Reification of the Chinese Intellectual

Abstract

Research has largely overlooked the reification of the intellectual (zhishifenzi) after the 1949 Communist revolution. Studying this major feature of Chinese socialism can illuminate the workings of the Chinese Communist Party, state-society relations, and the experience of so-called intellectuals. This article explores the social and ideological contexts that first nurtured the party’s concept of intellectuals. It focuses on the debate about the intellectual class ( zhishi jieji) in political and literary circles from the late 1910s to the mid-1920s. During the May Fourth era, socialists, anarchists, and other activists regarded the intellectual class as a distinct social category with internal cleavages based on age and political consciousness. Under the influence of the Comintern, the Chinese Communists recast the intellectual class as the primary ideological enemy. The debate about the intellectual class profoundly affected the party’s understanding of the intellectual. The article concludes by suggesting new directions for research on the reification of the intellectual.