Zhang Junmai (1886–1969, also transliterated as Chang Chun-mai), also known by his courtesy name Carsun Chang), was a prominent Chinese philosopher, public intellectual and political figure. Zhang Junmai was a major exponent of Liberalism in China.

A pioneering theorist of human rights in the Chinese context, Zhang established his own small "Third Force" democratic party during the Nationalist era.

Equipped with the traditional Confucian degree of xiucai or "accomplished scholar", Zhang went on to study at Waseda University in Japan where he came under the influence of Liang Qichao

Liang Qichao

Liang Qichao |Styled]] Zhuoru, ; Pseudonym: Rengong) was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty , who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements...

's theory of constitutional monarchy. In 1918 he accompanied Liang’s tour of post-war Europe, later going to Germany to study philosophy for a short time at Berlin University. While in Germany he came under the influence of the teachings of Rudolf Eucken (1846–1926) and Henri Bergson

Henri Bergson

Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...

 (1859–1941). With Hans Driesch, who was formerly Eucken's student, Zhang travelled throughout China in the early 1920s, serving as Driesch's Chinese translator as he lectured on Eucken's philosophical vision. Appointed a professor of philosophy at Beijing University, he instigated polemics over science and metaphysics (known in Chinese as the "worldview controversy.") He wrote extensively on what now forms part of modern neo-Confucianism.

With Zhang Dongsun

Zhang Dongsun

Zhang Dongsun , was a Chinese philosopher, public intellectual and political figure.-Biography:...

, he organized a National Socialist Party (not connected with the Nazis in Germany). In 1933 he and Huang Yanpei

Huang Yanpei

Huang Yanpei was a Chinese educator, industrialist, politician, and one of the founding pioneers of the China Democratic League.-Biography:...

 organized the China Democratic League

China Democratic League

The China Democratic League is one of the eight legally recognised political parties in the People's Republic of China.The party was established in 1939 and took its present name in 1944. At its formation, it was a coalition of three pro-democracy parties and three pressure groups...

, a Third Force party with strong commitments to liberal doctrines of separation of powers

Separation of powers

The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...

, freedom of expression and human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. After the war against Japan, Zhang became the chairman of the China Democratic Socialist Party

China Democratic Socialist Party

The China Democratic Socialist Party was founded in Shanghai on 15 August 1946. It was formed through the merger of the former Chinese National Socialist Party and the Democratic Constitutionalist Party , both of which had survived the years of Japanese aggression by generally supporting the...

.

Opposed to the Chinese communists, but also dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

's (also spelled Jiang Jieshi) noncompliance with the constitution, Zhang Junmai went to the United States after 1949. The Democratic Socialist Party moved to Taiwan afterwards and continued resisting the implementation of a one-party dictatorship and oppression by the Kuomintang

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

 (Guomindang) though its very survival in Taiwan was due to its tacit cooperation with the Kuomintang

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

. Zhang Junmai reappeared in 1962 calling for the unity of the party, but returned to the United States before his death in 1969.