Intellectuals' Pursuit of Being. Great Power During Republican Era

Abstract

China gradually got rid of foreign controls and finally became one of Great Powers from the "Sick man of East Asia" during the Republican era. During this period, intellectuals played significant roles both from the perspective of knowledge building and from the practical perspective. With respect to knowledge building, intellectuals initiatively introduced western knowledge and constructed a new knowledge framework about international relations based on Chinese tradition in order to counter the shock of external knowledge and to reduce the frustration from the collapse of Tributary System, which made China deal with the New world much more self-confident. The progress on knowledge building also provide theoretical foundation of foreign attitude and shape the Chinese, especially the elites' perceptions towards international affairs. Meanwhile, intellectuals attempted to deliver Chinese voices through diverse international platforms, which promoted Sino-western cultural exchange and demonstrated Chinese knowledge responsibility for the world. In terms of foreign practice, intellectuals built modern diplomacy system and educated a great amount of professionals on foreign affairs, which led to diplomacy modernization and Chinese quick involvement into international society. Particularly in face of national crisis, some intellectuals with foreign expertise participate into the professional foreign activities as diplomats; some intellectuals provided important policy suggestions for Chinese foreign decision-making; and some others referred to "weapon of knowledge" and tried to advocate and defense Chinese national policies on international platform.