Resisting modernity in contemporary China - The cultural revolution and postmodernism

Ever since the 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' began in 1966, its specter has haunted the field of cultural and political theories in both China and the West. First, in the heat of the revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, China figured in the West as a model for popular revolt, counterculture, and universal liberation. Seen as an ambitious endeavor to resist and transcend capitalism, the Cultural Revolution inspired various emerging Western theories in their critique of modern institutions and the legacy of European Enlightenment. A critical investigation of postmodernism's 'Chinese connection' is, therefore, long overdue. Central to this much-needed critique are two closely related questions. First, why does the Cultural Revolution, which most Chinese experienced as a horrifying nightmare, remain so appealing to some leading proponents of critical theory in the West? Second, given the complicated relationship of postmodernism with recent Chinese history, what political consequences might postmodernism entail for post-Cultural Revolution China? My analysis of these questions focuses on the postmodernist position in the ongoing debate over the relevance of Enlightenment modernity in contemporary China, a debate that was initiated by May Fourth intellectuals in 1919, then effectively silenced in 1957 and through the Cultural Revolution, and only recently reopened.