Wang Hui, one of China's preeminent intellectuals, makes an impassioned critique of China's much heralded post-Mao economic reforms, which he condemns for causing economic inequalities, social polarization, and political corruption. The essays in China's New Order convey the sense of moral concern and historic perspective of Wang Hui's literati ancestors, at the same time that they reveal the variety and complexity of China's present-day intellectual and political debates.
Merle Goldman
Wang Hui, one of China's preeminent intellectuals, makes an impassioned critique of China's much heralded post-Mao economic reforms, which he condemns for causing economic inequalities, social polarization, and political corruption. The essays in China's New Order convey the sense of moral concern and historic perspective of Wang Hui's literati ancestors, at the same time that they reveal the variety and complexity of China's present-day intellectual and political debates.
— Merle Goldman, Boston University
William C. Kirby
This is an incisive, brilliant, always challenging analysis of China's intellectual landscape in the 1990s with the asserted triumph of "neo-liberalism" in the political economy over the reformist social movement of the late 1980s that culminated in Tiananmen. The discussion of the 1989 movement (and indeed later developments in economics and politics) in a global context is compelling and, at this level of analysis, unique among studies on the events of that difficult year. The analysis of debates of the '90s shows (at least to my mind) how problematic has been any effort to re-think, from the bottom up, the intellectual foundations of the modern Chinese state and indeed of "modernity" itself in China.
— William C. Kirby, Harvard University
Tim Cheek
The contents of this book are intelligent and significant. Brought together they will make available to English readers a substantial selection of one of China's most influential public scholars today. Wang Hui is very important in contemporary Chinese intellectual life both for his numerous (and controversial) writings but also for his role as an editor of Dushu ['Reading'], China's most popular general intellectual journal.
— Tim Cheek, University of British Columbia
Tim Brook
This is the most radical, tough-minded, and sustained analysis of 1989 and all that has followed that I have read. The punchy prose style gives the book an urgent, even strident, edge that makes it a pleasure to read. You feel yourself in the presence of a strong mind, as well as someone who cares deeply about the issues at stake here - issues of social inequality, social injustice, and a hegemonic world order committed to perpetuating both.
— Tim Brook, University of Toronto
