The problem of the intellectuals in the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1989

This dissertation attempts to clarify the definition of the Chinese intellectuals--zhishi fenzi, in contrast to other studies, which have applied the American concept of intellectuals to the Chinese. The Chinese intellectuals are seen a distinct social group and clearly identified by virtue of their higher education and professional occupations. This concept has formed as a consequence of the CCP's policies for solving the zhishi fenzi wenti--the problem of the intellectuals, which has puzzled the leaders of CCP for more than forty years.; The problem found its roots in the CCP's ambition to establish an ideological congeniality between the government and the educated group, as it had existed in imperial China, although the new regime replaced official political thought Confucianism with Chinese Marxism-Maoism. After the CCP victory in China, Mao assumed that the intellectuals were part of the bourgeoisie and began to rectify them by carrying out a series of political campaigns, assigning them to the countryside and factories, requiring them to receive ideological re-education.; When the majority of lower and middle cadres felt the threat of the increasing influence of the intellectuals in the peaceful period of economic construction, they took advantage of the CCP's policy toward the intellectuals in order to consolidate their power. These cadres politicized all the issues concerning the intellectuals, so that there would be more reasons to "rectify" them. The gap between the illiterate cadres and the intellectuals, therefore, become one of the most important factors in the expansion of the remolding programs beyond the control of the CCP leaders and caused the intellectuals to become a more visible social group politically, culturally and economically.; Until the CCP abandons ideological control, the problem of the intellectuals, as identified by their education and occupations, will continue to exist in Chinese society. These facts demonstrate to us the importance of viewing the intellectuals via the Chinese viewpoint in the study of Chinese politics.