SINK Influence Of Chinese Thought

With the development of science and technology, political multi-polarization, economic globalization, cultural diversification and social information, think tanks have become an essential power in influencing governmental decision-making and promoting social progress, and a significant part of a nation’s "soft power". In China, a series of think tanks with Chinese characteristics are taking shape. However, compared with the think tanks in developed counties, the impact that China’s think tanks can exert still leaves much space for further reinforcement, especially in view of the demand for think tanks for the sake of the development of politics, national economy, and social sciences, as well as that for the sake of the scientific and democratization of governmental decision-making.This paper first introduces the concept of think tank, its definitions and theoretical basis out of think-tank impact researches done by western experts, attempting to classify, according to the different subjects that a think tank may exert its impact on, think-tank impact into three categories:decision-making impact, social impact, and international impact. Secondly, the paper introduces the development and types of China’s think tanks; then it describes the impact of think tanks from the perspectives of domestic governmental decision-making systems, the pubic sphere and the international sphere, including analyses of the limitations of the impact of think tanks, which may cover the setbacks of think-tank studies, the imperfectness of policies when analyzing the market, the non-standard governmental decision-making systems, the one-way mode of information transmission, the autocracy under the influence of traditional culture, the rule-of-man ideology, as well as the small-peasantry awareness. Lastly, the paper proposes specific measures as regards the political environment, the market environment and the social environment that may count in the impact of China’s think tanks, together with measures about the self-construction of China’s think tanks, hoping to shed light on how think tanks will exert more profound impact, how they will help to solve the numerous conflicts in the process of social development, to enhance the science and democracy of public policy-making, to promote the progress of a civil society, and to raise regional and national soft power of China.