The Brief

The Sino-Japan Dialogue on Marxism Studies was convened at Shanghai Academy on October 11-13. Wang Weiguang, Director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the 13th CPPCC National Committee and President of the Chinese Society for Dialectical Materialism, made a special speech. Yang Bojiang, Director of the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Cheng Danhong, Party Secretary of Shanghai University, and Prof. Watanabe Norimasa of Kanto Gakuin University, addressed the conference respectively. Zhao Kebin, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, hosted the opening ceremony.

Organizers

The conference was sponsored by the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai Academy and the Leading Group of the Marxism Discipline Construction and Theoretical Research Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, organized by the Journal of Japanese Studies and the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Shanghai Academy, and supported by Shanghai Academy.

Critical Quote

Wang Weiguang made a special speech titled On Fundamental Experience and Basic Law in Localization of Marxism in China - Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of PRC. He said that the Communist Party of China combines Marxism with the substantive reality of China and has promoted localization, modernization, and popularization of Marxism without interruption for the past 70 years, and guides constant innovation of the socialist revolution, socialist construction, and socialist reform in China. This is a fundamental experience. The CPC always adheres to the ideological line and the principle of practice, understanding, re-practice and re-understanding. Uninterrupted realization of bilateral interaction between theoretical innovation and practical innovation is a basic law of Marxism in China.

— Wang Weiguang

Yang Bojiang briefly introduced the CASS Institute of Japanese Studies first. He said that studies on Marxism in Japan is a main component of Japanese studies, as Japan was the first Asian country to have accepted Marxist ideas and it was one of the earliest channels through which Chinese advanced intellectuals came to accept Marxism. Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Li Da, Dong Biwu and Zhou Enlai all studied or lived in Japan. The conference offered a communication platform for Chinese and Japanese experts and scholars in the field of Marxism. This has important academic as well as practical significance. It will help to strengthen communication between Chinese and Japanese academic circles and  will promote both sides to draw on each other’s merits for common progress and jointly boost research on the international socialist movement.

— Yang Bojiang

Cheng Danhong said, over the past 70 years since the PRC’s founding, China has always taken Marxism as the guiding ideology, insisted on combining the basic principles of Marxism with the specific realities of China and characteristics of the times, constantly promoted localization of Marxism in China, and opened up a new realm for the development of Marxism. Japan was one of the countries that spread Marxism and carried out Marxist studies early, and was one of the earliest channels through which Chinese advanced intellectuals accepted Marxism. The purpose of the first Sino-Japan High-end Dialogue on Marxism Studies is to enliven Marxist research and strengthen exchanges between Chinese and Japanese academic circles.

— Chen Danhong

Prof. Watanabe Norimasa compared the degree of interest in Marxism between China and Japan. He said that there were two periods when Japan paid high attention to Marxism. The first was the 1960s-1970s, and the period laid the foundation for many Marxist studies in Japan. The second period was after the 1990s. Due to the emergence of issues like poverty and social discrimination in Japan, during this period Marx’s critique of capitalism received a lot of attention. However with the change of times, that wave is declining. Compared with Japan, he said, the concern for Marxism has been greater in China throughout even higher than in the Japanese Marxist boom of the 1960s.

— Watanabe Norimasa