Zhu Xueqin (born 1952) is a

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

-based

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

historian and public

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

. He is a major exponent of contemporary

Chinese liberalism Liberalism in China is a development from classical liberalism as it was introduced into China during the Republican period and, later, reintroduced after the end of the Cultural Revolution. History Republic of China During the Republican per ...

Background

Born in Shanghai, Zhu was shaped in his eventual outlook by China's

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, when he was sent to rural

Lankao Lankao County () is a county of Kaifeng, Henan, China. It has an area of and a population of 760,000. It was the site of the Battle of Lanfeng during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Administrative divisions As 2012, this county is divided to 5 to ...

County,

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

as a "

sent-down youth The sent-down, rusticated, or "educated" youth (), also known as the ''zhiqing'', were the young people who—beginning in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, willingly or under coercion—left the urban districts of the ...

" in 1970. In 1972, he was transferred to

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

work. After earning an MA in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

in 1985 from

Shaanxi Normal University Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU) () is a university in Xi'an, China. It was included in the 211 Project in 2006 and started its high-speed development. It is a Chinese state Double First Class University Plan university, identified by the Min ...

, from 1985 to 1991 Zhu taught in the Air Force Politics Institute. In 1992, he graduated from

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

with a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in history. Since 1991, he has been a Professor in the Department of History, Academy of Letters,

Shanghai University Shanghai University, commonly referred to as SHU, or colloquially Shangda (), is a public research university located in Shanghai. The 555-acre main Baoshan campus is situated in the north of Shanghai, and there are two other campuses in Jiadi ...

. He wrote an article entitled "1998: The Discourse of Liberalism," which spoke of a "resurfacing" of liberal thought and was published in the widely circulated ''

Southern Weekly ''Southern Weekly'' (literally ''Southern Weekend;'' ), is a Chinese weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, and is a sister publication of the newspaper ''Nanfang Daily''. History and profile ''Southern Weekly'', founded in 1984, has its head ...

''. He has participated in many public activities, such as circular letter campaigns, in support of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, and political reform. An interview with him entitled "For a Chinese Liberalism" is published in the book

One China, Many Paths ''One China, Many Paths'', edited by Chaohua Wang. A collection of essays by Chinese thinkers, reflecting the new thinking that developed in the 1990s. Both Chinese liberal and Chinese New Left The Chinese New Left () is a term used in th ...

Bibliography

* *''Zhongguoyu ouzhou wenhua jiaoliu zhi'' nnals of Sino-European Cultural Exchange(中国与欧洲文化交流志) *

Background

Bibliography

References

See also