Minjian

Sebastian Veg explores the rise of minjian—unofficial, unaffiliated, and among the people—intellectuals and how they have profoundly transformed China’s public culture. Minjian documents how, amid deep structural shifts, grassroots thinker-activists began to work outside academia or policy institutions in an embryonic public sphere.

Veg Sebastian :

Sebastian Veg is a Research Professor at the China Center at EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris) and Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He has published numerous articles, primarily in English, including in China Perspectives, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, China Quarterly, and New Left Review. His first book was in French (Fictions du pouvoir chinois. Littérature, modernisme et démocratie au début du XXe siècle, 2009, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Press) and was reviewed in both French and English. He has also published in Le Monde, the Atlantic, and the LARB blog.Sebastian Veg is professor of the intellectual history of twentieth-century China at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris. He is the author of Fictions du pouvoir chinois. Littérature, modernisme et démocratie au début du XXe siècle (2009) and the editor of Popular Memories of the Mao Era: From Critical Debate to Reassessing History (2019).

Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University:
Chinese intellectuals used to focus on the state and “take responsibility for all under heaven.” But commercialization and a government impervious to moral approbation have given rise to a new generation of intellectuals who focus more on the concrete problems of society and distance themselves from the concerns of the state. It is this remarkable change in the ideas and status of intellectuals that Sebastian Veg dissects with such precision in this carefully researched and wonderfully written book.

Craig Calhoun, Arizona State University:
Sometimes to the distress of its leaders, China has developed an active sphere of intellectual creativity and political discussion outside the control of the Communist Party. Though unofficial this has considerable influence. Western observers tend to see only fragments. Sebastian Veg provides a major service by offering this overview, with individual biographies and a helpful analysis.

Eva Pils, King’s College London:
At a time of deepening authoritarianism in China and beyond, this book provides important insights into civic resilience in the shadows of a repressive system. The author is uniquely placed to show how independent and critical minjian intellectuals, working in a variety of roles and settings, have resisted control by the system, thereby challenging the Party’s claim to power.

Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania:
Minjian offers a comprehensive study of new types of intellectuals in the age of digital media. Ranging from independent filmmakers and historians to lawyers and journalists, these grassroots intellectuals have transformed public culture and the meaning of being intellectuals in China. Veg tells captivating stories of feisty individuals in the context of broader historical change. An important contribution to China studies and an excellent resource for teaching.

Carlos Rojas, Duke University:
Published at a moment when the Chinese government is making increasingly muscular efforts to limit free speech, Veg’s timely and engaging study examines the ways in which Chinese “grassroots intellectuals” use a variety of different media and platforms to comment critically on sociopolitical conditions in contemporary China.