Marginalized Intellectuals in Hong Kong in the 1950s: A Study of the Democratic Socialists in the British Colony

On the eve of the Communist Revolution in 1949, a large number of Chinese intellectuals fled the Chinese mainland, never to return. Many of them traveled to Taiwan and continued their quest for Chinese democracy on the island. They were also fascinated by the recent global anti-utopian Cold War currents. For this reason, democratic socialism was marginalized on the island. Instead, its adherents relocated to Hong Kong. This paper looks at the Hong Kong-based democratic socialists and examines their political thought as presented in their publications. Tracing the history of Chinese intellectuals in twentieth-century China, I argue that these democratic socialists were marginalized by two trends of radicalisation. On the one hand, the domination of communism after 1949 made the moderate democratic socialists unable to survive in the Chinese mainland. On the other hand, the arrival of anti-utopian Cold War currents from the West in Taiwan made these democratic socialists uneasy to express their views there. Compared to the communists in Mainland China and the extreme anti-utopian liberals on Taiwan, these democratic socialists were marginalised and stood on the fringe of the Chinese intellectual circle. They had no place to stay but in Hong Kong where a certain degree of freedom of expression was guaranteed by the British colonial government. Hence, most of the publications about democratic socialism mushroomed in the colony. Although the democratic socialists could hardly make a breakthrough in this school of thought, they were still keen to defend their belief against the hostile communists and anti-utopian liberals. They were also able to find the New Confucians as their allies in Hong Kong. Finally, this paper will discuss the legacy of these democratic socialists in the contemporary era.