Abstract
The increasing flow of Chinese graduate students to the West for advanced study is examined in the context of earlier attempts to modernize China by introducing ideas and technologies from abroad. The author suggests that the theory of communicative action associated with Habermas may provide a framework for examining the quality and nature of the intellectual interaction now taking place between Chinese scholars and their counterparts in the universities of the capitalist world. This discussion uses three episodes as points of focus; firstly the discussion over intellectual freedom on the 30th anniversary of the “Hundred Flowers” movement, secondly the debate over political structure reform and finally the student movement of December 1986. The author argues that these occurrences are linked to a fundamental change in the knowledge orientation of Chinese universities.
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Hayhoe, R. China's intellectuals in the world community. High Educ 17, 121–138 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137967