Mao Zedong and His Era

This text is drawn from the first of a series of lectures given at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan in 2009, by Qian Liqun 錢理群 (b. 1939). Qian was Professor of Chinese literature at Peking University until his retirement in 2002. He remains an active and leading proponent of May Fourth humanism in post-Mao literary and cultural criticism. His key areas of research are modern Chinese literature, with a focus on Lu Xun - the continued relevance of whom he continues to advocate - and the plight of the intellectual in 20th century China. Particularly influential in the academic community have been his efforts toward a summation of, and reflection upon, the 20th century Chinese experience.