Abstract
Alexis de Tocqueville never visited China. His writings, however, have been immensely popular in China in the last seven years, and it has been widely reported that some top political leaders read and recommended Tocqueville. The sudden popularity of Tocqueville, particularly his The Ancient Régime and the French Revolution, should be seen as a revelation of the leaders’ lack of vision. While contemporary China is not a democratic country politically, it indeed resembles pre-revolutionary France in many ways, and the most striking similarity is the rise of “collective individualism.” Ironically, such a collective individualism was brought about by the communist rule, which is why in pre-revolutionary France many Chinese see contemporary China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Hua’s wife is Tie Ning, President of the China Writers Association since 2006 and then an alternate member of the CCP’s Central Committee.
- 2.
Twitter has been banned in China since 2009.
- 3.
An apparent abbreviation for Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of both the CCP and China’s central government.
- 4.
Like many other social media platforms, Sina Weibo has been heavily censored with many messages quickly deleted and many accounts shut down. Therefore, the numbers are underestimated to some degree.
- 5.
- 6.
Later, Tocqueville linked individualism to the “passion for material well-being that is in a sense the mother of servitude, an irresolute yet tenacious and unalterable passion, which mixes readily and, as it were, intertwines with any number of private virtues, such as love of family, regular morals, respect for religious beliefs, … which allows for honesty, precludes heroism, and excels in making well-behaved but craven citizens.” See Tocqueville (2011: 109–110).
References
Brogan, H. (2008). Introduction. In A. de Tocqueville, The Ancien Régime and the Revolution. G. Bevan (ed and tr). New York: Penguin, pp. ix–xx.
Chen, S. and Ravallion, M. (2004) How have the world’s poorest fared since the early 1980s? World Bank Research Observer 19(2): 141–169.
Chen Pokong (2013) Wang Qishan weihe tuijian Jiu zhidu yu dageming? (Why Did Wang Qishan recommend The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution?). Radio Free Asia, 30 January https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/chenpokong/chenpokong-01302013164240.html. Retrieved 25 May, 2019.
Chong, M. (2017) Democracy in China: Tocquevillian reflections. Tocqueville Review 38(1): 82–83.
Drescher, S. (1964) Tocqueville’s two democracies. Journal of the History of Ideas 25(2): 201–216.
Drescher, S. (1988) More than America: Comparison and synthesis in Democracy in America. In: A. S. Eisenstadt (ed) Reconsidering Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp.77–93.
Elster, J. (2009) Alexis de Tocqueville, the first social scientist. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fewsmith, J. (2012) De Tocqueville in Beijing. China Leadership Monitor, 39 (http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/CLM39JF.pdf, retrieved 21 October 21, 2019).
Gao Bin (2012) Wang Qishan weishenme tuijian du Jiu zhidu yu dageming (Why Wang Qishan recommended The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution). Jiancha Ribao (Procuratorial Daily), 18 December: p. 5.
Guang, L. (2009) Broadening the debate on xiagang: Policy origins and parallels in history, In: T. B. Gold, W. J. Hurst, J. Won, and Li Qiang (eds) Laid-Off Workers in a Workers’ State: Unemployment with Chinese Characteristics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 15–37.
Huang, C. (2013) Tocqueville’s advice on French revolution captures Chinese leaders’ attention. South China Morning Post, 22 January, p. 1.
Kahan, A. S. (2010) Alexis de Tocqueville. New York: Continuum.
Mélonio, F. and Furet, F. (1998) Introduction. In: A. de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution, vol. 1. F. Furet and F. Mélonio (eds), A. S. Kahan (tr). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1–89.
News of the Communist Party of China (2013) Wang Qishan weihe tuijian Jiu zhidu yu dageming (Why Wang Qishan recommended The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution). Renmin Ribao Haiwaiban (People’s Daily [Overseas Edition]), 18 January, p. 11.
Nisbet, R. (1976–1977) Many Tocquevilles. The American Scholar 46(1): 59–75.
Pei, M. (2006) China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pei, M. (2016) China’s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pierson, G. W. (1938) Tocqueville and Beaumont in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Renmin luntan wenjuan diaocha zhongxin (Survey Center of the People’s Tribune) (2012) Zhongguo gongzhong de pingdeng yu tequan guannian diaocha baogao (2012) (A report on the 2012 survey of the view on equality and privilege of Chinese citizens). Renmin luntan/Xueshu qianyan (Frontiers) (9): 76–85.
Schleifer, J. T. (2012) The Chicago Companion to Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Smith, S. B. (2012) Political Philosophy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Tocqueville, A. de (2011) The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution. J. Elster (ed), A. Goldhammer (tr). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tocqueville, A. de (2012) Democracy in America. E. Nolla (ed), J. T. Schleifer (tr). Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.
Zhang Guangzhao (2013) Wang Qishan weihe tuijian Jiu zhidu yu dageming? (Why did Wang Qishan recommend The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution ?). Renmin ribao haiwai ban (People’s Daily [Overseas Edition]), 18 January: p. 11.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, J. (2020). Collective Individualism and Revolution: Reading Tocqueville in Beijing. In: Boettke, P., Martin, A. (eds) Exploring the Social and Political Economy of Alexis de Tocqueville. Mercatus Studies in Political and Social Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34937-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34937-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34936-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34937-0
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)