A Review of Studies on Mao Zedong in Japan (2009–2012)

Abstract

In the view of many Japanese, Mao Zedong remains the key to interpreting contemporary China. Japanese studies on Mao from 2009 to 2012 show the following characteristics. In terms of research institutions and researchers, the traditional research institutes and academic organizations are still the major forces, while the newly established research bases are expected to achieve results in making the study on Mao Zedong more systematic, penetrating and international. Chinese scholars studying in Japan are beginning to enter the academic mainstream and have some ability to make their views heard. In terms of research methods, the Japanese scholars still cherish the tradition of attaching great importance to historical evidence, but they are also beginning to value research results obtained outside of Japan. In terms of content, they focus on relevant topics and trends outside Japan, and seek to benefit from Western and Chinese studies on Mao.

Keywords:

• Japanese left-wing scholars
• studies on Mao Zedong
• contemporary China

Notes on Contributor

Zheng Ping is an associate researcher at the Academy of Marxism of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She holds a PhD in Education from Ochanomizu University. Her recent research interests include left-wing trends in Japan and Japanese studies on Mao Zedong. She is the author of The Educational Thoughts and Practice of Mao Zedong in His Early Years (in Japanese, 2008, Tokyo: The Duan Press), and the translator of Chinese version of Why did Capitalism Self-Destruct? (2010, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press), originally in Japanese and by Iwao Nakatani.

Notes

¹ See the website of the Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China at the Kyoto University: www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~rcmcc/group107-gb.htm.

² The title of the original work is Gravestone, published by Cosmos Books in Hongkong in 2008. The Japanese edition is an abbreviated version, accounting for 70% of the original.

³ The original work was published by Leeman in Hongkong in 1995.

⁴ See Masaaki Ogura (2012a, 2012b).

⁵ Susumu Yabuki's review was first published in Sources (2006) edited by the 21^st Century China Research Institute, and later was collected in his symposium: The Truth about China's Economy (2007). Visit the website: http://marxism.org.cn/blog/u/95/index.html, to read my Chinese compilation of the work.