Intellectual Freedom in China
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Yue Li
Florida State University
June 2006
Presentation Outline
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Introduction: Intellectual Freedom
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Intellectual Freedom: Republic of China (1911-1949)
• Yuan Shikai, Warlord Era (1912-1915 )
• Sun Yat-sen period (1912-1925) and
• Chiang Kai-shek’s Nanjing Gov. (1927-1949)
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Intellectual Freedom: People’s Republic of China (1949—
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Mao Zedong period (1949-1976)
Deng Xiaoping period (1977-1997)
Jiang Zeming (1989-2002) and Hu Jintao period (2003-)
Intellectual Freedom in China: Outlook
Introduction: Intellectual Freedom
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Intellectual freedom
• Freedom of the intellect
• Freedom of thought
• Freedom of the mind
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Intellectual freedom
• Laws, regulations, rules, or
• Practices, control of the information creation,
acquisition, organization, and dissemination
Intellectual Freedom in China
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China has a history of 5,000 years
•
Xia Dynasty (ca. 2000-1500 B.C) To Qing (A.D. 1644-1911)
(The earliest record history )
(The last feudal dynasty)
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China had gone through
Primitive slavery
Feudalism
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The country ruled by emperors or kings =天子 =the Sons of God
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There was no concept of freedom, people shared no freedom,
and nothing to say intellectual freedom
Intellectual Freedom in China
The Concept of Intellectual Freedom in China
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Yen Fu (1853-1921) – a scholar, translator
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T. H. Huxley's Evolution , Ethics (1896),
Wealth of Nations (1900),
John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1899),
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1900)
Spencer's Study of Sociology (1903)
Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (1905)
Liang Qichao (1873-1929) – scholar, politician
• Translated and Commented on the works
• Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Benthamany
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Western ideology of freedom and
democracy introduced to China
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China
(1911-1949)
Yuan Shikai, Warlord Era (1912-1915 )
Sun Yat-sen (1912 -- 1925)
Chiang Kai-shek (1927-1949)
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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Democracy and freedom were reaching more and
more people
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The Ministry of Education drafted ten articles to
establish libraries and founded Capital Public Library
in Beijing in 1913
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In 1915, the Ministry stated provinces, counties,
schools, colleges should establish libraries
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Local government, and individuals were encouraged
to establish institutional, public, and private libraries
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There were 227 public libraries national wide
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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Chiang Kai-shek (1927-1949)
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Three People’s Principles
• Nationalism, Democracy, People’s Livelihood
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Laws were made related to authorship, publications,
news creation and dissemination
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More freedom to get information from:
• “Zheng fu gong bao”, newspapers, journals etc.
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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Interior Department’s statistics in 1935 showed
• 81 foreign published newspapers and magazines
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North China Daily News
The Shanghai Times
Millard’s Review
The Far Eastern Review
The China Digest
Finance and Commerce
• Nation-wide
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1503 newspaper publishing houses
788 news agencies
1875 journals and magazines
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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No real intellectual freedom because of Chiang’s
dictatorship
• In 1915, the gov. published 35 rules and regulations regard
to the newspaper, journals, and other media publications
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No. 9: Any publication subjected to the police depart.’s check
No. 10: Any publication that is against the gov. and interfere
society’s stability should be banned
No. 22: Police could stop any publication’s issuing if the
publication was against the gov.
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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More Rules
• All the news and report were under inspection before they
were allowed to publish.
• 1939 to 1945 president Chiang Kai-shek personally
delivered 9 decrees to the Propaganda Depart. and News
Censorship Bureau to exercise more
strict inspection to the newspaper
“Xinhua Daily” the communist
party’s newspaper
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)
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Hundreds of titles were completely banned such as:
“Collection of Mao Zedong’s Speeches”
“Ten Yeas Chinese Communist Party”
“China Unconquered”
“Zhu De’s Biography”
“Ten Yeas Chinese Communist Party
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Each year, a banned book list would be published
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Any bookstores, libraries, institutions or individuals
were subject to serious punishment if they collected
those banned books
Intellectual Freedom
Republic of China (1911-1949)

Professors Wen Yiduo and Li Gongpu were
assassinated because of their advocating intellectual
freedom and and anti-gov’s suppression of democracy
(1899-1946)
(1902-1946)
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
People’s Republic of China (1949-- )
Mao Zedong (1949-1976)
Deng Xiaoping (1977-1997)
Jiang Zeming
(1989-2002)
and Hu Jintao(2003-)
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China –Mao’s Period (1949--1977)

Mao and his gov. at the beginning embraced
democracy and intellectual freedom
• “Let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of
thought contend.” (1956-1957)
• People esp. intellectuals allowed, even encouraged to speak
freely and to give out their thoughts and minds
• The intellectuals could raise their criticisms upon
government and it’s policies
Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China Mao’s Period (1949--1976)
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Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957
• The critics and intellectuals
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Censored, screened, sent to the remote farms,
persecuted, or imprisoned or even tortured to death
• Any books or materials against the gov. and the
party
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Strictly censored, banned, or destroyed
• By the end of 1957, more than 550,000 people
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Writers, scholars, artists labeled as rightists
Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China: Mao’s Period (1949---)
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Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
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Strong nationalism
Idolatry to Mao Zedong
Rebellion against traditional culture and the western philosophy
Extreme policies to control and destroy information
Prosecution of high-ranking leaders and intellectuals
The only freedom was reading Mao’s works
The gov. excised the extreme policies to
control information and destroy information
Resulted in a decade of information desert, a political,
cultural, and economic havoc
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China Deng’s Period (1977-1997)
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Death of Mao and the arrest of “the Gang of
Four” ended the Culture Revolution
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Deng Xiaoping came to power (1977-1997)
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The Eleventh Party Congress (1977)
• A new era for China
• Policy: “Seeking truth from facts" and “Reform
and opening to the outside world”
Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China Deng’s Period (1977-1997)
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More access to foreign and classical works and
other information
Beijing Spring (1977 –1978): people had
unusual freedom to criticize the government
Chinese history embraced 1980s as the Spring
of Intellectual Freedom & Spring of Sci. and
Tech.
Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China Deng’s Period (1977-1997)
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Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989
• Protest against the lack of Intellectual freedom
• China needed further political systems reform
The gov. used army froces to
suppress the demonstration in
Tiananmen. Some people were
killed and many more were
arrested
“Anti-Western-Liberalism Movement”
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• The intellectual freedom enjoyed in 1980s suffered a huge
set-back
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
PR China
Jiang (1989-2002)
Hu’s Period (2003--)
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More open, more moderate
President Jiang : “Each one of the four modernization
depends on the modernization of information.”
Amendment to the Constitution adopted : "the State
respects and safeguards human rights"
• Legal systems set up, laws made to protect human
rights
Chinese Intellectual Freedom
PR China Jiang and Hu’s Period (1989--)
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Foreign experts on intellectual freedom were invited
to visit China
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Foreign information agencies like Yahoo and Google
are allowed to open business in China
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People have more assess to information
Intellectual Freedom
P.R . China Jiang and Hu’s Period (1989--)
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Some political dissidents were released
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Chinese people are enjoying more rights than they
had ever before
• Complete intellectual freedom at home, workshop,
institution and even limited public places
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Shares many Western economic values but few
Western political and intellectual freedom values
Intellectual Freedom
P.R. China Jiang and Hu’s Period (1989--)
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Censorship policies
• “Legal actions” to ban the “illegal publications”
• Shut down or eradicate whatever they dislike
• No voices heard from dissidents
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“Intranet” in Hong Kong -- The major gov. censorship
tool
• Permits 111 million Chinese Internet users to have
unlimited access to each other but filter all information
from outside world
• Screened links to the outside world
Foreign companies required to censor Chinese
Internet users and many magazines
Intellectual Freedom in China:
Outlook
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Intellectual Freedom: Where China stands?
• Free
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Partial Free
Not Free
Intellectual Freedom in China: long way to go but
Promising
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People’s thoughts, minds are changing
Media agencies’ leadership changes
Media commercialization and privatization
New infor. Tech.—Infor. creation and dissemination
Influence from Hongkong, Macau, Tiawan, and outside
world
Intellectual Freedom in China:
Outlook
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Intellectual Freedom in China in summary
• Much progress achieved
• Lot of problems exist
• More fights needed
前途是光明的, 道路是曲折的.
The future is bright but the road is
tortuous.
Intellectual Freedom in China
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
(A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words )
Intellectual Freedom in China
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Thank You !
Yue Li
Florida State University
June 2006
(yli3@mailer.fsu.edu)