Free thought shunned
What good is a private intellectual?
CSM: In a move intended to muffle the voices of some of China’s most prominent and independent scholars and activists, hard-line elements in the new Hu Jintao government are seeking to eradicate the concept of “public intellectuals” in China.
A new “gray list” has been created, sources say, of historians, economists, writers, environmentalists, and other Chinese who have offered a critical voice or been influential in recent years in Chinese society outside official circles, and who have started to be referred to as “public intellectuals.” The term until now has connoted dignity and worth….Public intellectuals are often guilty of “arrogant elitism,” the editorial continued, accusing them of trying to create a “hegemony and monopoly” of their own views and urging the Chinese people, most of whom are not familiar with the meaning of public intellectual, to “stay calm” in the face of such challenges.
