Dr Warren Sun
Senior Lecturer
Originally from Taiwan, Dr. Warren Sun was once a student of English and American Literature at National Taiwan University. While tutoring there, he also worked as a journalist for the newspaper syndicate, Lianhebao (The United Daily), Taipei, and assumed the role of executive editor for four local literary and cultural journals.
During his pursuit of post-graduate study in Australia, Warren had shifted his research interest to modern Chinese intellectual history of the late Ching and early Republican period, studying the works of Zhang Binglin, the last master of Chinese classical learning and influential radical philosopher despite his deep-seated cultural conservatism.
Prior to joining Monash in 1996, Warren was a senior research fellow at University of Sydney. There he forged a long-standing partnership with Professor Fred Teiwes and produced many of their collaborated works on contemporary Chinese elite politics. In 2006 Warren was on an ARC funded research project, stationed at the Contemporary China Centre of ANU, Canberra. He will return in mid-2007 resume his teaching duties at Monash.
On this page:Qualifications
Ph.D. (Australian National University)
Ph.D. thesis: The Transcendent
and the Mundane in the Intellectual World of Zhang Binglin (1869-1936).
B.A. (National Taiwan University)
Contact details
| Phone | (03) 9905 3587 or before mid July 2007 (02) 61254971 |
| warren.sun@arts.monash.edu.au or warren.sun@anu.edu.au |
|
| Fax | (03) 9905 5437, or before mid-July 2007 (02) 61259047 |
| Mailing Address | Warren Sun School of Asian Languages and Studies PO Box 11A Monash University Australia 3800 Or (before mid-July 2007) Warren Sun Contemporary China Centre Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Australian National University 9 Liversidge St., Canberra Australia 0200 |
Subjects Taught
- CHI1070/2070/3070/4070 Advanced Chinese Part 1
- CHI1080/2080/3080/4080 Advanced Chinese Part 2
- CHI1510/2510/3510/4510 Advanced Chinese Part 3
- CHI1520/2520/3520/4520 Advanced Chinese Part 4
- CHI2610/3610/4610 Advanced Chinese Part 5
- CHI1470/2470/3470 Chinese for Dialect Speakers Part 1
- CHI1480/2480/3480 Chinese for Dialect Speakers Part 2
Supervision
Honours thesis: The Control of the Media in China through the Examination of the SARS Case, by Jessica Meyer, completed in 2003
M.A. thesis: Attitudes Towards China: Britain and America in Canton 1688-1860, by Mr. Joseph Askew, which was awarded an HIIA and passed without further examination in 1997
Research interests
General Research Interests
- Chinese philology
- Modern Chinese intellectual history
- Zhang Binglin study
- Zhang Dongsun study
- Elite politics of the Chinese Communist Party
- Contemporary history of the People’s Republic of China
Current Research
At present, Warren is working, jointly with Fred Teiwes, on the project entitled “The Post-Mao Transition in China: From the Ashes of Revolution toward Reform, 1976-1978”, which is the second volume in what Professor Ezra Vogel of Harvard describes as a ‘monumental three volume series on the transformation of Chinese politics from the end of the Mao era through the beginning of the new era’.
The larger project asks what explains one of the most remarkable transformations in the governance of a continuing political system in the latter part of the 20th century—the crucial period of transition from the radical late Mao period to the reform program of the 1980s. The current project continues the examination of several of the least researched and, as a consequence, poorly understood periods of elite politics in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The intellectual focus is the political process at the highest leadership level in Beijing during the transformation of the PRC from the pursuit of ‘revolutionary’ objectives at the end of the Maoist era, through a period of ‘restoration’ of approaches from the pre-Cultural Revolution period in 1976-78, to a less orthodox approach that developed in a piecemeal fashion before eventually being labelled ‘reform’ in the mid-1980s.
In short, the aim is to provide an adequate conceptual and historical analysis of the multi-faceted politics of transition where the complex factors involved have been systematically distorted by orthodox PRC sources, distortions that have to an important degree been reflected in Western scholarly interpretations. The key questions are: what was the true nature of elite conflict? How and why did said conflict evolve? What were the sources of policy change? How did the patterns of governance alter? And, ultimately, how can the origins of reform be conceptualized?
The present project builds on the just published first volume of the trilogy, The End of the Maoist Era, 1972-1976 (Teiwes and Sun 2007). This 700-page book sets the stage for the current enquiry into how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership repaired the damage of the late Mao period and moved toward developmental goals. This first volume not only attempts to provide a new interpretation of events in the late Mao era, but also attempts to present an extended analysis of factors forming a fundamental link to the new period when Mao’s authority and legacy remained extremely potent, and despite less Politburo-level conflict than usually imagined, the tensions and misunderstandings of the period leading up to Mao’s death shaped post-Mao elite conflict.
The current project covers the period from the death of Mao Zedong and the arrest of the so-called ‘gang of four’ in September-October 1976 to the Third Plenum of the CCP Central Committee in December 1978, a meeting widely, if somewhat misleadingly, regarded as the beginning of reform. In broad terms, this ‘restorationist’ phase was an effort by the new ruling group to eliminate the Maoist excesses of the Cultural Revolution and revive the system which existed before 1966, while at the same time grappling with the need to alter Mao’s legacy yet still affirming the regime’s Mao-based legitimacy. However, both the official CCP view and the conventional wisdom of Western scholarship misrepresent the actual elite politics of this period, and the project, hopefully, will provide a more adequate and comprehensive interpretation, hence a new understanding of ‘the origins of China’s present reform’.
Publications
Books and monographs
The End of the Maoist Era: Chinese Politics during the Twilight of the Cultural Revolution, 1972-1976 (joint authorship with Fred Teiwes).Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2007, 706pp.
1976 nian Tiananmen weiji pouxi (The 1976 Tiananmen Crisis Analysis), Bilingual monograph, Chinese text: Warren Sun; English text: jointly with Fred Teiwes. Hong Kong: USC Seminar Series, Institute of Asian Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, in press, 2007.
China's Road to Disaster: Mao, Central politicians, and Provincial Leaders in the Unfolding of the Great Leap Forward, 1955-1959 ,jointly with Fred Teiwes, M.E.Sharpe, Armonk, New York and London, 1999, xxvii +320pp. ISBN 0-7656-0201-6 (hardcover); 0-7656-0202-4 (paperback)
Dangdai Zhongguo nongcun li changshang, translator, Oxford University Press (Hong Kong), 1996, x+302 pp. This is a translation of Chen Village (Second edition) by Anita Chan & Jonathan Unger. Chen Village is a major profound study on rural China and has soon become a modern classic after its first appearance in 1992.
The Tragedy of Lin Biao-Riding the Tiger During the'Cultural Revolution',1966-71 , co-authored with Fred Teiwes, jointly published, in hardcover, by Hurst & Co., London and The Hawaii University Press, USA; in paperback by Hong Kong University Press, HK, and Crawford House Publishing, Australia, 1996, xvi+251pp.
The Formation of the Maoist Leadership: From the Return of Wang Ming to the Seventh Party Congress, jointly with Fred Teiwes, London: Contemporary China Institute, 1994.
Mao, Deng Zihui and the Politics of Agricultural Cooperativization Debate, co-editor and translator, Chinese Law and Government, The May-June/July August Issue, 1993, New York.
The Politics of Agricultural Cooperativization in China-Mao, Deng Zihui and the "High Tide" of 1955, co-authored with Fred Teiwes, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., N.Y. and London, 1993.
Zhang Taiyen nianpu ziyi ( Investigations into Zhang Binglin's Life and Works), Beijing, Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press), 1987, xviii+242.
Chang Aileen ziliao daquanjii ( Aileen Chang's Early Works Unearthed), co-editor, with Monbill Tong, Taipei, Shih-pao, 1984, 383pp.
Wenxue xiuzou-xiandai wenxue di kaocha (Literature of No Retreat--A Critique of Modernism in Contemporary Chinese Literature in Taiwan). First edition, Xiaochao Publishing Co., Hong Kong 1975; Second Edition, Yuanxing Publishing Co., Taipei, 1976, 238pp.
Renlei de diwang-Chengjisi han (Genghis Khan, by Harold Lamb), translator, Guiguan Publishing Co., Taipei, 1975, xxiv+271pp.
Zhuang Zi zhexue sixiang di sanda huanshu ( Three Pillars of Wisdom in the Philosophy of Zhuang Zi's), Hongdao Publishing Co., Taipei, 1974, vi+214pp.
Chao xianshi xiaoshuo (City Life, by Donald Barthelme), translator, published in 3 installments in Chun wenxue (The Belle Lettre Monthly), Taipei, 1973.
Xiuci xue (Rhetoric, by Peter Dixon, as part of the book series, The Critical Idioms in Literary Criticism, General Editor: John D. Jump, Methen, London, 1971), translator., Liming Publishing Co., Taipei, 1972, 148pp.
Huo zai Jidu nei (We Live in Christ, a modern explication of Catholic theology, by Michael Link), translator, Guangqi Publishing Co., Taipei, 1968, 280pp.
Book Chapters
“Wenge weisheng Tiananmen shijian zaitan” [Reexamination of the Tiananmen Incident during the Twilight of the Cultural Revolution]. In The Chinese Cultural Revolution--40 Years After, edited by Song Yongyi. Hong Kong: Tianyuan shuwu, in press, 2007).
“1976 nian Tiananmen shijian de zai pingjia” [The 1976 Tiananmen Incident Re-evaluated] In Dangdai Zhongguo yu tade waibu shijie [Contemporary China and the outside World], edited by Zhu Jiamu. Beijing: Contemporary China Institute and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2006, pp. 97-113.
“Gu you Dou’e, jin you Lin Biao” (History Distorted in the Lin Biao Case) In Chongshen Lin Biao Zuian [New Concepts of the Lin Biao Case], edited by Ding Kaiwen. Hong Kong: Mirrorbooks, 2004, pp. 163-172.
“1976 nian Tiananmen shijian de zai pingjia: cong Zhou Enlai dao Hua Guofeng chengwei Mao Zedong de jiebanren ( The 1976 Incident Re-evaluated: From the Death Of Zhou Enlai to the Appointment of Hua Guofeng as Mao’s Successor” (joint authorship with Fred Teiwes). In International Senior Forum on Contemporary History of China, conference convener: Contemporary China Research Institute & Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 2004, pp.84-107
“Ye Qun”, in Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Twentieth Century, 1912-2000, edited by Lily Lee. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2003, pp. 634-639.
"Zhou Enlai yu Fanmaojin" (Zhou Enlai's role in the 1956 Anti-Rash Advance Campaign), co-authored with Fred Teiwes, in Nankai University ed., Zhongwai xuezhe zai lun Zhou Enlai (Chinese and Foreign Scholars on Zhou Enlai-A Sequel), Zhongyan wenxian chupanshe ( The CCP Documents & Research Publisher), Beijing, 1999, pp.389-406, ISBN 7-5073-0506-6
"Three Letters on Chinese Historiography and the Feud between Zhang Binglin and Wu Zhihui", in Tang Zhenchang juan(Quintessential Tang Zhenchang), by Tang Zhenchang, Anhui jiaoyu chubanshe, Hefei, 1999, pp.658-659, 665-669, 699, 702-704. ISBN 7-5336-2183-2
"Lin Biao", "Hu Jintao", "Hu Qili", "Li Lanqing", "Li Tieying", and "Wei Jianxing " in Dictionary of the Politics of the People's Republic of China, edited by Colin Mackerras, Donald McMillen and Andrew Watson, Routledge, 1998, pp. I40-141, 109-111,135-136, 138-139, 228-229.
"Banshan yu Er-er-ba"(The Role of the Half-Mainlanders in the 1947 February Uprising in Taiwan), in Er-er-ba shijian yanjiu lunwenji (Collected Essays on the February 28 Uprising in Taiwan), Wu Sanlian Taiwan Historical Materials Foundation, 1998, Taipei, pp. 245-272.
"The Politics of 'un-Maoist' Interlude: The Case of Opposing Rash Advance, 1956-57", co-authored with Fred Teiwes, in Tim Cheek & Tony Saich, eds. New Perspective on State Socialism in China, M.E. Sharpe, N.Y. & London, 1997, First paperback printing 1999, chapter 5, pp. 151-190.
"The National Defense University's Teaching Reference Materials", in Timothy Cheek & Tony Saich, eds, New Perspective on State Socialism in China, M.E. Sharpe, N.Y.& London, 1997, First paperback printing 1999, pp.359-363.
"Annotated Bibliography for The Politics of an Un-Maoist interlude", jointly with Fred Teiwes, in Tim Cheek & Tony Saich, eds. New Perspective on State Socialism in China, M.E. Sharpe, N.Y. & London, March 1997, First paperback printing 1999, pp.377-388.
"From a Leninist to a Charismatic Party: The CCP's Changing Leadership, 1937-1945 ", co-authored with Fred Teiwes, in Hans Van der Ven and Tony Saich ed., New Perspectives on the Chinese Communist revolution, M.E. Sharpe, New York, 1995, pp.339-387.
"Ye tan Wang Yangming yu Zhang Taiyen-Jian lun Taiyen sixiang di liangge shijie" (A comparative study of the idealistic philosophies of Wang Yangming and Zhang Binglin) in Zhang Nianci (ed.), Selected Essays on Zhang Binglin's Life and Thought, Zhejiang renmin chubanshe, Hangzhou, 1986, pp. 298-368.
"Fen gei Tang mo" (Farewell to a Cultural Critic) in Yu Tiancong ed., Ransao de niandai (The Burning Years-In Memory of the Late Professor Monbill Tong), Taipei, Pamier chubanshe, 1986, pp.100-104.
Refereed Journal Articles
“The First Tiananmen Incident Revisited: Elite Politics and Crisis Management at the end of the Maoist Era” (joint authorship with Frederick Teiwes). Pacific Affairs, Volume 77, No. 2, Summer 2004, pp. 211-235.
"Lu Hsun (Lu Xun) of the May Fourth Movement and Chang Ping-lin (Zhang Binglin) of the 1911 Revolution-An Intriguing Story of the Intellectual Encounter Between two generations", in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1, (October 1997), pp.29-62.
"Gu you Dou E, jin you Lin Biao" (The Lin Biao Case Redressed),Minbao yuekan (Min Pao Monthly), Hong Kong, June 1996, pp. 108-112.
"The National Defense University's Teaching Reference Materials" in CCP Research Newsletter Nos. 10 & 11, 1992, pp.16-20.
"The New versus the Old Text Controversy-K'ang Yu-wei and Chang Ping-lin in the Twilight of Confucian Classical Learning", in Papers on Far Eastern History , No. 42, September, 1990, pp.47-57.
"Chang Ping-lin and His Political Thought" in Papers on Far Eastern History, No. 32, September, 1985, pp.57-69.
"Chang Ping-lin's view of Chinese Language" in New Papers on Chinese Language Use, Contemporary China Papers No. 18, ANU, Canberra, 1983, p.169-188.
"Yu Hou Wailu lun Zhang Taiyen shu er za" (Two Letters to Professor Hou Wailu on Zhang Binglin's Buddhist Philosophy ) in Zhongguo Zhexue (Chinese Philosophy) vol. 6, Beijing, San-lian chubanshe, 1981, pp. 234-238, 299-310.
"Yapian zhanzheng qianhou Zhongguo wenxue zhi zhuanbian" (The Social and Literary Transformation in China at the Time of the Opium War), co-authored with Yu Tiancong, in Chung-kuo wen-hua fu-hsing yeh-k'an (Chinese Cultural Renaissance Monthly ), Taipei, 1978.
Non-refereed Journal Articles
Book Review of The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Vol. 3--The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961-1966 by Roderick Macfarquar (Oxford University Press, 1997). In The China Journal, No. 44 (July 2000), pp. 200-202.
Book Review of Propaganda and Culture in Mao's China: Deng Tuo and the Intelligentsia , by Timothy Cheek (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997). In The China Journal, No. 44 (July 2000), pp. 204-206.
"Ku yu Tou-o chin yu Lin Piao" (The False Case That Was the Lin Piao Affair), in Huaxia Wenzhai - Special Issue on the Cultural Revolution, No. ZK134, Website: http://www.cnd.org/HXWZ, Sept 13, 1997, pp.10-13.
Book review of The Chinese Cultural Revolution Database CD-ROM, ed. Song Yongyi et al, in The China Journal, No. 50, July, 2003, pp. 195-198
Book review of Zhou Enlai’s Later Years, (Mirror Books), by Gao Wenqian, The China Journal, No.52, August, 2004, pp.142-144
Other
(conference papers, internet postings and translations from Chinese to English)
“The First Tiananmen Crisis in the Twilight of the Cultural Revoltution”, Paper presented at ICANAS 37 (International Conference on Oriental Studies), Moscow, August 2004, 37pp. (accepted for publication in the conference proceedings October 2004).
“Hua Guofeng yu Wenhua dagenming de zhongjie (Hua Guofeng and the End of the Cultural Revolution). Paper presented at The Cultural Revolution 40th Anniversary Conference, New York, May 2006.
“Sun Wanguo: Gu you Doue jin you Lin Biao” at http://www.boxun.com/hero/linbiao/24_1.shtml
“Farewell, Shensu—A Eulogy Address at Dr Sun Shensu’s Funeral, 5 March 2005” at http://memory.gl.ntu.edu.tw/
“Let’s All Strive Hard; the World Is In Turmoil—in Memory of Dr Sun Shensu and Professor Tang Wenbiao” at http://memory.gl.ntu.edu.tw/index.php?pageNum_rsLIST1=4, 2005
The following translation items appeared in Chinese Law and Government SUMMER-FALL 1993/VOL. 26, NO. 2-3:
- Reflections on the Party's Policy Toward the Rural
Individual Economy During the First Seven Years of
the State, byZhu Yonghong
- Rectifying the Problem of Impetuosity and Rash
Advance in the Agricultural Mutual Aid and
Cooperativization Movement in 1953, by Gao Huamin
- Selection from Biography of Deng Zihui, by Jiang Boying
- Selection from China 1949-1989: The Period of Triumph
and Advance, by Lin Yunhui, Fan Shouxin and Zhang Gong
- Selection from Reflections on Certain Major Decisions
and Events, by Bo Yibo
- State Council Seventh Office Work Bulletin No. 1
(January 4, 1955), by Deng Zihui
- Circular of the CCP Center on Overhauling and
Consolidating Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives
(January 10, 1955)
- Circular of the Central Rural Work Department on
Consolidating Existing Cooperatives (March 22, 1955)
- Opinions of the Central Rural Work Department about
Current Cooperativization Work in Zhejiang Province
(March 25, 1955)
- A Report on the Situation in the Countryside of Zhejiang
Province (April 11, 1955), by Du Runsheng and Yuan Chenlong
- Opening Speech at the Third National Rural Work
Conference [Excerpt] (April 21, 1955), by Deng Zihui
- Concluding Report at the Third National Rural Work
Conference (Excerpt) (May 6, 1955), by Deng Zihui
- Speech on the Question of Agricultural Cooperativization
(Excerpt) (May 17, 1955), by Mao Zedong
- Comrade Tan Zhenlin Reports on the Grain and
Cooperatives Situation in Zhejiang (June 21, 1955), by Tan Zhenlin
- The CCP Center's Comments While Transmitting the
Hebei Provincial Committee's "Directive on Several
Policy Issues during Overhauling Agricultural
Producers' Cooperatives" (July 6, 1955)
- Comments by the Party Center on Provincial Reports
and Directives concerning Cooperativization together
with Excerpts from the Appended Local Documents
- The CCP Center's Directive to Party Committees of All Places While Transmitting the Hubei Provincial Committee's Report concerning Deployments for Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives (August 13, 1955), by Mao Zedong
- The CCP Center's Comments While Transmitting the Liaoning Provincial Committee's Report on the Agricultural Producers' Cooperative Question (August [16], 1955), by Mao Zedong
- The CCP Center's Comments While Transmitting the Anhui Provincial Committee's Report on the Agricultural Cooperativization Question (August [31], 1955), by Mao Zedong
- The CCP Center's Comments While Transmitting the Fujian Prrovincial Committee's Report on the Agricultural Cooperativization Question (September 7, 1955), by Mao Zedong
- The CCP Center's Comments While Transmitting the Zhejiang Provincial Committee's Report on the Agricultural Cooperativization Question (September [8], 1955), by Mao Zedong