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THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHINESE SOCIALISM. By Lin Chun. Durham (NC) and London (UK): Duke University Press, 2006, xi, 370 pp. US$23.95, paper. ISBN 0-8223-3798-3.
The debate over the true meaning of the Chinese people's socialist revolution has been lost by default in recent years when it has been too easily concluded-both within as well as outside of China-that it was neither popular nor socialist.
The conventional wisdom is challenged in this important and thoughtprovoking study. China, Lin Chun argues, not only tried to develop a unique alternative to both the Western and Stalinist models of development, but in spite of joining a globalized world, it still seeks an alternative to capitalism.
Even after Mao's death, "reform" still meant realizing the socialist cause and there was a degree of political as well as economic liberalization. The 1978 Democracy Wall movement marked a brief but crucial coincidence of popular and party voices: but the fear of turmoil...