# Wang Shaoguang

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Chinese political scientist

In this [Chinese name](/source/Chinese_name), the [family name](/source/Chinese_surname) is *[Wang](/source/Wang_(surname)) (王)*.

Professor Wang Shaoguang 王绍光 Wang Shaoguang in a 2013 UN University interview Born (1954-01-31) 31 January 1954 (age 72) Wuhan, Hubei, China Academic background Education Peking University (LL.B., 1982) Cornell University (Ph.D., 1990) Thesis Failure of Charisma: The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan Influences Carl Schmitt[1] Academic work Discipline Political science School or tradition Chinese New Left Institutions Yale University (1990–2000) Chinese University of Hong Kong (1999–present)

Movements in contemporary Chinese political thought Cultural conservatism Chen Ming [zh] Daniel A. Bell Gan Yang Jiang Qing Kang Xiaoguang [zh] Liu Xiaofeng Tang Chun-i Tu Weiming Yan Xuetong Yao Zhongqiu Yu Ying-shih Liberalism Ai Weiwei Bao Zunxin Bo Yang Du Daozheng Fang Fang Fang Lizhi Gao Shangquan Gu Su He Weifang Hu Jiwei Hu Shuli Jin Guantao Li Honglin Li Rui Li Shenzhi Li Yinhe Li Zehou Liu Binyan Liu Xiaobo Mao Yushi Qin Benli Qin Hui Wang Ruoshui Wang Ruowang Wang Yuanhua Wu Jinglian Xu Jilin Xu Youyu Yan Jiaqi Zhang Qianfan Zhang Weiying Zhu Houze Zhu Xueqin Neoauthoritarianism Bao Tong Chen Yizi Chen Yuan Dai Qing Li Zehou Liu Zaifu Wang Huning Wu Jiaxiang Xiao Gongqin Yang Baikui Zhao Ziyang Zhang Bingjiu [zh] Zheng Yongnian Debateable: Hu Yaobang, Hu Qili, Rong Yiren, Wang Zhengwei, Wen Jiabao, Zhu Rongji and Zhou Xiaochuan Neo-nationalism He Xin [zh] Hu Xijin Jiang Shigong Jin Canrong Eric X. Li Shen Yi [zh] Wang Xiaodong [zh] Zhang Weiwei Zhang Wenmu New Left Bo Xilai Cui Zhiyuan Dai Jinhua Deng Liqun Gan Yang Gao Mobo Hu Angang Kong Qingdong Larry Hsien Ping Lang Li Minqi Sima Nan Sun Zhengcai Wang Hui Wang Lijun Wang Shaoguang Qiu Zhanxuan Yue Xin Zhou Yongkang Socialism with Chinese characteristics Bagatur Bayanqolu Buhe Cai Qi Chen Derong Chen Huanyou Chen Jinhua Chen Kuiyuan Chen Liangyu Chen Min'er Chen Xi Chen Xitong Chen Yun Chen Zhili Deng Liqun Deng Xiaoping Deng Yingchao Gao Di Geng Biao Gu Hailiang He Lifeng He Yiting Hu Jintao Hu Chunhua Hu Qiaomu Huang Ju Huang Kunming Huang Xingguo Huo Shilian Ji Lin Jia Qinglin Jia Ting'an Jiang Zemin Leng Rong Li Keqiang Li Peng Li Qiang Li Shulei Li Xi Li Xiannian Li Xuai Li Yuanchao Li Zhanshu Liang Lingguang Lin Huiyong Liu He Liu Jinguo Liu Shuiyuan Liu Tianfu Liu Yandong Liu Yazhou Liu Yunshan Luo Wen Lou Yangsheng Ma Xingrui Pan Yue Peng Zhen Qiao Shi Song Ping Shu Guozeng Sun Chunlan Sun Liancheng Wan Li Wang Qishan Wang Weiguang Wang Weizhong Wang Xiaohong Wang Xuezhen Wang Yang (politician) Wang Yang (Liaoning politician) Wang Zuo'an Wu Bangguo Wu Shuqing Xi Jinping Xi Yuanping Xi Zhongxun Xia Baolong Xie Fei Xie Fuzhan Xu Kuangdi Ye Xiaowen Ye Xuanping Yi Gang Ying Yong Yu Guangyuan Yu Qiuli Yu Weiguo Yu Yunyao Zhao Leji Zeng Qinghong Zheng Bijian Zhou Qiang Zhong Shaojun Zhu Mingguo Politics of China v t e

**Wang Shaoguang** (born 31 January 1954;[2] [Chinese](/source/Simplified_Chinese_characters): 王绍光; [pinyin](/source/Pinyin): *Wáng Shàoguāng*) is a Chinese political scientist. He is currently an emeritus professor at the Department of Government and Public Administration of the [Chinese University of Hong Kong](/source/Chinese_University_of_Hong_Kong). A critic of Western [representative democracy](/source/Representative_democracy), his particular research interests include the history of the [Cultural Revolution](/source/Cultural_Revolution), [sortition](/source/Sortition), the [welfare state](/source/Welfare_state), and the [comparative politics](/source/Comparative_politics) of East Asia.[3] He advocates for the [China model](/source/China_model).[4]

## Life

Born in [Wuhan](/source/Wuhan), [Hubei](/source/Hubei), Wang worked as a high school teacher in Wuhan from 1972 to 1977. He then studied at [Peking University](/source/Peking_University), graduating in 1982, and moved to [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) in the U.S., where he received a doctorate in 1990. He taught at [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) from 1990 to 2000 before moving to the [Chinese University of Hong Kong](/source/Chinese_University_of_Hong_Kong), where he became a professor at the Department of Government and Public Administration.[3] In 1993, Wang co-authored the "Wang Shaoguang Proposal" with economist [Hu Angang](/source/Hu_Angang), a public policy report that argued that the taxation reforms of [Deng Xiaoping](/source/Deng_Xiaoping) had weakened the Chinese state, and advocated fiscal centralisation in response.[5]

## Views

Wang is a leading member of the [Chinese New Left](/source/Chinese_New_Left).[6][7]

He is a critic of Western [representative democracy](/source/Representative_democracy), which he believes has failed and degenerated into "[electocracy](/source/Electocracy)",[8] and more generally of the focus on competitive [elections](/source/Election) as part of political reform. Wang argues that the view of democracy as primarily *electoral* democracy only became accepted in the postwar period, owing mainly to the work of [Joseph Schumpeter](/source/Joseph_Schumpeter) and his book *[Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy](/source/Capitalism%2C_Socialism_and_Democracy)*. Instead, he states, the "people should be involved in the whole process of decision-making, not only in choosing the decision-maker *per se*".[9]

He also distinguishes [accountability](/source/Accountability) from [responsibility](/source/Social_responsibility) and political responsiveness, holding that genuine democracy must combine all three:[8] "democratic" governments are often accountable in that they may be removed in competitive elections, Wang posits, but they are still not responsive to popular needs and demands.[9]

## Works

- *Failure of Charisma: The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan*. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1995. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0195859502](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0195859502).

- [*The Political Economy of Uneven Development: The Case of China*](https://books.google.com/books?id=EBP6RSgfXMwC). Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. 1999. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780765602039](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780765602039), with [Hu Angang](/source/Hu_Angang).

- [*The Chinese Economy in Crisis: State Capacity and Tax Reform*](https://books.google.com/books?id=vLHYxmCiC3AC). Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. 2001. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780765607652](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780765607652), with [Hu Angang](/source/Hu_Angang).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Sapio_1-0)** Sapio, Flora (7 October 2015). ["Carl Schmitt in China"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190729151001/https://www.thechinastory.org/2015/10/carl-schmitt-in-china/). *The China Story*. Archived from [the original](https://www.thechinastory.org/2015/10/carl-schmitt-in-china/) on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Date information sourced from [Library of Congress Authorities](/source/Library_of_Congress_Authorities) data, via corresponding [Library of Congress Linked Data Service](/source/Library_of_Congress_Linked_Data_Service): [linked authority record n94075929](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n94075929).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CUHKbio_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CUHKbio_3-1) ["Shaoguang Wang"](http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/gpa/wang_files/BIO.htm). *Chinese University of Hong Kong*. Retrieved 30 July 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Lei, Letian (2024). ["The mirage of the alleged Chinese new left"](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569317.2024.2370972#abstract). *Journal of Political Ideologies*: 1–22. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/13569317.2024.2370972](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F13569317.2024.2370972).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Van Dongen, Els (2019). [*Realistic Revolution: Contesting Chinese History, Culture, and Politics after 1989*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1caVDwAAQBAJ). [Cambridge](/source/Cambridge%2C_England): Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–2. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1108421300](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1108421300).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Shi Anshu; Lachapelle, François; Galway, Matthew (2008). ["The recasting of Chinese socialism: The Chinese New Left since 2000"](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0920203X18760416). *China Information*. **32** (1): 140–159: 144. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1177/0920203X18760416](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0920203X18760416).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Li He (2009). ["China's New Left"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190227141622/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/81bd/ecb56214882a5f69f517ee3cf90cc4c95f0b.pdf) (PDF). *East Asian Policy*. **1** (1): 30–37: 32. [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [21871195](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:21871195). Archived from [the original](http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/81bd/ecb56214882a5f69f517ee3cf90cc4c95f0b.pdf) (PDF) on 27 February 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Zhou1_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Zhou1_8-1) Zhou Lian (2012). ["The Debates in Contemporary Chinese Political Thought"](https://books.google.com/books?id=JdBhLeJvO5AC). In Dallmayr, Fred; Zhao, Tingyang (eds.). *Contemporary Chinese Political Thought: Debates and Perspectives*. [Lexington](/source/Lexington%2C_Kentucky): University Press of Kentucky. pp. 26–45: 32. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0813136424](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0813136424).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Frenkiel_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Frenkiel_9-1) Frenkiel, Émilie (15 July 2009). ["Political change and democracy in China: An interview with Wang Shaoguang"](https://booksandideas.net/Political-change-and-democracy-in.html). *Books & Ideas*. Retrieved 30 July 2019.

## Further reading

- ["Traditional Moral Politics and Contemporary Concepts of Governance"](https://www.readingthechinadream.com/wang-shaoguang-traditional-moral-politics.html). *Reading the China Dream*. Translated by David Ownby. Interview with Wang Shaoguang by journalist Ma Ya, originally published in 2012.

## External links

- [Faculty page](http://www.gpa.cuhk.edu.hk/en-gb/people/academic-staff/faculty/prof-wang-shaoguang) at Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wang Shaoguang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shaoguang) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shaoguang?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.