''Dushu'' (, ''Reading'' in Chinese) is a monthly Chinese literary magazine which has great influence on Chinese intellectuals.
It is based in
Beijing
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
.
History
The journal was first published in April 1979 with its lead article entitled "No Forbidden Zone in Reading." The first editor came from the
Commercial Press
The Commercial Press () is the first modern publishing organisation in China.
History
In 1897, 26-year-old Xia Ruifang and three of his friends (including the Bao brothers Bao Xian'en and Bao Xianchang) founded The Commercial Press in Shang ...
in Beijing, before moving into the hands of
Fan Yong of
Sanlian Press the next year. Sanlian was also the press which published the periodical. Articles introduced many ideas from
modern Western philosophy (e.g. Nietzsche, Heidegger, Cassirer, Marcuse, Sartre, and Freud) as well as
post-colonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
theories such as
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
. Circulation rose from 50,000 to 80,000 in the first five or six years.
However, during these early years until as late as 1988, there was much secrecy around who edited ''Dushu'' aside from it being established by a number of "publishers."
In 1996,
Wang Hui and
Huang Ping became executive editors. The magazine has tended to raise issues not previously discussed and carries a wide range of political opinions, including the views of
Chinese liberals, the
Chinese New Left
The Chinese New Left () is a term used in the People's Republic of China to describe a diverse range of left-wing political philosophies that emerged in the 1990s that are critical of the economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping, which ...
,
and generally anti-
neoliberal views.
[Chris Bramall (2008): Reversing the Verdict on Maoism? ''Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics'' 24:4, pp. 657-667 (review of ''The Battle for China’s Past'' by ]Gao Mobo Gao Mobo (chin. 高默波, also: Mobo C. F. Gao, born 1952 as ''Gao Changfan'' 高常范 in Gao village, Jiangxi, China) is a Chinese-Australian professor of Chinese studies.
Biography
Mobo Gao was born as the son of peasants in a village in Jiang ...
and ''Mao: The Unknown Story'' by Chang Jung and Jon Halliday
Jon Halliday (born 28 June 1939) is an Irish historian specialising in modern Asia. He was formerly a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London. He was educated at University of Oxford and has been married to Jung Chang since 199 ...
), here p. 657. In 2007, the CCP propaganda department ordered the publisher to dismiss Wang and Huang, a decision that weakened the New Left in China.
References
1979 establishments in China
Chinese intellectual publications
Chinese-language magazines
Chinese New Left
Literary magazines published in China
Magazines established in 1979
Magazines published in Beijing
Monthly magazines published in China
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