An inside view of Chinese academia and what it reveals about China’s
political system On January 1, 2017, Daniel Bell was appointed dean of
the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong
University—the first foreign dean of a political science faculty in
mainland China’s history. In The Dean of Shandong, Bell chronicles
his experiences as what he calls “a minor bureaucrat,” offering an
inside account of the workings of Chinese academia and what they
reveal about China’s political system. It wasn’t all smooth
sailing—Bell wryly recounts sporadic bungles and
misunderstandings—but Bell’s post as dean provides a unique
vantage point on China today. Bell, neither a Chinese citizen nor a
member of the Chinese Communist Party, was appointed as dean because
of his scholarly work on Confucianism—but soon found himself coping
with a variety of issues having little to do with scholarship or
Confucius. These include the importance of hair color and the
prevalence of hair-dyeing among university administrators, both male
and female; Shandong’s drinking culture, with endless toasts at
every shared meal; and some unintended consequences of an intensely
competitive academic meritocracy. As dean, he also confronts weightier
matters: the role at the university of the Party secretary, the
national anticorruption campaign and its effect on academia (Bell asks
provocatively, “What’s wrong with corruption?”), and formal and
informal modes of censorship. Considering both the revival of
Confucianism in China over the last three decades and what he calls
“the Communist comeback” since 2008, Bell predicts that China’s
political future is likely to be determined by both Confucianism and
Communism.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780691247137
Publisert
2023
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter