Gan was a professor of political philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and is now director of the Department of Liberal Arts of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. In the 1980s. He joined the New Left in the 1990s, and beginning in 2000, began to defend the Confucian revival, announcing his support for the creation of a “socialist Confucian republic”.
Journal Articles
Translation of Essays
- Gan, Yang. “A preliminary comparison of the reforms at Beijing University and Zhongshan University.” Chinese Education and Society. 38.1 (Jan-Feb 2005): 62-74.
- Gan, Yang.“The Beida reform follows the example of ‘peach pickers’ but should spend more time ‘planting peach trees’.” Chinese Education and Society. 38.1 (Jan-Feb 2005): 75-79.
- Gan, Yang. “The Chinese idea of universities and the Beida reform.” Chinese Education and Society. 37.6 (Nov-Dec 2004): 85-97.
- Gan, Yang. “Build a country with a united constitutional government rooted in individual freedom and rights.” China Strategic Review. 1.4 (Jul 5 1996): 5-9.
- Gan, Yang. “Build a country with a united constitutional government rooted in individual freedom and rights.” China Strategic Review. 1.5 (Aug 5 1996): 16-19.
- Gan, Yang., Liu, Xiaofeng., Zhang, Zhilin. “Classical Western studies in China.” Trans. Chang, Michael. Chinese Cross Currents. 9.3 (Jul 2012): 98-114.
Collections and Book Chapters
- Gan, Yang. “The citizen and the constitution.” Trans. Chen, Chaohua.. One China, Many Paths. Ed. Chen, Chaohua. London; New York: Verso, 2003. 257-273.
- Gan, Yang. “Debating liberalism and democracy in China in the 1990s.” Whither China? Intellectual politics in contemporary China. Ed. Zhang, Xudong. Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, 2001. 79-101.