Capital: A Critique of Political Economy and Chinese Historiography—The Case of Historian Hou Wailu

Das Kapital, the theoretical magnum opus to which Marx dedicated forty years of intellectual labor, crystallizes the theoretical wisdom of both Marx and Engels, standing as the most representative work of Marxism. How did this foundational text first encounter China? In what ways did it catalyze the most profound intellectual transformations in modern Chinese history? And how has it engaged with the landscape of Chinese academia? These questions remain subjects of significant scholarly and public interest.

This lecture will take the academic journey of historian Hou Wailu—one of the earliest Chinese translators of Das Kapital—as a case study. Adhering to the epistemological principle of unifying logic and history, it will elucidate the process through which Das Kapital and its theories were localized in China, thereby enriching our concrete understanding of Marxist historical materialism.