Conscience and Responsibility of Intellectuals:
The neglected "Yang Xiaokai phenomenon" ▍ "Yang Xiaokai phenomenon" · Mentors and friends praised him endlessly
· Academic dissidents admire his scholarship and personality
The promise of many scholars is not as good as the earnestness of one scholar
· He is highly regarded by economists who influence China's reform decisions
· He is highly praised by scholars outside the field of economics
· Nobel laureates spoke highly of him
· His thoughts have profoundly influenced business elites
Yang Xiaokai phenomenon
▍The appearance of "Yang Xiaokai Phenomenon" · Legendary life experience · Three major original contributions · Unique personality
However, all the above are just appearances.
It is difficult for Xiao Kai to rest in peace, but we still have to advise him to rest in peace, because the precious legacy he left behind will become part of the tradition.
——In the past two hundred years, the Chinese people have opened their eyes to the world and learned from the small traditions of the West;
——For two thousand years, Chinese intellectuals have had a strong tradition of family and country feelings.
▍The Westernization Movement: Modernization with braids
▍Two times of constitutional establishment: a pot of half-cooked "rice with uncooked rice"
A successful change requires at least three major conditions:
Thoughts, Times and Wisdom
· Thoughts
The idea behind the constitutional monarchy that the Reform Movement of 1898 wanted to imitate was to limit the power of the king.
· Wisdom
Thoughts must be pure, but political practice requires the wisdom of compromise
·Current situation
The transformation from tradition to modernity requires not only a change in the thinking of the elite
What is more needed is a conceptual transformation among the general public.
▍The interruption of “the spread of Western learning to the East”
· The timing for China to learn from the West is very unfortunate
· Salvation trumps enlightenment
· There is a bias in the understanding of Western civilization and enlightenment
▍The "Yang Xiaokai Phenomenon" at the Crossroads of History
▍Chinese Intellectuals
three different
Life Care and "Yang Xiaokai Phenomenon"
open - closed - open
Political care, ideological care and professional care.
The biggest problem is that too much emphasis is placed on Chinese culture and tradition, while the understanding of Western civilization is superficial.
In Yang Xiaokai, political concern, cultural concern, and professional concern coexist at the same time, and it is difficult to say which one is more obvious.
(Due to space limitations, I will not expand on this here. Please read "Born to Death: Yang Xiaokai and His Three Paradigm Revolutions" to get a full picture)
▍Chinese Love and the Dream of Freedom
You have to break out of history, understand conservatism, and become an economist
On his deathbed, Yang Xiaokai titled one of his speeches "Chinese Love and the Dream of Freedom", which shows that his love for the motherland comes from the bottom of his heart.
Yang Xiaokai wrote a lot in his life, but unfortunately, his works were once nowhere to be found. In 2018, with the joint efforts of Yang Xiaokai's relatives, friends, students, and publishers, "Yang Xiaokai Academic Library" (nine volumes) (out of print, the most complete version) was finally compiled and published for the first time - Prophet Bookstore has the honor to sell it exclusively.
I only hope that Yang Xiaokai’s thoughts will become part of the tradition;
I hope the "Yang Xiaokai phenomenon" will no longer be an isolated case.
▾ Click on the image below ▾
▍Extended reading
Machine-translated from the Chinese original 知识分子的良知与责任：被忽略的“杨小凯现象” (published 2020-09-27). WeChat original ↗