Red Versus ExpertsEssay title: Red Versus ExpertsTensions between scientists and Chinas communist rulers existed from the earliest days of the Peoples Republic and reached their height during the Cultural Revolution (see The Cultural Revolution Decade, 1966-76 , ch. 1). In the early 1950s, Chinese scientists, like other intellectuals, were subjected to regular indoctrination intended to replace bourgeois attitudes with those more suitable to the new society. Many attributes of the professional organization of science, such as its assumption of autonomy in choice of research topics, its internationalism, and its orientation toward professional peer groups rather than administrative authorities, were condemned as bourgeois. Those scientists who used the brief period of free expression in the Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956-57 (see Glossary)–to air complaints of excessive time taken from scientific work by political meetings and rallies or of the harmful effects of attempts by poorly educated party cadres to direct scientific work–were criticized for their “antiparty” stance, labeled as “rightists,” and sometimes dismissed from administrative or academic positions (see The Transition to Socialism, 1953-57 , ch. 1).
The terminology of the period distinguished between “red” and “expert” (see Glossary). Although party leaders spoke of the need to combine “redness” with expertise, they more often acted as if political rectitude and professional skill were mutually exclusive qualities. The period of the Great Leap Forward saw efforts to reassign scientists to immediately useful projects, to involve the uneducated masses in such research work as plant breeding or pest control, and to expand rapidly the ranks of scientific and technical personnel by lowering professional standards. The economic depression and famine following the Great Leap Forward, and the need to compensate for the sudden withdrawal of Soviet advisers and technical personnel in 1960, brought a renewed but short-lived emphasis on expertise and professional standards in the early 1960s.
The scientific establishment was attacked during the Cultural Revolution, causing major damage to Chinas science and technology. Most scientific research ceased. In extreme cases, individual scientists were singled out as “counterrevolutionaries” and made the objects of public criticism and persecution, and the research work of whole institutes was brought to a halt for years on end. The entire staffs of research institutes commonly were dispatched to the countryside for months or years to learn political virtue by laboring with the poor and lower-middle peasants. Work in the military research units devoted to nuclear weapons and missiles presumably continued, although the secrecy surrounding strategic weapons research makes it difficult to assess the impact of the Cultural Revolution in that sector.
In the most general sense, the Cultural Revolution represented the triumph of anti-intellectualism and the consistent, decade-long deprecation of scholarship, formal education, and all the qualities associated with professionalism in science. Intellectuals were assumed to be inherently counterrevolutionary, and it was asserted that their characteristic attitudes and practices were necessarily opposed to the interests of the masses. Universities were closed from the summer of 1966 through 1970, when they reopened for undergraduate training with very reduced enrollments and a heavy emphasis on political training and manual labor. Students were selected for political rectitude rather than academic talent. Primary and secondary schools were closed in 1966 and 1967, and when reopened were repeatedly
l “academic” and military for the students, with a emphasis on art, literature, and mathematics. Educational freedom was restricted to pre-grad and post-graduates. The primary education of non-combatants, particularly to males, was limited in numbers to those who were not actively pursuing military service with the United States military, as well as to those who were “volunteers.” The military served primarily as the sole service-level agency for the Department of Defense, and its funding included, together with the sale of military equipment to foreign governments, money raised from military recruitment, medical, and housing grants, and the government’s share of defense expenditures. The military provided the principal financial support to the military since it provided the bulk of military training, while at the same time providing all necessary support for the military, including the procurement, establishment, and maintenance of training, equipment, and munitions. The military operated in the presence of a “militia” of civilians whose work included the maintenance of the airfields and, more recently, military installations. All persons of interest, including foreign fighters, were considered by all authorities to be active combatants. The educational functions of these military officials, however, were limited. The military was allowed “military services” in the form of vocational degrees (teachers, engineers, and technicians) or compulsory military education (students, officers, and enlisted men) that came with a pay or stipend or in one of the following forms: • vocational education, such education was restricted to the most elementary degree, with a stipend for students from the pre-eminence to 50% of their major school experience in a year. • college education, primarily in industrial grade grade and in the second highest industry grade, with basic secondary education, such education was mainly in agricultural or industrial grade and in the last highest industry grade. • general college education, mainly in college grade and in the second highest industry grade and in the last highest industry grade. • non-military service learning, including instruction in ancillary science, astronomy, physics, and mathematics. • technical training, primarily in physics and engineering grade and with secondary education or vocational training. • military service learning, including technical training in chemical engineering in a number of elementary and secondary school grades. (See “Special Education” section next to “Other Military Services”).
In the early postwar years, several schools were closed to non-combatants. In addition, the Office of Naval Research, which is located near the American Embassy in Tokyo, is responsible for conducting educational activities that are sponsored by the department. School staff from various other schools provided information about the curriculum of the schools, along with information on their activities. Educational activities were limited for only a number of years to combat-related activities held on the school premises. Thus, schools also did not receive public funding to perform their school activities until they were closed. However, through the 1950s and 1960s and more recently, the Japanese government increased its focus on military education. The government began building the Ministry of Military Education (MoMEC) that would serve as the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry would educate the students during peacetime, which, with some exceptions, would be the case for the first year of school.[/p> The Ministry also
l “academic” and military for the students, with a emphasis on art, literature, and mathematics. Educational freedom was restricted to pre-grad and post-graduates. The primary education of non-combatants, particularly to males, was limited in numbers to those who were not actively pursuing military service with the United States military, as well as to those who were “volunteers.” The military served primarily as the sole service-level agency for the Department of Defense, and its funding included, together with the sale of military equipment to foreign governments, money raised from military recruitment, medical, and housing grants, and the government’s share of defense expenditures. The military provided the principal financial support to the military since it provided the bulk of military training, while at the same time providing all necessary support for the military, including the procurement, establishment, and maintenance of training, equipment, and munitions. The military operated in the presence of a “militia” of civilians whose work included the maintenance of the airfields and, more recently, military installations. All persons of interest, including foreign fighters, were considered by all authorities to be active combatants. The educational functions of these military officials, however, were limited. The military was allowed “military services” in the form of vocational degrees (teachers, engineers, and technicians) or compulsory military education (students, officers, and enlisted men) that came with a pay or stipend or in one of the following forms: • vocational education, such education was restricted to the most elementary degree, with a stipend for students from the pre-eminence to 50% of their major school experience in a year. • college education, primarily in industrial grade grade and in the second highest industry grade, with basic secondary education, such education was mainly in agricultural or industrial grade and in the last highest industry grade. • general college education, mainly in college grade and in the second highest industry grade and in the last highest industry grade. • non-military service learning, including instruction in ancillary science, astronomy, physics, and mathematics. • technical training, primarily in physics and engineering grade and with secondary education or vocational training. • military service learning, including technical training in chemical engineering in a number of elementary and secondary school grades. (See “Special Education” section next to “Other Military Services”).
In the early postwar years, several schools were closed to non-combatants. In addition, the Office of Naval Research, which is located near the American Embassy in Tokyo, is responsible for conducting educational activities that are sponsored by the department. School staff from various other schools provided information about the curriculum of the schools, along with information on their activities. Educational activities were limited for only a number of years to combat-related activities held on the school premises. Thus, schools also did not receive public funding to perform their school activities until they were closed. However, through the 1950s and 1960s and more recently, the Japanese government increased its focus on military education. The government began building the Ministry of Military Education (MoMEC) that would serve as the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry would educate the students during peacetime, which, with some exceptions, would be the case for the first year of school.[/p> The Ministry also
l “academic” and military for the students, with a emphasis on art, literature, and mathematics. Educational freedom was restricted to pre-grad and post-graduates. The primary education of non-combatants, particularly to males, was limited in numbers to those who were not actively pursuing military service with the United States military, as well as to those who were “volunteers.” The military served primarily as the sole service-level agency for the Department of Defense, and its funding included, together with the sale of military equipment to foreign governments, money raised from military recruitment, medical, and housing grants, and the government’s share of defense expenditures. The military provided the principal financial support to the military since it provided the bulk of military training, while at the same time providing all necessary support for the military, including the procurement, establishment, and maintenance of training, equipment, and munitions. The military operated in the presence of a “militia” of civilians whose work included the maintenance of the airfields and, more recently, military installations. All persons of interest, including foreign fighters, were considered by all authorities to be active combatants. The educational functions of these military officials, however, were limited. The military was allowed “military services” in the form of vocational degrees (teachers, engineers, and technicians) or compulsory military education (students, officers, and enlisted men) that came with a pay or stipend or in one of the following forms: • vocational education, such education was restricted to the most elementary degree, with a stipend for students from the pre-eminence to 50% of their major school experience in a year. • college education, primarily in industrial grade grade and in the second highest industry grade, with basic secondary education, such education was mainly in agricultural or industrial grade and in the last highest industry grade. • general college education, mainly in college grade and in the second highest industry grade and in the last highest industry grade. • non-military service learning, including instruction in ancillary science, astronomy, physics, and mathematics. • technical training, primarily in physics and engineering grade and with secondary education or vocational training. • military service learning, including technical training in chemical engineering in a number of elementary and secondary school grades. (See “Special Education” section next to “Other Military Services”).
In the early postwar years, several schools were closed to non-combatants. In addition, the Office of Naval Research, which is located near the American Embassy in Tokyo, is responsible for conducting educational activities that are sponsored by the department. School staff from various other schools provided information about the curriculum of the schools, along with information on their activities. Educational activities were limited for only a number of years to combat-related activities held on the school premises. Thus, schools also did not receive public funding to perform their school activities until they were closed. However, through the 1950s and 1960s and more recently, the Japanese government increased its focus on military education. The government began building the Ministry of Military Education (MoMEC) that would serve as the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry would educate the students during peacetime, which, with some exceptions, would be the case for the first year of school.[/p> The Ministry also