Lijia Zhang

Opinion | Shrinking role of China’s public intellectuals will hold back country’s rise

After a rise to prominence in the early 2000s, the country’s public intellectuals have lost credibility as tolerance for criticism of China has shrunk

Suppressing these people leaves fewer voices to suggest new ways forward, with top leaders stuck in an echo chamber with little ability to correct mistakes

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Bao Tong, aide to the late reform-minded former Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang, holds a photo of Zhao as he speaks at his home in Beijing on April 23, 2014. Bao, a leading voice for political reform in the Communist Party who was purged after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, died on November 9 at age 90. Photo: AP

Lijia Zhang

Published: 3:30am, 17 Nov 2022

Bao Tong, a liberal-minded intellectual and a top adviser to former premier Zhao Ziyang, recently died, days after his 90th birthday. As I read through his obituaries, I realise with great sadness that it is hard to imagine today’s public intellectuals playing a similar role to Bao’s in the 1980s.

The public intellectual in China has had a roller-coaster ride. In 2004, the influential Guangzhou-based publication Southern People Weekly published a “Top 50 Public Intellectuals” list. It included well-established scholars, writers, journalists and artists, among others, many of whom had called for political reform and liberalisation.

The Weekly said China was at a point “when it most needs public intellectuals to be on the scene and to speak out”. The list was circulated widely and popularised the term gongzhi, or public intellectual. The reputation of gongzhi quickly rose, but its glow soon faded.

Two months later, the hardline Liberation Daily attacked public intellectuals because their independence drove a wedge between the intellectuals and the party. It also claimed the concept was a foreign import. The article was then reprinted in the People’s Daily.

Of course, ancient China had its share of public intellectuals, or the equivalent thereof. Confucius was perhaps the first and most renowned one as he not only taught his philosophy but also offered advice to various statesmen. In ancient times, such scholars had the responsibility to advise top officials and even emperors.

In contemporary China, the intelligentsia went from serving the state to serving the market without securing their autonomy. In recent decades, amid stricter social control and rising nationalism, the space for intellectual inquiry has been greatly diminished. Now under President Xi Jinping’s iron rule, the traditional role of the literati is under further threat.