The popularization of education and development of cultural self-awareness has sparked a global trend of decentralization in the production of humanities and social science knowledge. Chinese academia was quick to take note of this development and has been working to effect a change in the structure of international knowledge.

For the academic community to take advantage of this trend, it is essential to have strong self-awareness and consciousness of independence, abandon old habits of passive thinking and take an active part in the process.

In this shift, the Chinese humanities and social sciences have made two contributions: one is the knowledge obtained from interpreting theoretical and practical problems of China’s development path and the other is the knowledge obtained from interpreting common or specific problems of other countries.

At present, Chinese academia has been clear that the core of “seeing China” is to establish a discourse system of its own in philosophy and social sciences. However, less attention is paid to the problem of “seeing the world,” which can also affect the influence and status of Chinese knowledge within the global framework.
 

By acquiring tangible and intangible materials of the non-Western world through colonial expansion over the past century, the West has formed a system of interpreting the history, society, culture, politics and economy in the non-Western world based on its own values and world outlook.
 

However, this system of interpretation has been criticized by developing countries. More and more scholars from those countries have begun to complain that academic papers about Asia, Africa and Latin America are mainly produced in places like Paris, London or New York. They assert the right to provide their own interpretations and expect more objective thoughts and ideas from other developing countries, like China.
 

As developing nations continue along their development paths, they gain stronger cultural self-awareness, laying the foundation for transforming the structure of international knowledge.
 

Since reform and opening-up, the Chinese people have become increasingly receptive to the outside world. Chinese academia has made contact with scholars from the West, mainly from Britain and the US. Academic literature, especially English-language texts, has been translated and introduced into China on a large scale.
 

This importation of knowledge may have been a necessary stage in the past 30 years. But an excessive reliance on the values, worldviews and Western interpretations embodied in the English writings to understand the West and developing countries results in a lack of an objective, independent understanding and interpretation of the Western world. If China follows such a practice, its studies on other developing countries will be weakened.

Therefore, China should enter a new stage in its relationship with the world during which it should adhere to its own values and worldviews while enhancing its ability to understand and interpret the outside world. To be specific, it should also translate large numbers of excellent works of developing countries and build its own knowledge about the outside world.
 

Furthermore, we should realize that the discourse power of major countries in the intellectual world lies in objective understanding and effective interpretation of the outside world. Therefore, we should transform the previous attitude of “adapting foreign things for Chinese use” to that of “adapting Chinese things for foreign use,” which entails changes in knowledge production.
 

For instance, most Chinese students studying social sciences overseas focus on problems in China or other developing countries. It is essential to encourage them to explore local politics and society and accumulate knowledge about their host countries. If the knowledge obtained in this way can provide convincing interpretations of local political, economic and social development and lead to reasonable advice, it will be respected and utilized.
 

And the process will also push forward the globalization of Chinese knowledge. In fact, more and more Chinese consultants are taking part in research on developmental problems in developing countries. They have brought Chinese perspectives to those countries and won praise from local people.
 

In short, to win a place in the multi-polar intellectual world, the key is to raise academic self-awareness and develop an independent system of knowledge. China should construct its own system of conceptualization and expression, assert the right to interpret its development path, and build its own knowledge of humanities and social sciences. At the same time, it should enhance its ability to understand and interpret the outside world while participating in international cooperation and strengthen its capacity to advise and serve others with its own knowledge.

 

Su Changhe is a professor from Fudan University.