Yang Shoujian: Critique of Academic Corruption in China, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 1st edition, February 2001, 16 yuan
The academic world is by no means an earthly paradise; rather, it is a truly filthy and sordid place, a gathering spot for swindlers, plagiarists, and robbers. I had in fact already been fairly clear-eyed about this, but when I read many of the cases, I was still shocked.
Take, for example, Wang Tongyi’s so-called Language Encyclopedia, which has been praised as a collection of jokes and is enough to make one laugh out loud: (Wang Tongyi styled himself the “Dictionary King”; over 10 years he edited 25 dictionaries totaling 170 million characters and words. Language Encyclopedia contains 300,000 entries, runs to more than 27 million characters, weighs 7.5 kilograms, and has been praised as the most remarkable modern Chinese dictionary ever produced)
Just look at the brilliance of the definitions inside: (copied from http://www.zhaojun.com/qitan/wangty.htm)
old woman — a trivial matter not worth mentioning.
Mother Earth — the mother of all living and nonliving things on Earth.
loafer — a person who wears denim clothes but has no cowboy experience.
intellectual — a person who claims to belong to the intellectual elite or upper intellectual circles, devotes himself to empty theoretical discussion or reflection, and often inappropriately solves practical problems.
beautiful young lady — a girl to whom a photo admirer has attached himself to the wall.
entry route — the route by which sperm enters the ovum.
revolution — a complete overthrow of the government, causing it forever to relinquish its rule over disputed territory.
counterrevolution — a revolution opposing a previous revolution.
absence due to illness — a work stoppage organized by workers under the pretext of being sick, intended to exert pressure on management, but without actually carrying out a strike.
bull — a) a wild or domesticated sexually mature uncastrated male individual of the genus Bos; b) a male individual of several other large mammals (such as elephants, moose, elk, whales, or seals), especially a sexually mature one; c) male animals of some other large species (such as male turtles, crocodiles).
lecher — a person with an enterprising disposition who directly and ardently pursues women.
state reception — a gathering convened by a monarch for diplomatic or social purposes.
lieutenant general — a) in the British and American armies, an officer above a major general in the U.S. Air Force; b) in the Royal Air Force, an officer equivalent to a lieutenant general in the army.
county seat — the seat of a county in Louisiana, United States.
republican government — emphasizes the thing’s choice of other things, or preferential choice, or the choice or preferential choice between the thing’s existence and its lack or nonexistence.
been called all along — remaining sticky and fixed for a period of time, apparently due to adhesive force or sticking or being stuck.
college widow — a young woman living in a college district who dates successive generations of students.
acting principal — an officer at an English university who may exercise the powers of the principal when the principal or vice-principal is absent.
tactical support — tactical support provided by aircraft in combat.
pronouncing judgment — in Scottish law, being brought to trial through legal procedure or having property confiscated.
wingless — without wings.
run away in flight — to flee in panic.
sing a song — perform a song.
non-substitute — non-substitute.
debauched — debauched.
glass plate — a plate of glass.
female announcer — a female announcer.
siren — of a siren.
parasite — a person without a fixed occupation who sustains himself by his wit.
soul — the immaterial substance or essence of life, the principle of life, the source that drives life or an individual life, the disembodied soul existing as an independent entity separate from the body.
reincarnation of the soul — after death, the individual soul’s transfer into another new body or new form of life, usually that of a human or an animal.
ninety-two — a) ninety-two, or two times forty-six, or four times twenty-three; b) the number 92 in a countable sequence.
eighty — twice forty; four times twenty.
eighty-eight — the result of 4 times 22; the result of 8 times 11.
thirty-three — one more than 32 in number or quantity; the sum of thirty and three; three times eleven.
Then there is, for example, Mr. Zhang Rulun’s plagiarism incident (a philosopher I had once admired very much). After reading through the whole beginning and end of the matter, I feel that Mr. Zhang’s conduct is truly, really sad:
http://www.gmw.cn/01ds/2000-03/29/GB/2000^293^0^DS511.htm
http://www.gmw.cn/01ds/2000-03/29/GB/2000^293^0^DS509.htm
http://www.gmw.cn/01ds/2000-04/05/GB/2000^294^0^DS1505.htm
Academic corruption is of course a matter of the individual scholar’s moral character (such a person can no longer be called a “scholar”), but even more important is the problem of the system.
There is no pure land in this world; in the end I can only return to my philosophy of the starry sky: precisely because there is filth, those who are pure appear noble.
April 2, 2007, 5:41 p.m.
Latest comments
- Yi Wu
2007-04-02 22:21:52
I can basically go teach at Harvard now!
Harbin Buddhist College……
This book is really worth a look - Gu Chu
2007-04-02 22:52:49
Come to think of it, there really is a Harbin Buddhist College: http://www.hrbjls.com/hrbjls/Company.asp?id=12
That’s not a place you can just get into; besides, Buddhist colleges don’t have professors, only dharma masters, hehe.
I really do want to find some time to audit a class at a Buddhist college or seminary; I’m afraid such an opportunity is not easy to come by~
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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