Research On The Planning Of Science In Republican China

The planning of science was a new phenomenon that emerged during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a subject of much debate in contemporary China. Based on the research on the practice of and controversy surrounding the planning of science abroad, and centering on the highest academic institute in Republican China, Academia Sinica(AS), this thesis describes the implementation of and controversy surrounding the planning of science before1949, and analyzes its impact. The main content of the thesis is as follows:First, research on the background and conditions of the planning of science.The thesis describes the origin of the planning of science in the west, and reveals the course of the development from planned economy to the planning of science in the Soviet Union. It also clarifies the influence that Bukharin’s theory had on the Science and Society Movement in Britain. Work on the controversy over the planning of science which was called the Bernal-Polanyi Dispute in Britain in1930s and1940s has also been done. The thesis reveals the logical framework and topics of the Bernal-Polanyi Dispute, as well as links with China at the time. It also covers planning activities by both politicians and scientists before1927, including certain economic plans of the National Government, Chiang Kai-shek’s use of planning theory for the Triple System of Administration, discussions on the planning of politics in society, scientific development plans of communities such as the Science Society of China, and so on. Based on all this research, the thesis hope to lay bare the international background and domestic foundation of AS’s scientific development plans.Second, research on the scientific development plans of AS in various periods.In this section the author studies several plans of AS throughout the preparation period, the early establishment period, the Anti-Japanese War period, and the demobilization and reconstruction period, providing the following conclusions:AS originated out of discussions surrounding the Boxer Indemnity. Cai Yuanpei adhered to the primacy of academic principles in the preparation of AS. The research scope of AS was combined the real situation of Chinese academics while referring to the western scientific bibliographic classification. From the start, science included natural science, applied science and social science as well. The model adopted for AS was not simply the Soviet one, but a synthesis of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and some other national research institutions. The internal structure of AS was determined at the very beginning. The ineffective establishment of the Research Council was founded on political and academic disputes rather than the objective situation of scientific development.The annual plan, six-year plan and three-year plan adopted after AS’s establishment were all essentially bottom-up plans, and were all loosely composed from various plans of the AS’s institutes. The researchers had full freedom when preparing these plans. Furthermore, the three-year plan in1931revealed the desire of the managers to build a permanent site in Nanjing. A series of activities implemented by the Research Council and their results demonstrated that the academic leadership of AS had been basically established.During the Anti-Japanese War, under the influence of Chiang Kai-shek’s Triple System of Administration, AS’s work became more routine. The supervision by the national bureau didn’t substantially influenced the content of AS’s plans. AS schemes, such as the National Rewards and the National Academic Conference reveal the contradictions and competition between the Ministry of Education and AS at the time. The academician system was accidently founded after the failure of the National Academic Conference plan.The demobilization and reconstruction plans of the AS really introduced Western elements at a theoretical level. The Soviet organizational mode and the main points of Bernal-Polanyi dispute all influenced the council members’vision at the time. Chinese scientists began to seek new theories from the West to solve the problems of China’s science and technology system. The content and impact of Suggestions for Advocating and Rewarding Science Research (Changzhu Kexue Yanjiu Yanjian) and the Position and Prospects of Science and Technology in China by Needham reveal that Chinese began to seek a top-down totalitarian plan in the field of science.In general, before1949, the AS’s scientific deveplopment plan moved from a spontaneous to conscious process. The plans on an institutional level were basically generated from the Research Council, and these plans had an element of collectivization. While the research plans of the institutes were made bottom-up by the researchers, as a result it reflected a considerable degree of freedom. Disputes between politics and science run though AS’s history of planning.Third, analysis of the theoretical discussion and influences of the planning of science.Alongside AS’s activities there was some other discussion of the planning of science in China. As for the theoretical basis of the planning of science, the social function of science, there were not obstacles but progress in moving from practice to theory. As a result, there was much dispute on in which order pure science and applied science should be developed, and the protection of academic freedom under the framework of planning. Scientists from the Association of Scientific Workers of China were the main contributors to the discussion. They revisited many of the same questions that Bernal and Polanyi had discussed, reflecting the process of understanding and absorbing the concepts concerning the planning of science, such as science, planning, freedom, pure and applied science, the relations of science and society, the social responsibility of scientists, and so on. It also revealed the different views of different groups.The plans of AS before1949not only impacted on the development of science in Republican China, but also laid the basis of scientific development thereafter. The theory of planning laid the ideological foundation for the implementation of science programs in the early days of the PRC, and influenced the12-year program. Its bottom-up mode, which protected academic autonomy, was inherited and carried forward by the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.