Between The Kings And The Kings: An Examination Of The Changes In The Social Role Of Chinese Public Intellectuals

With the continuous development of the human process of modernization, expanding public communication, public discourse began to receive widespread attention in the academia and civil society. Public intellectuals went into the public eye as a research topic in this context. Research on Public Intellectuals first appeared in the West. Since the sixties and seventies of the last century, influenced by the market economy and postmodern-thought, intellectual identity-plunged into chaos. They swing in the public interest and the pursuit of personal interests. Russell Jacoby in 1987 first proposed the concept of "public intellectual", causing extensive discussion of the academic public intellectuals" problem. Academics carried out a variety of studies around the survival and development of public intellectuals, identity and social issues such as the role of public intellectuals.Public intellectual appeared still short as a concept of modernity. But it is undeniable that public intellectuals had real life in China’s history. Social role of public intellectuals continue to develop with changing times. Public intellectuals’spirit has been early budding among the scholar group in traditional society’. With the influx of Chinese Modernism, modern Chinese public intellectuals formed. Public intellectuals took control of public discourse through active performance in schools and public media system. In this way public intellectuals played their social influence. In contemporary society, public intellectuals have more free space. On the other hand the symbolic and rational of public intellectual discourse are questioned. Public intellectuals groups divide along social roles and identity under the influence of the complex social life.This paper attempts to examine the social image of Chinese public intellectuals in different historical periods. For a long time public intellectuals are too sacred, their social man attributes are ignored. Faced with the current complicated social situation, we should change the paradigm to understand the social role, social status and social function of public intellectuals.