FYI --
Tocqueville classic becomes Chinese bestseller By FRANCE 24 the 04/01/2013 - 18:42 French political writer and historian Alexis de Tocquevilleâs classic work on Franceâs 1789 revolution, âThe Old Regime and the Revolution,â has become a bestseller in China â" more than 150 years after it was first published. Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th century French political writer, sociologist and historian is certainly a celebrated figure in France. His liberal-minded and analytical prose is perhaps even more widely read and studied in the US. But now, more than 150 years after his death, Tocquevilleâs words have found a new audience â" China. One may be hard-pressed to find a link between Tocquevilleâs âThe Old Regime and the Revolutionâ (âLâancien régime et la Révolutionâ), originally published in 1856, and modern-day China. But the book has become a sensation, rising to the top of bestseller lists and lighting up discussions on Chinaâs social networking website, Weibo. The success of âLâancien régime et la Révolutionâ has largely been attributed to leading members of Chinaâs Communist Party, who recommended it to their peers. In the book Tocqueville explores the idea that major revolutions, like the French Revolution, do not occur during times of poverty, but rather when disparities between classes have become great enough to divide society. In other words, when a small handful of people are extremely rich, and the vast majority of people are not. Tocquevilleâs writings may seem like an odd recommendation considering that Chinaâs Communist Party has been dogged in recent months by reports of widespread corruption. In one recent incident, Chinese authorities denied New York Times correspondent Chris Buckley a visa for 2013, after the newspaper published an investigative piece in October alleging that Prime Minister Wen Jiabaoâs family had accumulated billions of dollars in assets during his leadership. Chong Ming, a history professor who studies Tocquevilleâs work, told the citizen journalism website Global Voices, that the book may have struck a nerve in China because the conditions leading up to the French Revolution in some ways mirror the situation in China today. âLike then in France, China has been through a lot of wars and revolutions in the past, now China is experiencing a transitional period with a centralized power and booming economy,â Chong said. âI think [Chinese leaders]⦠are [trying] to make people realize the necessity of reform: it is not to be delayed, otherwise, we will face great danger. To some extent, reform is the best way to avoid revolution,â he added. Source URL: http://www.france24.com/en/20130104-france-tocqueville-revolution-classic-china-best-seller-list ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
