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“Socialism with Chinese characteristics”, as China’s political system is called in China itself, traces its inspiration back to the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the European founders of the modern socialist movement. Yet it also, and importantly, builds on the foundations of Chinese culture that have been laid over hundreds, if not thousands of years. In this interview, Gao Jian of the School of English Studies at Shanghai International Studies University discusses the intellectual foundations of socialism in East and West, and how Chinese socialism draws on China’s deep intellectual and cultural heritage.