| This study investigated the life and times of Chinese sociologist Chen Renbing (1909--1990) and how pivotal events in Chinese history influenced Chen's perception of western learning, religion, and political participation. Educated in the United States, (Ph.D. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor 1936), Chen embraced social responsibility in democratic movements. Civil war and Japanese invasion weighed heavily on the minds of all Chinese including Chen Renbing, who opposed the pre-1949 Nationalist government and belonged to the China Democratic League, the "communist's little brother." After 1949, Chen was called upon to act as judge against counter-revolutionaries and assumed that his opinions on matters of public policy were welcome, valued, and well-known. However, Mao's government did not favor what was perceived as Chen's mixture of theater, acting and politics that clearly favored western style democracy, a logical alternative for Chen who was weaned on Dr. Sun Zhongshan's Three Principals of the People and grew up in a foreign mission enclave. Politics ruined his marriage even before Chen's comments placed him in the select category of "Big Rightist" during the 1957 Anti-Rightist Campaign. Thousands of intellectuals were targeted by Mao Zedong as "stinking weeds" because the fragile communist party underestimated their control over intellectuals, particularly in light of how intellectuals adapted to school reorganization in 1952. This study suggests that had Mao Zedong not subjugated intellectuals in the post-1949 era of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese could have avoided the tragedy suffered by patriotic returned students during mass mobilization movements. The Thought Reform Movement which intended to inculcate Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought was one of the first obstacles to prevent intellectuals from applying their learning in China. |
