Illustration: Liu Rui

 By Dan Ben-Canaan

If you do not visit the Great Wall, you are not a real man. Mao Zedong’s line symbolizes the love Chinese people have for the country.

But since 1949, and especially after the reform and opening-up 30 years ago, these words fall short. It is not just what is within the wall that matters, but the horizons beyond and how we relate to them.

China’s scholars remain trapped within their own “Great Wall,” limiting their contact with the outside world. Few scholars in China perform real research and interact with the global academic community.

Too many scholars here are poorly versed in research methodologies and lack the ability to produce substantial work. They hide within their academic Great Wall, limiting themselves to domestic academia, which is too often both insular and unoriginal. They achieve domestic fame and authority without any effort to match global academic standards because of the belief that what they do is protected by the “wall” and cannot be seen outside.

Plagiarism, a deadly sin in global academia, is all too common in China. Many of them recycle materials written by others and put their names as the authors.

In the rush to further their academic careers, some collect foreign papers without permission and publish them under their own bylines. Very few participate in international conferences, whether here or abroad.

One Peking University graduate student commented that her professor asked her not to read books that were published here. “He told us that it is better to read original materials, usually in English, because the Chinese scholars are not as good,” she said.

A recent international academic conference, hosted by Heilongjiang University in Harbin, shows us China’s lack of involvement in global academia. The international conference, “Global Challenge – Regional Response: China’s Northeast Between 1898 and 1949,” brought 28 internationally acclaimed foreign scholars to Harbin.

Yet out of 24 Chinese scholars who were invited to present papers, only two chose to come to Harbin and participate actively in the conference.

There were endless requests for participation from all over the world – except from China. Chinese students who followed the proceedings said that the knowledge of the foreign scholars and the high level of the papers surprised them.

“I found that the foreign scholars were very serious,” said Sun Hui, a postgraduate student from Heilingjing University. “They checked all facts, and their questions were brief but to the point. They presented different perspectives but tried to prove them.”

Xia Bing, another postgraduate student, said that she “has grown up after the conference.” Xia said that meeting foreign scholars for the first time made her want to be involved. “I started to listen, ask questions and learn.”

“This is the first time I had a face-to-face exchange of ideas. I accompanied foreign scholars to different archives and learned how difficult research is. I would like to continue communicating with these excellent people, but how can we do that when we know so little?” asked another postgraduate student.

We should be very careful to avoid generalities. There are many serious scholars in China who produce material of great quality.

The majority, however, produce recycled papers that fail to meet basic standards.

Since they don’t want their weaknesses to be exposed, they avoid the international academic community altogether, fearful of anything which might jeopardize their domestic position.

This conduct is unhealthy for the nation. China is part of the world and has much to offer.
However, this kind of academic insecurity solidifies the wall between her and the rest of the world and slows the process of opening up to universal knowledge and excellence.