Tongji, one of China’s more prestigious universities, just formally abolished faculty tenure—a move that echoes the rise of “post-tenure review” in some red state American public universities. The Sino-American academic race to the bottom continues, the only difference being that American self-sabotage is mainly driven by politics, whereas Chinese self-sabotage seems to stem from a misguided sense of social Darwinism. In either case, the damage to intellectual risk-taking will be comparably severe.
Hats off to doctoral student and podcaster Zhong Shu in Beijing, China, who did this fascinating and smart interview with Christopher Nolan about THE ODYSSEY yesterday, originally posted to Bilibili.
A great listen/watch.
@deluzissor Kantorowicz argued that the King has two bodies: the “body natural” and the “body politic”. It seems that even in the 21st century, the tension between these two bodies remains🤳
@Nishimuraumiush This is closely related to the return of many scholars trained in developed countries, especially the US. Their international experience has expanded the research scope, allowing studies on topics such as the Great Firewall, which may be difficult to discuss in public discourse.
@Nishimuraumiush Economics is a special case. Since many topics are technical and less ideological, and young scholars are mainly evaluated by English publications, research at top Chinese universities has become increasingly internationalized in recent decades.