{{family name hatnote|Wang|lang=Chinese}} {{Contemporary Chinese political thought|liberalism}} '''Wang Yuanhua''' (Chinese: 王元化; November 30, 1920 – May 9, 2008<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Ping |date=2018-09-07 |title=王元化与基督教文化 |trans-title=Wang Yuanhua and the culture of Christianity |url=https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2414055 |url-status= |website=The Paper |publisher=Century (journal)}}</ref>) was a Chinese scholar and literary theorist who was a leading figure in the New Enlightenment movement in mainland China in the 1980s.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Xu |first=Jilin |author-link=Xu Jilin |date=May 3, 2012 |title=Enlightenment and Chinese Civil Society: The Cases of Wang Yuanhua and Li Shenzhi {{!}} US-China Institute |url=https://china.usc.edu/calendar/enlightenment-and-chinese-civil-society-cases-wang-yuanhua-and-li-shenzhi |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=University of Southern California |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=王元化学馆 |trans-title=The Wang Yuanhua Study Center |url=https://lib.ecnu.edu.cn/398/list.htm |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=East China Normal University |language=zh}}</ref> As an influential liberal intellectual in China, Wang was a professor at the East China Normal University, and served as the director of the Publicity Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (1983–1985).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Jilin |first=Xu |title=The 1990s: Wang Yuanhua: A Party Intellectual Reflects |date=2021 |work=The Chinese Communist Party |pages=175–190 |editor-last=van de Ven |editor-first=Hans |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/chinese-communist-party/1990s/997AA85713132C298F0FA05FE4599E95 |access-date=2024-10-13 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-84277-8 |editor2-last=Mühlhahn |editor2-first=Klaus |editor3-last=Cheek |editor3-first=Timothy}}</ref> He founded the journal ''New Enlightenment'' in Shanghai in 1988.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=1989-07-06 |title=JPRS Report: Beijing Bookstore 'Barometer' of Political Climate |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA350804.pdf |website=Defense Technical Information Center |publisher=Chengming Magazine |pages=7–9}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Xu |first=Qinquan |date=2015-11-17 |title=王元化与"都乐书屋事件 |trans-title=Wang Yuanhua and the "Dule bookstore incident" |url=https://www.aisixiang.com/data/94036.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618094900/https://www.aisixiang.com/data/94036.html |archive-date=2024-06-18 |website=Ai Sixiang (爱思想) |language=zh}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Rui |author-link=Li Rui |date=2010-09-30 |title=王元化与新启蒙 |trans-title=Wang Yuanhua and the New Enlightenment |url=https://www.aisixiang.com/data/36305.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606204717/https://www.aisixiang.com/data/36305.html |archive-date=2015-06-06 |website=Ai Sixiang (爱思想) |publisher=Yanhuang Chunqiu |language=zh}}</ref>
== Biography == Wang Yuanhua was born to a Christian family in Wuchang, Hubei on November 30, 1920.<ref name=":0" /> Wang Yuanhua's parents got married in 1906, and his father, Wang Fangquan (王芳荃), obtained master's degree of education at the University of Chicago in the United States before returning to Tsinghua University in 1915 where he taught English; Wang Yuanhua thus spent his childhood in Beijing.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":26">{{Cite web |last=Xu |first=Qingquan |date=2008-05-21 |title=王元化："五四的儿子"走了 |trans-title=Wang Yuanhua, "son of the May Fourth Movement", has passed away |url=https://news.sohu.com/20080521/n256993954.shtml |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=Sohu |publisher=China Newsweek |language=zh}}</ref>
Wang joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1938 and attended the Great China University from 1939–1941.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-04 |title=这些青春，来自1924年的大夏 |url=https://www.ecnu.edu.cn/info/1094/66216.htm |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=East China Normal University}}</ref> In 1948, Wang married his wife Zhang Ke (张可).<ref name=":0" /> After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Wang served in the China Writers Association in Shanghai. He was seriously affected by the "Anti-Hu Feng Campaign" in 1955, even being expelled from the CCP.<ref name=":2" />
After the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Wang was rehabilitated and returned to the CCP, serving as the director of the Publicity Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (1983–1985).<ref name=":1" /> He taught at the East China Normal University, and became an advocate for thought liberation and Marxist humanism in the 1980s<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lei |first=Letian |date=2025-11-03 |title=Identifying China’s Long 1980s |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/identifying-chinas-long-1980s/0446BB58DB1093C34A3AA44773CA82BC#article |journal=The China Quarterly |language=en |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1017/S0305741025101471 |issn=0305-7410|doi-access=free }}</ref> and for Chinese liberalism in the 1990s.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">{{Citation |last1=Xiang |first1=Biao |title=Using the 1980s to Critique the 1980s |date=2023 |work=Self as Method : Thinking Through China and the World |pages=99–105 |editor-last=Xiang |editor-first=Biao |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Nature |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-981-19-4953-1_11 |isbn=978-981-19-4953-1 |last2=Wu |first2=Qi |editor2-last=Wu |editor2-first=Qi|doi-access=free }}</ref> In particular, Wang played a leading role in the New Enlightenment movement in the 1980s and founded the ''New Enlightenment'' magazine in Shanghai in 1988.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":22" /><ref name=":6" /> He was also recognized as an influential literary theorist.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Xia |first=Zhongyi |date=2012 |title=On the Evolution of Wang Yuanhua's Methodology for Literary Theory |url=https://tsla.ecnu.edu.cn/EN/abstract/abstract16.shtml |journal=Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=114–127}}</ref>
Wang died on May 9, 2008, in Shanghai.<ref name=":26" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sun |first=Chenhui |date=2008-05-20 |title=追忆著名学者王元化：知识与精神的双重导师 |trans-title=In memory of notable scholar Wang Yuanhua |url=https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/200852081528428206884.html |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=China Science Daily |language=zh}}</ref>
== See also ==
== References == {{reflist|2}}
Category:1920 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Chinese social scientists Category:Chinese literary theorists