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Chinese Intellectuals and Science A History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Shuping Yao
Shuping Yao
Affiliation:
Institute for Policy and Management under The Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, founded in 1949 – the same year as the People's Republic of China – has attempted to use science to speed up technological, economic, and defense-related development, as well as the entire process of modernization. At' the same time, political structures on the development of science have hampered scientific output and kept it to a level that was far below what might have been expected from the creative potential of China's scientists.

Early in this century, when modern science was brought to China by foreign missionaries and by scientists and students returning from abroad, only a few people in the country were engaged in scientific research. In 1928 and 1929, two state-run comprehensive research establishments were founded: the Academia Sinica, consisting mainly of scientists who had studied in the United States, and the Peking Academy, consisting mainly of European-trained scientists. Two decades later, a month after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, a single national scientific research body was founded: the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). This article will review the contribution and status of the CAS, its successes and its failures in the ensuing forty years.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1989 , pp. 447 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

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2 “A Draft on the Establishment of the People's Academy of Sciences,” CAS Archives, CAS General Office, no. 7, 1950.

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7 When the Korean War broke out in the early 1950s, China and the United States were the principal belligerents. There was a political movement in China against obsession with the United States, whether Americophilia or Americophobia.

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21 Division members in China correspond to, but are not the same as, the academicians of many foreign countries. At one time the CAS planned to adopt the system of academicians after selecting division members, but the idea failed to win approval from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The status of division members and of the General Assembly of Division Members has been in a state of constant flux, corresponding to changes in the political climate.

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24 In China, those who follow Marxism and support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party are called leftists, while those who oppose Marxism and the Communist Party are called rightists. In 1957, Chinese democratic factions and some intellectuals were invited to criticize the Communist Party during its rectification movement, but their behavior was later considered antiparty and antisocialist. There was a strong movement to launch a counterattack on the so-called bourgeois rightists throughout the country. The rightists, because of their heterodox opinions, were considered enemies and treated accordingly-criticized, demoted, expelled from the Party, discharged from employment, reformed through forced labor, even imprisoned.

In modern China, there have been people who claimed to be leftist, but their actions and theories have opposed the Party and Marxism. The Chinese call them “leftist in form, rightist in fact.” The Gang of Four are an example.

25 The Great Leap Forward refers to an economic program put forward in 1958. Characterized by unrealistic goals and arbitrary and impracticable directions, it covered the fields of industry, agriculture, and science and brought terrible destruction to China.

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28 Ibid., no. 5, 1958.

29 Ibid., no. 1, 1958.

30 From the 1950s to the 1970s, on every January 1st (New Year's Day), May 1st (Labor Day), July 1st (Party's Birthday), and October 1st (National Day), people in industry, agriculture, and science would announce their achievements at a special ceremony. The Party leaders concerned would acknowledge the achievements, indicating that they had been gained under the Party's leadership. The ceremony was thus called “offering gifts to the Party.”

31 It is an ancient tradition in China to put up a stage and invite people to step forth and engage in a display of martial skill. During the Great Leap Forward, this model was followed in setting scientific targets – which made the targets quite unscientific. Most scientists were disgusted with this method; but because of political pressures they had no choice but to suppress their rage and remain silent.

32 Science News in Brief, n.s. no. 3 (19 July 1958).

33 Ibid.

34 Big-character posters (dazibao), which had emerged in the Antirightist Struggle in 1957, were a method of mass movement. They were widely used during the Cultural Revolution. People used bigcharacter posters to criticize someone else or to represent their own opinions. Chinese scientists were especially prone to public criticism in this manner.

35 Science News in Brief, n.s. no. 21 (20 April 1959).

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37 “A Corpus of CAS Statistical Data Between 1949 and 1980,” compiled and printed by the CAS Planning Bureau, July 1981.

38 Since the ideology-remolding campaign in the early 1950s, Chinese scientists had often felt severely constrained. At this series of forums, at which no notes were taken and no investigations made, those scientists who had been frightened to open their mouths felt as free as the gods- hence the term “meetings of immortals.”

39 As early as the drafting of the twelve-year plan for science and technology in 1956, basic research had been neglected. Particularly after the Great Leap Forward in 1958, the stress was on research emphasizing the completion of definite tasks. The phenomenon has been called “initiating projects to promote disciplines.” Basic research was neglected, even suppressed, over a long period of time.

40 Science News in Brief, Supplement no. 4 (3 July 1961).

41 Ibid.

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49 In January 1967, the followers of the Gang of Four instigated the masses in Shanghai to seize power.The practice soon became prevalent throughout the country. Most organizations were paralyzed, and normal order was destroyed.

50 CAS Archives, Party Committee, no. 1, 1968.

51 After China and the Soviet Union openly split in 1960, China called the Soviet Union revisionist.During the Cultural Revolution, those considered anti-Marxist were no longer called rightists, but revisionists.

52 CAS Archives, Party Committee, no. 1, 1969.

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55 See n.52.

56 Minutes of a Meeting of the Leading Party Nucleus of the CAS, 13 July 1973, CAS Archives, no. 4,1973

57 See n. 14.

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61 After the Cultural Revolution the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, led by Hua Guofeng, asserted that “every decision made by Chairman Mao should be resolutely supported, and every instruction of Chairman Mao should be unswervingly followed.” A dispute in 1978 concerning the assertion “experience is the sole criterion for judging truth” revealed strong opinions against it. Because the Cultural Revolution had been launched by Mao Zedung, only by acknowledging experience to be “the sole criterion for judging truth” was it possible to negate the Cultural Revolution and criticize Mao to a certain extent.

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69 Basic research does not fall under the rubric of either “sophisticated projects” that serve national defense (e. g., superconductor research) or “major projects” that serve the national economy (e. g., bringing the Huanghe, Huaihe, Haihe rivers under control). However, it is a prerequisite for all “sophisticated” and “major” projects - for developing science, applying future technology, and training qualified professionals.

70 A slogan during the Cultural Revolution was: “the working class must occupy the superstructure.”Since science and technology were considered part of the superstructure, workers' propaganda teams came to the CAS and universities. It became a legal and rational practice for workers to lead scientists.After the Cultural Revolution, to correct this absurd situation, the new leaders proposed that science and technology be part of the productive force, thus freeing them from ideological entanglement. This concept had a positive effect at the time. Today, however, more and more people recognize that science is not the same as technology and should not be viewed as a productive force.

71 After 1949, scientists were always called bourgeois intellectuals. Nonetheless, premier Zhou Enlai, in his addresses in 1956 and 1962, recognized the progress they had made, and this recognition was very important to the Chinese scientists at the time. It showed at least a certain trust in and respect for them.During the Cultural Revolution, however, they were once again publicly labeled bourgeois intellectuals.Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, they have been rehabilitated and recognized as part of the working class. Their social status has thus been raised and secured.

72 “Several Opinions on Improving the Treatment toward Intellectuals,” October 1987, Ministry of Labor and Personnel Report.

73 CAS Annual Report,1981), CAS General Office,1984, p. 54.Google Scholar

74 “Hold Higher the Great Banner of Mao Zedong Thought, Vigorously Give Prominence to Policies and Carry Out Further Revolutionization - Outline of the CAS's Work in 1966,” CAS Archives, Party Committee, no. 4, 1966.

75 Science News in Brief, n.s. no. 20 (1 03 1959), p. 3.Google Scholar