Chinese thirdspace: The paradox of moderate politics, 1946–2020

Publication Type

Book Review

Publication Date

3-2026

Abstract

Chinese Thirdspace: The Paradox of Moderate Politics, 1946–2020, by Jianmei Liu, New York, Columbia University Press, 2025, US$37.00, paper; US$37.00, ebook, 376pp. ISBN 9780231214216 ​​​​​​​Jianmei Liu examines the lives and works of several prominent Chinese intellectuals, writers, and artists to illustrate the Chinese Thirdspace as a discursive strategy to challenge and resist the exclusionary logic of dichotomous thinking characteristic of both totalitarian states and their dogmatic ideological opponents. The book devotes one chapter each to Zhang Dongsun, Yin Haiguang, Jin Yong, Liu Zaifu, and Gao Xingjian, while the last chapter discusses the works of three female writers—Xi Xi of Hong Kong, mainland China’s Chi Zijian, and Taiwan’s Chu Tien-hsin—and the epilogue analyses Chan Koonchung’s political novel featuring Zhang Dongsun as the protagonist in an alternate history in which the KMT (Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party), instead of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), rules China after 1949.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Publication

Pacific Affairs

Volume

99

Issue

1

First Page

144

Last Page

146

ISSN

0030-851X

Identifier

10.1080/0030851X.2026.2627785

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/0030851X.2026.2627785

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