This is the first book to treat the intellectual developments that accompanied the Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius Movement and the campaign against the Gang of Four, separating the political issues from the academic issues in both campaigns and reporting the genuine advances to come from the campaigns in archaeology, history, philosophy, sociology, and literature.Following a discussion of the Campaign Against Lin Biao Professor Wu treats those topics examined by Chinese scholars under its impetus: Slave Society in Ancient China, Historical Critics and Criticisms of Confucius, Confucius and His Communist Critics, The Struggle Between the Confucian and Legalist Schools: From the Late Spring and Autumn Period to Quin, Criticism of Literature and the Arts: The "Shui-hu zhuan "Campaign, and then shows how in some cases the Criticisms of the Gang of Four further modified and corrected these areas of study. His carefully structured presentation and evaluation of this politically encouraged research makes clear the need for scholars to approach such polemics as they would any new data, for there were discoveries of enduring significance that resulted from both movements. Indeed, Professor Wu approaches this recent scholarship with such subtle discernment that his work approaches an intellectual history of China.Completing this remarkable volume are documentary notes and a Selected Bibliography, divided into nine parts that roughly follow the organization of the text, which together offer invaluable sources for further study and research."
