[Depth] After Fu Gaoyi's death, will there be a fault in the West?
[Global Times Special Correspondent in the United States, Germany, France Xiao Yan Qingmu Yao Meng Global Times reporter Bai Yunyi] In an unforgettable 2020, many heavyweight world celebrities have passed away.
Fu Gaoyi, a well-known American scholar who is not only an "old friend of the Chinese people" in the field of international politics, but also a "Japanese master" by the Japanese, evoked sorrow.
After the death of Fu Gaoyi, many people in the domestic academic circles are discussing whether there will be fewer and fewer "old Chinese friends" in Washington?
Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" also published an article saying that "the decline of the'zhihua faction' is worrying."
However, it is not difficult to find from the observations of reporters from the Global Times that American people of insight are more worried about the decline of the "Knowing China". Under the background of "confrontation and hostility", the older generation of "Knowing China" has been separated. Going will highlight the faults in the research on China in the United States.
As Diao Daming, an associate professor of the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, said in an interview with reporters a few days ago, a group of older American "knowledgers" represented by Fu Gaoyi, their research on China is "somewhat favorable." Or at least it started with "curiosity" and then got a deeper understanding of China's historical and social changes. In contrast, many "young and strong" Chinese affairs scholars in the United States today study China for the purpose of "helping the United States." Confronting China", and they also transmitted this view and sentiment to more American people.
The United States also worries about the decline of the "Knowing China School"
The death of Fu Gaoyi has once again sparked discussions about whether the American "Knowing China School" has declined.
In fact, this issue was not first raised by Chinese academic circles.
As early as a few years ago, there were such concerns in the United States, especially when many older generations of "Knowing China" "fade out of the river" due to age, health, and political stance.
For example, Li Kanru, the 77-year-old former senior director of Asian Affairs of the White House National Security Council, has less participated in activities due to physical reasons.
Doug Bao, the vice president of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace, moved his family to California and is in semi-retirement.
In the past four years, more experts on China issues have lost policy influence due to their opposition to Trump's China policy.
In many years of interview work, the "Global Times" reporters in the United States have come into contact with many older generations of "China Experts". Many of them have a deep "love" with China. Regardless of Sino-US relations, they can be objective from a historical perspective. Look at the problem.
For example, Rui Xiaojian, the former US ambassador to China, was born in Nanjing, China in 1935. His father Rui Taoan has long taught at Jinling University.
After graduating from university in 1956, Rui Xiaojian, who is fluent in Chinese, joined the US State Department.
As one of the "China Masters", Rui Xiaojian was sent to Beijing in 1978 as the deputy director of the US Liaison Office in China, and participated in the entire process of Sino-US diplomatic negotiations.
Ambassador Rui Xiaojian, who witnessed the Japanese invasion of China in Nanjing in his childhood and throughout the Cold War in his career, emphasized the importance of mutual understanding and cooperation between the United States and China on all occasions.
I remember that after a seminar, Ambassador Rui suddenly told a reporter from the Chinese Department of "Voice of America" that you, as a Chinese-language media affiliated to the U.S. government, followed the Taiwan authorities and called President Trump "Trump." The press is different, "Voice of America must change it immediately."
Faced with the anti-China wave since Trump came to power, many scholars of "China-awareness" have come forward.
In July 2019, a hundred "China Experts" including Fu Gaoyi published an open letter "China is not an enemy" to President Trump and members of Congress in the Washington Post.
Soon, a young American scholar on Chinese issues told reporters in private that the "China Connect" who signed the open letter became increasingly "alien" in the United States.
Some young scholars said that even if they agree with part of the content of the open letter, they are reluctant to sign it. One of the reasons is that "McCarthyism" is already looming in the United States today, and they don't want to get into trouble because of it—not only for the Trump administration Attacks on China all day, academic institutions and scholars that have contacts with China will also be investigated by the FBI, not to mention some "reveal reports" by American media with ulterior motives.
An American expert who asked not to be named told reporters that he decided not to visit China in the next few years to avoid being labelled pro-China.
Some experts in the American academic circles believe that after the decline of the old generation of "Knowing China", the field of China research in the United States is experiencing faults.
Although the new generation of experts on China issues is not large in number, their academic level and attitude towards China are completely different from the older generation.
Daoge Bao, who served as the special assistant to President Bush Sr. and the senior director of Asian Affairs for the National Security Council, told the Global Times reporter two or three years ago that as the older generation of "China Communication" gradually withdrew from the stage of history, the United States, dominated by the young and strong faction China policy is rapidly becoming tough, which will lead to a decline in the quality of US foreign policy decisions.
Baodaoge believes that the main reason for this change is that the new generation of American experts on China has not experienced the Second World War and the Cold War, and they don't know what kind of disaster the great powers will bring to the world once they enter a state of confrontation.
Moreover, most of the new generations of American "China Communicators" do not speak Chinese and have no long-term life experience in China. They neither understand China’s history nor the current situation in China. From the perspective of "and the game", we understand Sino-US relations from the perspective of maintaining US global hegemony.
"McCarthyism" also liquidated the German "Knowing China"?
Whether it is a German scholar on China or in the German-Chinese scholar circle, many people also sighed to the "Global Times" reporter. In the past 10 years, there seems to be no master-level "Knowing China" scholars in Germany, and there is no sensation Chinese research works.
Dleher Witlov, a Hamburg scholar on China, told the Global Times that during the decades after the Second World War and the reunification of Germany, due to the influence of the Cold War factors, Germany's research on China was "wasteful".
After the reunification of Germany, the influence of China has increased rapidly in the world. German scholars studying China have multiplied, and their research fields have continued to expand.
The University of Trier, the University of Tübingen, and the University of Hamburg have established Sinology Departments and related majors in China to carry out Chinese teaching and research work.
There are also some specialized research institutions in Germany, such as the German Global and Regional Research Institute, which have conducted extensive and in-depth research on China.
As a result, some well-known experts on China have also appeared in Germany, such as the director of the Institute of Political Science and East Asia of Duisburg University, and the former chairman of the German-Chinese Friendship Association, Professor Thomas Heberle, who wrote "Enterprises as a Strategic Group Home: Research on the Social and Political Functions of Private Entrepreneurs in China", which studies the development of private entrepreneur groups in China based on the theory of "strategic groups", has become an international frontier work in this research field.
In addition, there are famous experts on China issues Eberhard Sandschneider and others.
But in Witrov's view, it is not easy to become a master-level expert on China in Germany.
Not only must they have a clear and three-dimensional understanding of China, but they must also study and analyze China in a very neutral manner. They must not be ideologically biased and must be universally recognized by China, Germany and the international community.
Witlov believes that, including Germany, the number of master-level experts on China issues in Western countries has decreased. There are many reasons behind this.
On the one hand, predecessors have done more and more in-depth studies on China in the past, and it is difficult for a new generation of scholars to have epoch-making insights.
On the other hand, most Chinese scholars now study contemporary China.
However, China's development is too fast and too complicated to catch up with the "Chinese speed."
In addition, after Trump came to power, the U.S. government and some institutions launched an ideological battle against China. This trend has blown into some European countries. "Knowing China" is often more likely to be involved in disputes and even become "McCarthyism." The object of liquidation.
Recently, the famous German journalist Wolfgang Sheen wrote a book called "Shenzhen: Tomorrow's World Economy", calling Shenzhen, a metropolis in southern China, a "high-tech metropolis", thinking it is the world economy New centers in China, leading future trends in electric vehicles, genetic engineering or artificial intelligence.
The new book also calls on Germany to switch from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen.
This book, which appeared to many readers to be very objective, was unreasonably criticized by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media. Even the "China Bridge" organization of which Sheen was a founding member was also criticized.
A German scholar who did not want to be named, who studied China, told the Global Times reporter that the "hawks" in the West are now unwilling to see China's economic growth amidst the epidemic, and they use the "knowledge of China" as a "vent of anger". This has seriously affected the normal work of Chinese scholars.
The scholar also said that there is still a trend that he regrets, that is, many young experts are more inclined to view China's rise from a geopolitical perspective, and to pay too much attention to the influence of Beijing's external projection and the threat to US global leadership.
Scholars studying China are actually increasing
When the famous French sinologist and historian Xie Henai died on March 3, 2018, many people also mentioned the prosperous emergence of French sinology researchers from the 19th century to the beginning of this century, such as Gaudí and Shawan. , Bosihe, Glenyan, Wang Demei, etc.
It is also said that although during the Cold War, the study of China in France was also affected. For example, Perefitte, a famous figure in French politics and academia, caused academic research when he wrote "When China Awakens, the World Will Shake About It" The criticism from the world is regarded as "ideologically incorrect."
However, scholars such as Perefit have never said anything, unlike many Western public opinion critics who use Western standards to measure China.
It is worth noting that while there seem to be fewer masters in Europe and the United States, the number of scholars studying China is increasing.
Take France as an example. With China's reform and opening up, French teaching of Chinese has also developed rapidly. Some scholars have increasingly refined their research on Chinese issues, such as those who specialize in Wenzhou people in France.
In recent years, some French geopolitical scientists, economists, and political scientists have conducted cross-border research on China at various levels and angles, and a large number of articles and books on China have also appeared.
At the same time, professional institutions for the study of China have also continued to emerge. In addition to traditional sinology and China studies centers such as the Advanced Social Sciences, the National Research Center, and the University of Paris, a series of other research institutions, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions have also established China Studies. The group or center has greatly expanded the breadth and depth of China research.
German scholar Witloff believes that the topic of studying China in Europe and the United States is indeed getting more and more detailed. This requires the younger generation of European and American scholars to have more investment if they want to "become famous", they need more time to settle, and they need to interact with all walks of life in China. More communication.
The most urgent thing right now is to resume normal Sino-US exchanges as soon as possible.
Some Chinese and foreign scholars interviewed by "Global Times" reporters believe that in addition to worrying about being "demonized," the sharp drop in humanities exchanges between China and the United States during Trump's tenure has made the younger generation of Chinese experts in the United States lose the opportunity to communicate with the Chinese academic community. Important channels.
In the past two or three years alone, hundreds of Chinese experts’ visas to visit the United States have been cancelled, the Sino-US Fulbright Scholars Program has been suspended, and the Trump administration has also decided on the main destinations for U.S. government officials to study Chinese in the future. It will be Taiwan, not the mainland.
Some American experts privately stated that Biden's coming to power provides a glimmer of hope for changing the plight of the declining number of American "knowledgers".
China and the United States should work hard to restore the original humanities exchange programs, especially to encourage young American scholars on China to study and research in China, "China is so big and developing so fast, there are too many fields for American scholars to study."