WSJ Interviews XIA Yeliang

choi

David Feith, The China Americans Don't See; The Weekend Interview with Xia Yeliang, Wall Street Journal, Oct 26, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/news/artic ... 4579085611270637836

(a) Excerpt in the window of print: A Peking University economics professor who was sacked for his political views explains the underside of eleite Chinese higher education.

(b) Quote:

(i) "He is scathing about what he sees in universities: 'The nature of the scientific research in China is just unbearable. We expend huge expenditures for scientific research, but there's very little real scientific research done.' Some 70% of research funds, he says, goes to personal use—'travel, hotels, meals, computers, mobile phones, iPads, printers, all things you can imagine'—and professors routinely falsify invoices. 'Universities have the same problem' as the China Railway Construction Corp, he says, where officials were recently disciplined for spending $135 million on receptions for guests last year.

"Which brings us back to the US-China academic romance. Chinese universities, Mr Xia argues, 'need famous foreign brand names to protect their very vulnerable capabilities for research and teaching.' The Chinese may 'boast' that Peking University is one of the world's best, 'but no people really believe that.' Nowadays in China, he says, 'the middle-class and rich persons and officials' children—they're sent to the US to study. They know which schools are good and which are worse.' President Xi and his disgraced former rival, Bo Xilai, chose Harvard for their children.

"Western academic ties provide China with 'a kind of coating or makeup,' says the professor. 'Because in Chinese universities we don't have real freedom of academic research, so there's no way to train great masters. Whether it's in science or in humanities and arts—no way.'

(ii) "Waiting for a Chinese Gorbachev would be like 'Waiting for Godot,' he argues, but there are stirrings from below

(iii) "'Within 10 to 15 years,' he believes, China's Communist Party will collapse. 'I'm very optimistic about that.'

(iv) "His wife works as an accountant—at Peking University, of all places. And he accuses the administrators who fired him of threatening her job, too, by warning that his treatment could worsen if he spoke out publicly. 'I feel sorry for my family members,' he says. 'In China if you want to make institutional change, you must prepare to sacrifice or pay some high cost.'  It's admirable, then, that on Thursday Wellesley College said it wants to host Mr. Xia as a visiting scholar through its aptly named Freedom Project. The brave economist could be a powerful presence in an American academy that often checks its principles at the door when it enters China.

(c) My comment:
(i) There is no need to read the rest. The interview occupies a half page.
(ii) No translation yet in cn.wsj.com.
(iii) Waiting for Godot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot
(a 1953 French play by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989; born in Dublin and died in Paris)

Quote:

"Beckett once, when asked about the meaning of Godot, mentioned 'a veteran racing cyclist, bald, a "stayer," recurrent placeman in town-to-town and national championships, Christian name elusive, surname Godeau, pronounced, of course, no differently from Godot.' Waiting for Godot is clearly not about track cycling, but it is said that Beckett himself did wait for French cyclist Roger Godeau (1920–2000; a professional cyclist from 1943 to 1961), outside the velodrome in Roubaix.

"The name 'Godot' is pronounced in Britain and Ireland with the emphasis on the first syllable; in North America it is usually pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable. Beckett himself said the emphasis should be on the first syllable, and that the North American pronunciation is a mistake. The T is silent.