Registering the Chinese Dream: Student Reception of Public Intellectual Debates in China

Since reforms carried out in China in the 1990s, public intellectuals and academics have experienced an unprecedented amount of freedom with which to conduct research and examine the relationship between China’s past and present and its future. In recent years, however, changes in the political climate in China indicate this period of relative openness may be coming to an end. This project will consist of long group discussions with young scholars and graduate students in Beijing and Shanghai. The goal of the project is to understand what the future generation of China’s leaders think about China’s most significant, controversial, and long-lasting public debates. It will proceed contextually and from the issues raised by participants in the discussions. The project will contribute to a historical understanding of intellectual trends in China and reveal aspects of public discourse in China that are often neglected by stereotypical narratives of repression or free-market excesses.

Faculty Supervisor:

Timothy Cheek

Student:

Partner:

East China Normal University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: