Democracy, the Rule of Law, and Human Rights in Beijing´s Unofficial Journals, 1978-1979

Abstract

During China's "Peking Spring" (1978-1979), a number of 'unofficial' magazines and journals appeared in the capital articulating a range of views on the role of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in China. The journals can be analysed in terms of the position they took on these issues. In addition, the most radical journals refused to support, or even attacked, the official ideology, the primacy of the party, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the notion that China ought to be a socialist country. The radical journals extended the criticism of the Cultural Revolution decade (1966-1976) to the entire 30 years of party rule, in the end questioning the legitimacy of the post-Mao regime. The views expressed by the journals on these issues, therefore, explain why some of the journals were singled out for special handling and ultimate suppression by authorities in Beijing.