The Studies Of Chinese Liberal Intellectuals' Political Attitudes

Following the victory of anti-Japanese war, Chinese liberal intellectuals held high political enthusiasm. Most of them, apart from participation in the political activities and party organization, chose to discuss politics in newspapers and periodicals so as to contribute to the country with their speech and writing, which became the important means to display their talents and practice their ideals. Guancha(The Observer) was the famous periodical about current politics at the time, which not only provided the position for the intellectuals, but also became a symbol of "liberalism".This dissertation is the case study of Guancha(The Observer), which explores the historical development of Chinese liberal intellectuals'political attitudes after anti-Japanese war, and expounds their mental development in gradually correcting their political ideas.The dissertation consists of seven chapters.The first chapter is the basic knowledge of the periodical Guancha (the Observer). Through the introduction of its background, columns, the aim and the writers, the chapter reveals that the success of the periodical provides significant references for the studies of the social situations and cultural characters of the liberal intellectuals in China in 1940s.The second chapter is about the evolution of the liberal intellectuals'attitudes towards Guomindang. After the anti-Japanese war, the liberal intellectuals had entrusted their wish of achieving political democracy to the Guomingdang government. However, with the development of the domestic situation, their attitudes towards Guomingdang had been changing from being hopeful and trusting to being dissatisfied yet still fancying, to criticizing, and to being desperate and abhorring. Eventually they had to acknowledge that it was a total failure to depend on Guomindang to achieve democracy.The third chapter is about the evolution of the liberal intellectuals'attitudes towards the Communist Party. After the full-scale civil war broke out, especially with the failure of the coalition government's propositions and the expansion of the civil war, and the transformation of the power between Guomingdang and the Communist Party, the liberal intellectuals, based on their ideas on the nationalism and liberalism, changed their attitudes towards the Communist Party from criticizing to understanding and sympathizing, and finally to uniting and cooperating with it, which reflects the fact that they had corrected their political ideas and chose the Communist party eventually.The fourth chapter is about the liberal intellectuals' attitudes towards the students' movements. The students'movements all over the country after the anti-Japanese war had been attracting their attention. They analyzed the cause of the movements objectively, and clarified their attitudes. Seeing so deeply the historical significance of the students' movements, they strongly appealed to the government to reflect on the government's errors and make true and necessary efforts. This partially reflects the democratic movement and the mental state of the liberal intellectuals in late 1940s.The fifth chapter is about the liberal intellectuals'attitudes towards United States of America. After the anti-Japanese war, the liberal intellectuals had been wishing that China could become a nation which was as modern and strong as the United States. However, a series of American policies towards China transformed them from being the pro-American group to the anti-American one, from which the diplomatic policies they advocated can be analyzed.The sixth chapter is about the liberal intellectuals'reflections on China's economic development. The economic foundation determines the superstructure; therefore, the economical development model determines the direction of the Chinese political path. The liberal intellectuals analyzed the economic situation in after-war China objectively and rationally proposed the essential approaches to the solution of the problems and drew the blueprint of social democratic economy and the new capitalist economy for future China's economy.The seventh chapter is about the liberal intellectuals'fates. The Guancha opened up the discussion about "liberalism", its features, its functions and its prospects, which resulted in two attitudes towards the fate of the liberal intellectuals---the optimistic one and pessimistic one.In Conclusion, after the anti-Japanese war, the liberal intellectuals made their attempts to establish democratic politics and free economy. Although they failed to attain their goals, their independent exploration, their understanding and quest for democracy, freedom, rationality and advancement deserve our respect and full recognition.