DOCSLIB.ORG

University of Sao Paulo University of Bologna

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
University of Sao Paulo University of Bologna UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA ANDREA PIAZZAROLI LONGOBARDI THE WORKERS’ UNIVERSITY IN THE CHINESE CULTURAL REVOLUTION SÃO PAULO 2018 ANDREA PIAZZAROLI LONGOBARDI The Workers University in the Chinese Cultural Revolution PhD Thesis submitted to the Program of Economic History of the University of São Paulo and to the Department of History of the University of Bologna in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in History Area of Studies: History Advisor: Professor Lincoln Ferreira Secco, Economic History Program, Department of History, University of São Paulo Co-Advisor: Professor Claudia Pozzana, Department of History, University of Bologna SÃO PAULO 2018 I authorize the partial or total reproduction of this work, by any digital or conventional means, for purposes of study or research, since the sources are referred. Autorizo a reprodução e divulgação total out parcial deste trabalho, por qualquer meio convencional ou digital, para fins de estudo e pesquisa, desde que citada a fonte. Serviço de Biblioteca e Documentação Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo LONGOBARDI, Andrea Piazzaroli – A Universidade dos Trabalhadores na Revolução Cultural Chinesa (The Workers University in the Chinese Cultural Revolution) / Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi; orientador Lincoln Ferreira Secco; coorientadora Claudia Pozzana. São Paulo, 2018. Tese (doutorado) – Departamento de História Econômica – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo. Área de concentração: História Econômica Nome: LONGOBARDI, Andrea Piazzaroli Titulo: A Universidade dos Trabalhadores na Revolução Cultural Chinesa (The Workers University in the Chinese Cultural Revolution) Phd thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in History in the Program of Economic History of the University of São Paulo and the Program of History in the University of Bologna Approved in _____________________________ Advisor _________________________________ Professor Lincoln Ferreira Secco University of São Paulo Co-advisor _______________________________ Professor Claudia Pozzana University of Bologna Professor: _______________________________ Institution: _______________________________ Professor: _______________________________ Institution: _______________________________ Professor: _______________________________ Institution: _______________________________ Dedicatory I dedicate this (unfinished) work and effort to my parents, who gave me everything so I could have, one day, attempted to write a PhD thesis. I dedicate this (unfinished) work and effort to all miners, peasants and workers that had engaged in the Revolution in Education, particularly, to an elderly Beijing miner that recently told me, with sparkling eyes, that: “at that time, everyone studied”. Acknowledgments Production is collective, also academic production. This thesis is the result of five years of research, to which many people collaborated. Without the help of many professors, colleagues, friends, I would not have been able to write this thesis. First, I must thank for the financial support I received from Brazilian’s Education Ministry agency CAPES during the last three years of the PhD. I also thank for the Association of Asian Studies for the CIAC grant I received in 2016, so we could organize an international conference in Brazil with the participation of many great professors from many countries. I am deeply grateful to my former advisors, Lincoln Secco, Claudia Pozzana and Alessandro Russo, who accepted me as their student even knowing this was a difficult topic of research, that required a long and uncertain process of scholarship. Professors Pozzana and Russo helped through the whole research, giving me access to innumerous documents and helping me analyze some of the events in focus. Also, I am very grateful to some Chinese professors, whom I unfortunately cannot mention here by name, since in China this still a delicate topic of study. However, I should say they helped me by giving documentation and the opportunity of personal meetings that I would never find for myself, and that gave not only historical resources that enriched the research, but also motivation and direction to write this thesis. I profoundly thank some close friends, who patiently listened to these stories many times, and helped me interpret some of the facts referred in this thesis: Marcos Visnadi, Tomaz Mefano, Gaia Perini, Gustavo Motta, Steve Payne, Carolina Menegatti. I am also specially grateful for some important advices I received from Tani Barlow, Christine Dabat, Ignacio Adriasola and Kim Cheehyung. Indeed, sometimes, a question asked by someone was the starting point to important decisions concerning this thesis. So I have to thank those who supported, also, those who criticized, because all questions and advices were (and still are) very important to this research. ABSTRACT During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, between 1966 and 1976, there were a series of debates inside and outside of the Party, that problematized the basic categories that defined Socialism. Some production units throughout the county set experimental schools in their spaces, summoning workers, peasants, students and cadres to gather in study groups and develop theoretical analysis of the ongoing political economic contexts. This thesis analyze the history of the Workers Universities in China during the Cultural Revolution, the mobilizations it engendered and the materials produced by the workers-students enrolled in these organizations. KEY WORDS: Cultural Revolution, workers, Socialism, education, labor, China RESUMO Durante a Revolução Cultural Chinesa, entre 1966 e 1976, houve uma serie de debates dentro e fora do Partido, que problematizaram categorias fundamentais que definiam o Socialismo. Algumas unidades de produção no país, organizaram escolas experimentais em suas instalações, convocando trabalhadores, estudantes e quadros para participarem de grupos de estudo e desenvolver analises teóricas da situação politica em curso. Esta tese analisa a historia das Universidades dos Trabalhadores durante a Revolução Cultural, suas problemáticas e desdobramentos, e alguns materiais produzidos por seus estudantes-trabalhadores. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Revolução Cultural, trabalhadores, Socialismo, educação, China Abbreviations CC – Central Committee CCP – Chinese Communist Party CR – Cultural Revolution MZDWG – Mao Zedong’s manuscripts after the foundation of the PRC PRC – Popular Republic of China RC – Revolutionary Committee SMA – Shanghai Municipal Archive SMTF – Shanghai Machine Tools Factory SPC – Shanghai Party Committee SRC – Shanghai Revolutionary Committee WPT – Workers Propaganda Team WU – Workers University Archives consulted: China: Cultural Revolution Archive, Fudan’s University, Shanghai Shanghai Municipal Archive (SMA) Italy and UK (during the doctoral exchange period financed by the Brazilian High Education Financial Program PDSE-CAPES): Pozzana-Russo Archive, University of Bologna (PRA) SOAS Chinese Library Digital Archives consulted: Digital archive of Chinese Studies at the SOAS University of London, consulted the SOAS Chinese Library The Chinese Cultural Revolution Database http://ccradb.appspot.com Research Net of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (中国文革研究网) www.wengewang.org Digital Archive “Ten Years of Cultural Revolution” (文革十年文献库) http://www.71.cn/acastudies/classicdoc/CulturalRevolutionLi/ Banned Thought http://www.bannedthought.net/ China Famine 1959-1961 (documents) http://www.yhcw.net/famine/index.html Collection of Mao Zedong’s Writtings (毛泽东博览) http://www.mzdbl.cn/maoxuan/ Marxist Philosophy (Chinese and English Databases) http://marxistphilosophy.org/ChinLangPhil.htm Marxists Internet Archive www.marxists.org Mass Line http://www.massline.org/ The Black Vault www.theblackvault.com Wilson Center Digital Archive http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………….. 11 Chapter 1 - An experiment to reveal our dark side: From the debate on the Democratic Centralism to the Cultural Revolution……………………………….. 19 Chapter 2 – From the Red Guards to the Workers University – Outlining the Line Struggle……………………………………………………………………………… 58 Chapter 3 – Construction is within destruction – negotiating proletarian power……. 101 Chapter 4 – Studying theory in production units…………………………………….. 155 Chapter 5 – Limiting Capitalism…………………………………………………….. 188 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………... 218 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………… 220 11 INTRODUCTION In this thesis, we attempt to outline the struggle between divergent economical politics during the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976). During those ten years, the opposing propositions for the State administrative organization and for the production relations unfolded in nationwide theoretical debates inside and outside of the Communist Party. This survey particularly deals on how these debated occurred within the organizations called Workers Universities, established in many production units.1 There is a great set of documentation, documents written about the Workers Universities and by its students. This documentation is available in many government or university’s archives, however, it was scarcely explored by academical scholarships. Claudia Pozzana and Alessandro Russo (professor at the Bologna University) were the first researchers to call attention to these collections and to the relevance of its content:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Knowledge Control and Social Contestation in China's
    Science in Movements This book analyzes and compares the origins, evolutionary patterns and consequences of different science and technology controversies in China, including hydropower resistance, disputes surrounding genetically modified organisms and the nuclear power debate. The examination combines social movement theories, communication studies, and science and technology studies. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book provides an insight into the interwoven relationship between social and political controls and knowledge monopoly, and looks into a central issue neglected by previous science communication studies: why have different con- troversies shown divergent patterns despite similar social and political contexts? It is revealed that the media environment, political opportunity structures, knowledge-control regimes and activists’ strategies have jointly triggered, nur- tured and sustained these controversies and led to the development of different patterns. Based on these observations, the author also discusses the significance of science communication studies in promoting China’ssocialtransformation and further explores the feasible approach to a more generic framework to understand science controversies across the world. The book will be of value to academics of science communication, science and technology studies, political science studies and sociology, as well as general readers interested in China’s science controversies and social movements. Hepeng Jia is a professor of communication at Soochow University, Suzhou, China. He has worked as a leading science journalist for 20 years and is also a pioneering researcher in the field of science journalism and communication in China. Chinese Perspectives on Journalism and Communication Series Editor: Wenshan Jia is a professor of communication at Shandong University and Chapman University. With the increasing impact of China on global affairs, Chinese perspectives on journalism and communication are on the growing global demand.
    [Show full text]
  • New China and Its Qiaowu: the Political Economy of Overseas Chinese Policy in the People’S Republic of China, 1949–1959
    1 The London School of Economics and Political Science New China and its Qiaowu: The Political Economy of Overseas Chinese policy in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1959 Jin Li Lim A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, September 2016. 2 Declaration: I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 98,700 words. 3 Abstract: This thesis examines qiaowu [Overseas Chinese affairs] policies during the PRC’s first decade, and it argues that the CCP-controlled party-state’s approach to the governance of the huaqiao [Overseas Chinese] and their affairs was fundamentally a political economy. This was at base, a function of perceived huaqiao economic utility, especially for what their remittances offered to China’s foreign reserves, and hence the party-state’s qiaowu approach was a political practice to secure that economic utility.
    [Show full text]
  • Resolution of the Central People's Government Committee on the Convening of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses
    Resolution of the Central People's Government Committee on the convening of the National People's Congress and local people's congresses January 14, 1953 The Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference stipulates: "The state power of the People's Republic of China belongs to the people. The organs through which the people exercise state power are the people's congresses and governments at all levels. The people's congresses at all levels are elected by the people by universal suffrage. The people’s congresses at all levels elect the people’s governments at all levels. When the people’s congresses at all levels are not in session, the people’s governments at all levels are the organs that exercise all levels of power. The highest organ of power in the country is the National People’s Congress. The government is the highest organ for the exercise of state power.” (Article 12) The Organic Law of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China stipulates: “The government of the People’s Republic of China is a government of the People’s Congress based on the principle of democratic centralism.” (Article 2) Three years ago, when the country was first established, many revolutionary work was still underway, the masses were not fully mobilized, and the conditions for convening the National People’s Congress were not mature enough. Therefore, in accordance with Article 13 of the Common Program, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference The first plenary session implements the functions and powers of the National People's Congress, formulates the Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, elects and delegates the functions and powers of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China to exercise state power.
    [Show full text]
  • Kaiming Press and the Cultural Transformation of Republican China
    PRINTING, READING, AND REVOLUTION: KAIMING PRESS AND THE CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN CHINA BY LING A. SHIAO B.A., HEFEI UNITED COLLEGE, 1988 M.A., PENNSYVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1993 M.A., BROWN UNIVERSITY, 1996 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AT BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2009 UMI Number: 3370118 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform 3370118 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 © Copyright 2009 by Ling A. Shiao This dissertation by Ling A. Shiao is accepted in its present form by the Department of History as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date W iO /L&O^ Jerome a I Grieder, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date ^)u**u/ef<2coy' Richard L. Davis, Reader DateOtA^UT^b Approved by the Graduate Council Date w& Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School in Ling A.
    [Show full text]
  • Provincial Autonomy and the Transformation of Chinese Election Law, 1920–1923
    Voter Education: Provincial Autonomy and the Transformation of Chinese Election Law, 1920–1923 Joshua Hill, Ohio University Abstract Beginning in 1909, mainland Chinese governments routinely held elections, and lawmakers devoted considerable resources to writing and revising election laws. The earliest elections, held under the late Qing and the early Republic, utilized laws based on restricted electorates and indirect voting. By contrast, election laws designed during the provincial autonomy movement of the 1920s and the post-1927 Nationalist government featured direct voting in elections with (near-)universal adult suffrage. Each of these two systems of electoral law incorporated different elements of foreign electoral practice with concerns and ideas that arose from the experiences and ideals of late imperial Chinese political thought. The transition between these two systems highlights the surprising influence of the short-lived provincial autonomy movement on the legal structures of the centralized one-party states that followed. Keywords: Republican China, election law Introduction: A Question for John Dewey Three months before the end of a lengthy sojourn in China, American educator and philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952) met with members of the Jiangsu Education Association (Jiangsu sheng jiaoyu hui) for a conversation on “current global trends in elections.” Among the Republic of China’s most influential voluntary associations, this Shanghai-based group included many of the nation’s most prominent political, intellectual, and business leaders. The first questioner at this April 9, 1921, event asked Dewey to comment on an election that had just taken place in China: Of course, republics ought to have parliaments, but the Chinese parliament—both the old one [elected in 1912, but disbanded and reconvened multiple times since] and the new one [elected in 1918 and permanently dissolved in 1920]—is a bankrupt institution.
    [Show full text]
  • Lin Biao Riding the Tiger During the Cultural Revolution 1966-1971
    FREDERICK C. TEIWES WARREN SUN The Tragedy of Lin Biao Riding the Tiger during the Cultural Revolution 1966-1971 Hong Kong University Press ~~*•.!!l.i)l,g,*!: • "' CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements page ix Abbreviations XVl Chapters 1. Introduction 1 2. Lin Biao: The Man and his Context 10 3. Lin Biao during the Active Phase of the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1968 56 4. Lin Biao during the Construction of the New Order, 1969-1971 103 5. Conclusion: Western Assumptions and Chinese Realities 161 Appendix: Lin Biao's Pre-Cultural Revolution Career, 1949-1965: A Critical Chronology 169 Select Bibliography 214 Index 231 Vll PHOTOGRAPHS Between pages 102 and 103 Lin Biao in 1937, as a commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. Lin Biao in Guangzhou, c. 1960, as Vice Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee. Lin Biao's family with Air ·Force Commander Wu Faxian, early Cultural Revolution period. Lin Biao and Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution period. Lin Biao with Mao and Zhou Enlai at Eleventh Plenum, August 1966. Lin Biao reading a speech to a mass reception of Red· Guards, Tiananmen, 31 August 1966. Mao, Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao during a Red Guard reception, 1966. Mao and Lin Biao on rostrum at Ninth Party Congress, April 1969. Lin Biao with the 'four generals', Lushan, September 1970. Mao receiving Edgar Snow, with Lin Biao and others. On the rostrum of Tiananmen during May Day celebrations, 1971, when the Mao-Lin relationship was under strain. Lin Biao's last public appearance, at a reception for Ceau~escu.
    [Show full text]
  • Enclosure 10
    Enclosure 10 Collaborations in Relativistic Astrophysics with China The exchange in the field of astrophysics between Italy and China has a long history dating back to the transfer to China of a telescope by Lì Mǎdòu (Matteo Ricci) and the translation in Chinese of the Euclid’s books by his student Xu Guangqi in the 16th century. In recent years the modern contributions in the field of Astrophysics has been carried forward by professor T.D. Lee and in the fields of Relativistic Field Theories and Einstein General Relativity Theory by professor C.N. Yang, both Nobel Laureates in 1956. They both were Chinese students of Enrico Fermi in 1940s. Following the first visit to China of professor Remo Ruffini in 1978, by invitation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) a vast number of collaborations have started in the field of Relativistic Astrophysics, following the classic article “Introducing the Black Hole” by Remo Ruffini and John Archibald Wheeler (Physics Today, January 1971, pages 30-41) in the Institute Advance Study (IAS) at Princeton. The first visit of prof Remo Ruffini to China, Beijing and Tsinghua Universities, National Observatories of CAS Based on a series of lectures delivered in China, Li Zhi Fang and Remo Ruffini wrote book “Basic Concepts of Relativistic Astrophysics” (World Scientific, 1983, Chinese version, Shanghai Scientific publisher 1981). This fundamental and didactical book has been worldwide used by undergraduate and graduate students for many generations. In 1982, with Nobel Laureate and president of the International center of theoretical physics (ICTP) prof. Abdus Salam and the president of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) prof.
    [Show full text]
  • I Dancing in the Squares by Yifan Wang Department of Humanities
    Dancing in the Squares by Yifan Wang Department of Humanities Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Ralph Litzinger, Supervisor ___________________________ Michael Hardt ___________________________ Diane Nelson Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Humanities in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 i v ABSTRACT Dancing in the Squares by Yifan Wang Department of Humanities Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Ralph Litzinger, Supervisor ___________________________ Michael Hardt ___________________________ Diane Nelson An abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Chemistry in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 Copyright by Yifan Wang 2015 Abstract “Guangchangwu,” or what is literally translated as “square-dancing,” is a form of public dance that has been exceedingly popular, albeit controversial, in China over recent years. Most of the participants are elderly women in their late-50s or above, who roughly fall in the category called “dama” (“big-mother”). Usually, a dancing group assembles in the evening and dances on a daily basis to the music played through a portable loudspeaker. Yet, because many dancing sites are in or close to residential compounds, the music played, or, the alleged “noise pollution,” have caused numerous conflicts nationwide. During the summer 2014, I conducted a three-months fieldwork on the dance in China. In this thesis, I first demonstrated how a specific guangchangwu dancing group organized in relation to the space it occupied, then I traced the media discourse of guangchangwu and showed how it became linked with elderly women, dama.
    [Show full text]
  • 04-10-1949: Conference for the Defense of World Peace
    1949 Meetings Dates of Meeting: 03-10-1949 – 04-10-1949 Type of Meeting: Conference for the defense of world peace Place of Meeting: Beijing Attendance: Zhu De, Li Jishen, Gao Gang, Chen Yi, Li Lisan, Lin Boqu, Wu Yuzhang, Dong Biwu, Tan Kah Kee, Xu Teli, Ma Yinchu, Chen Yun, Ma Xulun, Guo Moruo, Deng Xiaoping, Shen Junru, Shen Yanbing, Chen Shutong, Huang Yanpei, Zhang Bojun, Zhang Xiruo, Chen Mingshu , Tan Pingshan, Li Dequan, Feng Wenbin, Xiao San, Liang Xi and other democratic parties and specially invited representatives of the People’s Political Consultative Conference, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, All-China Democratic Youth Federation, All-China Democratic Women’s Federation, Farmers, All-China Literature The Art Circle and its affiliated associations, the All-China Association of Natural Sciences Workers, All-China Association of Social Scientists, All-China Association of Educators, All-China Association of Journalists and other preparatory committees, the People’s Liberation Army, the business community. There are more than 1,000 representatives from religious circles, ethnic minorities, overseas Chinese, and various regional organizations. The Soviet delegation of cultural, art and scientific workers, the Italian people’s representative of the Italian Communist Party Central Committee member, and the Korean people’s delegation that arrived during the meeting, vice chairman of the North Korean National Committee for World Peace. Major Agenda Items: Speeches/Reports: Lin Boqu: delivered the opening speech at the conference. He said: Today's conference shows to the world that our newly born People's Republic of China is firmly supporting world peace and resolutely opposing war of aggression.
    [Show full text]
  • Him Mark Lai Container List.Docx
    Finding Aid to the Him Mark Lai research files, additions, 1834-2009 (bulk 1970-2008) Collection number: AAS ARC 2010/1 Ethnic Studies Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Funding for processing this collection was provided by Mrs. Laura Lai. Date Completed: June 2014 Finding Aid Written By: Dongyi (Helen) Qi, Haochen (Daniel) Shan, Shuyu (Clarissa) Lu, and Janice Otani. © 2014 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. COLLECTION SUMMARY Collection Title: Him Mark Lai research files, additions, 1834-2009 (bulk 1970-2008) Collection Number: AAS ARC 2010/1 Creator: Lai, H. Mark Extent: 95 Cartons, 33 Boxes, 7 Oversize Folders; (131.22 linear feet) Repository: Ethnic Studies Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-2360 Phone: (510) 643-1234 Fax: (510) 643-8433 Email: [email protected] Abstract: The research files are a continuation of (AAS ARC 2000/80) Him Mark Lai’s collected sources, along with his own writings and professional activity materials that relate to the history, communities, and organizations of Chinese Americans and Chinese overseas. The collection is divided into four series: Research Files, including general subjects, people, and organizations; Writings, including books, articles and indexes; Professional activities, primarily including teaching lectures, Chinese Community Hour program tapes, In Search of Roots program materials, consultation projects, interviews with Chinese Americans, conference and community events; Personal, including memorial tributes; correspondence, photographs, and slides of family and friends. The collection consists of manuscripts, papers, drafts, indexes, correspondence, organization records, reports, legal documents, yearbooks, announcements, articles, newspaper samples, newspaper clippings, publications, photographs, slides, maps, and audio tapes.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S.-China Scientific Exchange: a Case Study of State-Sponsored Scientific Internationalism During the Cold War and Beyond
    ZUOYUE WANG* U.S.-China scientific exchange: A case study of state-sponsored scientific internationalism during the Cold War and beyond IN FEBRUARY 1972 President Richard Nixon of theUnited States embarked on his historic journey to Beijing. The dramatic tripnot only opened a new era in U.S.-China relations, but also began an exciting process ofmutual discovery be tween the two peoples. If it is true that, as the China scholar A, Doak Barnett wrote, "never in themodern period have twomajor societies been so isolated from each other for so long in peacetime," the end of the schism also brought forth unprecedented exchanges inmany walks of life, especially in academia.1 The geopolitical move by the two countries to counter Soviet aggression paved the way for interactions in science and other fields. The contacts flourished through the 1970s and expanded even furtherafter the establishment of diplomatic rela tions and the launching of China's economic reformsby the end of the 1970s. This intellectual open door proved to have profound social and political, as well as scientific, impact, especially in China, which had just begun to emerge from the devastating Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976. Despite itsconsiderable significance, scientificexchange has often been treated as a sideline inU.S.-China relations. Several excellent studies examine U.S.-China academic and educational exchanges, but theybarely touch on the scientific com *Department of History, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 91768. I thank Richard Suttmeier, Lawrence Badash, H. Lyman Miller, Gene Rochlin, Wolfgang Panofsky, Xiaojian Zhao, Fan Dainian, JimWilliams, Peter Westwick, Jessica Wang, and Benjamin Zulueta for reading drafts of the paper and for stimulating discussions and com ments.
    [Show full text]
  • Biophysics, Rockets, and the State
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository Biophysics, Rockets, and the State: the Making of a Scientific Discipline in Twentieth-Century China by Yi Lai Christine Luk A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved March 2014 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Ann Hibner Koblitz, Chair Hoyt Tillman Jane Maienschein ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2014 ABSTRACT This study takes biophysics––a relatively new field with complex origins and contested definitions––as the research focus and investigates the history of disciplinary formation in twentieth-century China. The story of building a scientific discipline in modern China illustrates how a science specialty evolved from an ambiguous and amorphous field into a full-fledged academic discipline in specific socio-institutional contexts. It focuses on archival sources and historical writings concerning the constitution and definition of biophysics in order to examine the relationship between particular scientific styles, national priorities, and institutional opportunities in the People's Republic of China. It argues that Chinese biophysicists exhibited a different style of conceiving and organizing their discipline by adapting to the institutional structure and political economy that had been created since 1949. The eight chapters demonstrate that biophysics as a scientific discipline flourished in China only where priorities of science were congruent with political and institutional imperatives. Initially consisting of cell biologists, the Chinese biophysics community redirected their disciplinary priorities toward rocket science in the late 1950s to accommodate the national need of the time. Biophysicists who had worked on biological sounding rockets were drawn to the military sector and continued to contribute to human spaceflight in post-Mao China.
    [Show full text]