Can you really be an intellectually honest public intellectual in China today? Could you, for example, discuss the pros and cons of Xi Jinping’s rule to date? If you don’t think that’s a crucial criterion, try to imagine David Brooks NOT opining on Obama, Trump or Biden for the past 16 years. Kinda impossible to imagine that.
Indeed, plenty of Chinese folks have the beliefs and values that could mark them as the David Brooks of China, but those folks haven't made names for themselves. I met several such individuals in my time at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center - some students, some professors. Among them, the precious few who have been willing to write boldly and publicly don't have spouses or children. My sense is that most Chinese folks don't think being a public intellectual (keyword "public") is worth the risks it could pose, especially with regard to their family members.
But more seriously, hasn't the civic space in China contracted in the last so many years? It's difficult for me to imagine intellectuals becoming well-known in the West if they can't become well-known at home.
Perhaps independent intellectuals in China don't provide what you're looking for. China's political system provides its own explanations (perhaps helpful for Western understanding) through publications like the People's Daily and Qiushi ...
Can you really be an intellectually honest public intellectual in China today? Could you, for example, discuss the pros and cons of Xi Jinping’s rule to date? If you don’t think that’s a crucial criterion, try to imagine David Brooks NOT opining on Obama, Trump or Biden for the past 16 years. Kinda impossible to imagine that.
Indeed, plenty of Chinese folks have the beliefs and values that could mark them as the David Brooks of China, but those folks haven't made names for themselves. I met several such individuals in my time at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center - some students, some professors. Among them, the precious few who have been willing to write boldly and publicly don't have spouses or children. My sense is that most Chinese folks don't think being a public intellectual (keyword "public") is worth the risks it could pose, especially with regard to their family members.
Is Ren Yi ("Chairman Rabbit") still writing?
But more seriously, hasn't the civic space in China contracted in the last so many years? It's difficult for me to imagine intellectuals becoming well-known in the West if they can't become well-known at home.
Perhaps independent intellectuals in China don't provide what you're looking for. China's political system provides its own explanations (perhaps helpful for Western understanding) through publications like the People's Daily and Qiushi ...
Hu Xijin.