Speaker

He Zhaotian

Host

Tang Xiaolin

Introduction

In scholarship of early Chinese history, the long-lasting theory of ‘the four occupations’ is often regarded as the essential structure of traditional Chinese  society. In fact, it is more a normative and ‘civilized’ understanding of the structure of early Chinese society, culture and people. By emphasizing that the Chinese revolution evolved into modern Chinese society under the guidance, regulation, and application of  the four occupations, this lecture also points out that the Chinese Communist revolution is most successful when its theory and practice directly deals with class analysis and  struggle. However, it is often as important to employ class theory to confront and analyze the reality of modern Chinese society and its people which has lived according to the ‘four occupations’ for more than two thousand years, and to adapt and transform the positive aspects of  this phenomenon  within Chinese society and culture. All signs show that the shaping of Chinese society brought about by the theory of the four occupations still exists in many ways today, reminding us that the success of the revolution in the face of such conditions is still valuable in understanding China today, including its values, culture and consciousness.