China today: long live the revolution or a change in entropy?

This essay focuses on three writers, from a very different background, who offer three significant epistemological perspectives on the concept of ‘revolution’. The first one is literary critic, writer, professor, human rights activist, and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize public intellectual Liu Xiaobo. The second writer is Yu Hua, who lives and works in Beijing, and is one of China’s most acclaimed authors. In conjunction with these two writers’ conceptualisation of revolution, the essay analyses three controversial short and interconnected entries, respectively on revolution, democracy and freedom, posted in December 2011 by Han Han. Representative of the ‘post-1980s generation (balinghou)’, which is commonly epitomized as apolitical, and money-driven, best-selling author Han Han is the most popular blog writer in China. These three entries sparked an intense debate. This essay will delve into the speculative inquiries of Liu Xiaobo, Yu Hua and Han Han on the idea of ‘revolution’ to demonstrate that discourses on revolution are still alive. The intellectual contribution of these three writers demonstrates that thinking about the revolution in China today involves a re-politicisation of politics, and this can happen only through a transformation in human nature (Haardt, 2009).