What is the Chinese intellectual class?

User-managed groups China
1

In the West, there are countless institutions to nuture thinkers who wish to influence government policy. For example: lobbyists, academe, think tanks, opinion-shaping media of all kinds (newpapers, magazines, radio, TV, Internet). In general, this means two groups: Those with direct access to policymakers, and those who influence the clients of the policymakers.

Now in China, clearly these institutions where intellectuals influence policy do not exist. Why should they? Chinese government officials are not publicly and directly approachable; and they have no clients who can remove them from office.

So my question to the forum is: What is the Chinese intellectual class? I do not mean “smart people” or “those who have read more than 50 books.” I mean thinkers who want to influence policy. Surely there is some way of getting ideas in front of those who make the laws and distribute the wealth of China, and possibly this way is superior to U.S. lawmakers rushing to pass bills after getting phone calls following a 60 Minutes broadcast. But what are the actual mechanics of this process, and what are the institutions that support it?

2

they have think-tanks.

and media can influence the mass.

3

Nicholas,

Thanks for your reply. I suppose the media can influence the masses in some way. For example in Rob Gifford’s recent book China Road he describes popular radio call-in shows that are daring enough to discuss HIV, land theft in the countryside, etc. – but none of it seems institutionalized. I mean that in the West the media have long been described as the “watchdog of government,” but in China this function seems to come only from a handful of courageous individuals, and not a group with a long-standing, self-conscious mission to oppose the government. As for think tanks: I can’t visualize how they can function without state sponsorship, in which case they aren’t think tanks in the Western sense. Maybe this is just my lack of imagination! Please name a few Chinese think tanks so that I can look them up.