Zheng Yongnian: How to build a strong country

Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Dean of Qianhai International Affairs Research Institute. Mainly engaged in research on Chinese politics, Sino -US relations, foreign policies and other studies. Publishing "Grand Trends: China's Next", "Chinese Model", "Chinese Civilization Revival", "Globalization and the Transformation of China" and other works.

Special thanks to the invitation of the organizer of "Academic China · 2022". This is a very important forum. Today, my country -China, how to build and build a strong country, to share some of my opinions with you, please criticize and correct it.

We have been discussing the construction of a socialist modern power. In my opinion, the socialist modern power is not only a powerful country in material and institutional sense, but also a strong country and a strong country in the knowledge system. my country is now the second largest economy in the world, but there are still many problems, such as the lack of original knowledge and ideas. Since modern times, social sciences have been learned from the West, or imported from the West. Over time, the theoretical system of social sciences is too influenced by the West, mainly in several aspects.

First, the understanding of history is basically in a "Europeanization" state. For example, the feudal society in the West, especially the religious dark era after the disintegration of the Roman Empire, is the feudal society; but since the Qin Shihuang reunification country, we have no such feudal society. The same is true of capitalist buds. Why did the problems of capitalism in the Ming and Qing dynasties in the Ming and Qing dynasties sprouts in the Ming and Qing dynasties many years, why is it Ming and Qing? Mainly Western capitalism was equivalent to the bud in the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. From the perspective of Chinese history, the Tang and Song dynasties may be more capitalist than the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Second, the understanding of reality, especially the understanding of reform and opening up is too "American". Since the reform and opening up, many people have studied in the United States and have learned a lot of "quantified", micro -field social sciences from the United States, and used these methods to study China. Chinese politics must be developed, and the economy to develop may not become American -style market liberalization, or American -style democratization. We have our own marketization and our own democratization.

Third, scholars' definitions of themselves. In the Western sense, Professor first means Profession, a occupation, which means professional knowledge creator. And our professor basically teaches knowledge, and there are few original things. So our professional spirit, the spirit of knowledge creation has not been established. This situation is not only harmful to academic research, but also harmful to politics. If a country's knowledge system is not based on its own theory and its own practical experience, but to guide practice with Western theories, it will often lead to a wrong direction. For example, Turkey, there are some examples of failure in the Middle East country.

What should I do?

First, scholars and intellectuals should be allowed to create and pursue original knowledge independently. We have always said that "governing the country according to law", and I want to propose a concept is to "study according to law." Knowledge is responsible. The more influential intellectuals, the greater the right to speak, but the words need to be responsible and have a boundary. These responsibilities and boundaries must be regulated by law, and laws must be used to regulate academic activities.

Secondly, you need to think about methodology. Social scientists in the West have already tried many methodology since modern times. They use these methodology to observe social practice, explain history, and improve their concepts and theories. I do not advocate the concepts and theories of simply learning the West, but to learn some objective methods, use these methods to re -observe our practical experience and reality, look at our history, and then build social science based on practical experience theory.

Third, we must reform the teaching and research system. Any country needs administrative management, but it cannot allow the administrative system to dominate academic activities. Another point is that our scientific research funds should be tilted to young people to encourage innovation. In addition, our current review system is too western, and even more western than the West. The review system cannot restrict academic creation activities and ideological creation activities.

In the end, I especially emphasize that as a scholar, we must build self -identification. As a professional knowledge creator, scholars should be independent to de -capital and de -flowing. Without such self -identification, no matter how good the conditions are, it is difficult to create original knowledge and original ideas.

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Zheng Yongnian

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