From Gentry To Intellectual

This paper studies the process of China's intelligentsia transformation from the rural gentry to the urban intellectual. By the historical/comparative analysis method, the paper analysis the idiographic process, mechanism, logic, and the profound impacts of the transformation of this social society, from the dimensionality of the change of educational system and intelligentsia.The inchoation of China's intelligentsia transformation from tradition to modern was institutional change of the abolition of the imperial examination system and the establishment of modern schools. The transition from the imperial examination system to the modern school, had realized the evolution of the system from brought up traditional type gentry to the professional. The professional met the functional demand of social differentiation and specialization.In the process of the transformation, intelligentsia had become the free-floating stratum in deed. They moved back to society margin from the center. Their social role and function had become singleness from the compound social function and double role. Though intellectuals alienated political power, they had gained the free public space, with the giving birth to self-consciousness of knowledge and regressing cultural role. They had settled down and get on with their pursuit in the modern culture infrastructure such as university, press, and research organization. Intellectuals had gained an independence system of producing knowledge and spreading abroad culture by this infrastructure.Contrast with this was the change of intelligentsia's self-consciousness and collective identity. Since "the middle society", intelligentsia had been struggling to quest new identity, and tried to say goodbye to gentry. After the "May-forth Movement", the term "intelligentsia class" denoting the new social society had been brought up by the new education had becoming increasingly popular. Contrast with "middle society" in the beginning of twenty century, this term had already excluded the gentry. But we should pay attention to that the orientation of "intelligentsia class" had been produced divarication. Some intellectuals made great efforts to build the "academe society", tried to win the dignity of knowledge again, and construct the new core of modern society. But the others actively identified with the lower stratum and abandoned the intellectual identity. They had sighed with regret, "I am ashamed of that I am not a worker now!"But after the abolition of the imperial examination system, the unbalance of the hierarchy, structure and regional distribution of the new education had gradually been out of control. The educational center moving to the urban, especially to the coastal metropolis, caused the education gap of rural-urban and interior provinces-coastal areas widening increasingly. So mass of the rural educated persons had been swarming into urban unceasingly, the rural cultural-ecological system gradually had been degenerating, and the rural society lost its elites. It was one of the root reason of the rural revolution would pull down urban and interior provinces would overthrow coastal areas.