309–324.Google Scholar

46. Ibid. pp. 360–67.

47. It is not until March 1998 that the wanyanshu incident was mentioned for the first time in an open publication – in Licheng, Ma and Zhijun, Ling, ConfrontationGoogle Scholar, which, strongly “anti-leftist,” narrates the major ideological debates since 1978. But it is reported that the Central Propaganda Department criticized its mention of this incident without an official permission.

48. Minbao, 4 09 1997.Google Scholar

49. For this subject, see Joseph, William, The Critique of Ultra-leftism in China, 1958–1982 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984).Google Scholar

50. A friend of mine working for the media in Shanghai once said to me that nowadays the Party no longer wanted people, especially workers, to learn Marxist political economy, which might turn out to be a weapon to criticize the economic reform. There is also evidence that many workers tend to criticize the reform from the perspective of traditional socialism. See Lee, Ching Kwan, “The labor politics of market socialism,” Modern China, Vol. 24, No. 1 (01 1998), pp. 3–33.Google Scholar

51. Gongqin, Xiao, “Contradictions, crisis, and the possibility of political conflict,” p. 67.Google Scholar

52. Fan, Yang, “Shengzhou xinxing sichao poxi” (“An analysis of the currents of new thought in China”), Minbao yuekan (Minbao Monthly), No. 1 (1996), p. 27.Google Scholar

53. Ibid.