Wang Xiangwei

China Briefing | China’s patriotism drive risks ostracising its intellectuals

If the intelligentsia are to free their minds – as the Communist Party has encouraged them to – they should be able to vent their feelings, too

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Wang Xiangwei

Published: 11:05am, 18 Aug 2018Updated: 11:05am, 18 Aug 2018

By nature, China’s intelligentsia is by and large a cautious, worrying and cynical lot. For good reason. Throughout Chinese history, they have often found themselves on the wrong side of the ruling class.

After the People’s Republic was founded in 1949, Mao Zedong first commanded intellectuals to be “red and expert”, meaning that they needed to be politically loyal first and strive to be professionally competent at the same time. Then during the catastrophic Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, they suffered inhuman treatment for speaking up or simply for what they were.

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After Deng Xiaoping came to power and put China on the path to reforms and opening up in 1978, he may have initially echoed the “red and expert” command but the rehabilitated intellectuals were more encouraged by his famous saying: “It does not matter whether the cat is white or black so long as it catches mice.”

A vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Photo: Nora Tam

Since then, the intelligentsia may have regained respect and standing but they still from time to time face strong headwinds because of the changing political sentiments in the corridors of power. For instance, intellectuals went through a wretched patch in the immediate aftermath of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, but in the first decade of the 21st century, many of them also relished a relatively relaxed atmosphere, in which there was fairly open debate in official media over the economic growth model and future direction of the country.

Behind closed doors, academics and thinkers could discuss even the most sensitive topics including political reform.