liberal theory
comparative political theory
China's experience with liberalism (in Chinese, zi you zhu yi), understood broadly as a doctrine valuing individual autonomy, personal freedom, and limited government, began over a century ago when Chinese intellectuals identified these values as central to securing the “wealth and power” that enabled Western nations to dominate China militarily and intellectually. Often in tension with ruling ideology—first with the Confucian-dominated values of the imperial state and then with Maoist Communism—liberalism on the Chinese mainland remains primarily an intellectual preoccupation rather than an organizational principle for mainstream politics. [Source: Encyclopedia of Political Theory; Chinese Liberalism]
Chinese liberalism
concepts