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| 2002年11月22日15:15:17 新东方 |
Chinese Intellectuals in Straits
This is a comparative study of how Chinese intellectuals have fared in old China and new China. While authorities claim that Chinese intellectuals under communism have been emancipated, critics of today's China often charge that its system has been as harsh as, if not harsher than, the country's old regimes. This study is aimed at helping to answer a question often under debate: has New China changed the life Of Chinese intellectuals for the better or worse?
More than in most other countries, intellectuals in China form a separate and special class, identified by common educational experiences and a shared sense of mission. The term in Chinese covers considerably more people than in English. In English, intellectuals are those who are mainly, if not exclusively, concerned with thinking and understanding. In this study, the term is defined as it is usually understood in Chinese, referring basically to all those who have received more than a secondary education, regardless of their profession. Under this definition, it makes sense to talk about "an intellectual officia1" or "an intellectual youth."
After this introductory chapter, the study begins with a detailed review of the studies undertaken so far on Chinese intellectuals, particular1y those by modern Chinese scholars. Among those given special attention are Feng Youlan, Xiong Deli, Li Zehou. Also reviewed are the relevant research by Du Weimin and John Fairbanks. It is upon a careful summary of the statements and conclusions that these and other people drew that this study has been undertaken.
The study is conducted under the conceptual framework of the FJH hypothesis, a theory named after the three academics who advanced it in the l970s. They argued that social mobility, the degree to which people rise or fall from the class into which they were born, was about the same in all industrialized societies where children grow up in nuclear families. This theory was well supported by 30 of the world's top sociologists in an unprecedented study of social mobility that covered subjects in several continents.
That study, reported in the November 1995 issue of the high-brow British magazine Prospect through the article Social Mobility--Plus the change by Gordon Marshall and Adam Swift, found that revolutionary change does little in the drive to advance social justice. For the great majority of people, life chances seem to be the same in every industrial country. Whether left wing or right wing, communist or capitalist, early industrialized nation or late, all countries protect privilege to a similar degree. Neither has there been any change over time. The researchers could find no tendency towards more open societies this century.
As research in that study was conducted on industrialized countries, it remains to be seen whether its conclusion can be extrapolated to non-industrialized countries like China. Assuming that the communist takeover did spell the beginning of a new era for the Chinese people, it is interesting to see whether the intellectuals, among others, have had a better chance to attain high positions, exercise their influence, and realize their life-goals. Conversely, it should be asked whether, in new China, they have run a greater risk of being demoted, persecuted or killed. Answers to these questions will help determine to what extent, if any, the FJH hypothesis can be applied to non-industrialized countries. Such a determination may have enormous implications for revolutionary changes in the developing countries.
The study is pursued by way of a random survey on intellectuals in old China and new China. Assuming that old China was relatively consistent in its treatment of intellectuals, this study first examines the life patterns of ten historical intellectuals, two in each of the last five major Chinese dynasties, randomly chosen from among the 20 best known intellectuals in their respective times. It then examines the life patterns of ten modern intellectuals, two in each of the five decades in the history of new China, also chosen randomly from the 20 best known intellectuals in their respective times.
The examination will be based on the operationalization of the intellectuals' life experience into several aspects. Among these are:
(1) their social mobility between birth and death;
(2) the number of ups and downs in their lives;
(3) their political standing or influence at the peak of their career;
(4) the extent to which they realize their life goals;
(5) the depth of their frustration.
Upon careful analysis of the data, the study ends with the conclusion that revolutionary change does not significantly improve the life of Chinese intellectuals, which points to the possibility that other people do not see dramatic improvement to their lot either. Revolutionary changes entail high social and human cost but the result is often mediocre. Conversely, evolutionary changes such as those engineered through gradual reforms may bring about positive changes at a minimum of social and human cost. While this conclusion does not sound sympathetic to the Chinese revolutions, even democratic ones, will not necessarily better the fate of the Chinese people. In other words, this conclusion is an inherently conservative conception, and as such, it must be music to the powers that be.
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