Political history can be most meaningfully analysed as a monumental struggle between opposing ideas and ideologies concerning the most appropriate manner to organize human societies. Socialism/Communism once was a powerful ideology that shaped Chinese society as well as some others in the world. How did this ideology become the foundation of Chinese political system? How did it affect Chinese social, economic and political life? To what extent has this ideology been changed in the reform? How do we characterize China’s current “socialism”? Are there new ideologies that pose challenges to socialism/communism in China? These are the questions that this course is going to examine.