Bulletin Number Two 1983

A Stimulating Experience — A Participant's Account of the Conference The persistent rain that came with the onset of spring did not dampen our spirit here in the Faculty of Social Science. We welcomed with jubilance the opening of the Conference on Modernization and Chinese Culture: being conducted in the Chinese language and held in a Chinese society to discuss Chinese culture and society from the viewpoints of ethnic Chinese, the Conference has special significance. The thirty- three participants, who were scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, education, geography and social work from Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, the United States and Hong Kong, were brought together by common ancestry and cultural tradition to discuss issues of common concern. It all began several years ago when Professor Yang Kuo-shu of National Taiwan University was teaching at this University. From his daily contact with teachers of the Social Science Faculty, he noted that most of us are western-trained, and that not only are the theoretical framework we have adopted westernized, so are our way of thinking and research methodology. As a result, we have lost our identity, consciously or subconsciously, and our research may be nothing more than just modifications of imported models. He therefore stressed time and again the need for sinicization of social science. Sinicization is definitely not antiforeignism; neither is it just translation of social scientific terms. The aim is to study our own society critically and to establish our own theories and methods. In this way, we can help to enrich the discipline, transforming it into a more effective science which can reflect more truly the culture and society of China, where a quarter of mankind lives. This view of Professor Yang was shared by many of our colleagues. There were of course others who thought differently. They contended that with social sciences still in its early stages of development in China, it was too early to talk about sinicization. Besides, the uniqueness of science lies in its universality, therefore it is impossible to have China's own social science, just as it is impossible to have her own physics or her own biology. The point is, however, there are vast differences between social sciences and natural sciences. Human society and culture, with their many variables, are extremely complex and sophisticated, and behaviour is difficult to predict. It is quite impossible to draw up laws that are applicable to all races and nations. Furthermore, China is a developing country where usable manpower and resources are limited at the moment. Through constant review by social scientists of their own efforts, taking care not to follow others blindly, manpower and resources may be conserved. It is also through such review and study that new concepts and methods derived from Chinese culture and society may eventually add to the knowledge of social sciences of the world. It was with this conviction that social scientists from Hong Kong and Taiwan joined hands in 1980 to organize a seminar on Sinicization of Social and Behavioural Sciences, under the auspices of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica. The present Conference can be said to be a continuation of the 1980 seminar but with wider representation and scope of study. The theme of the Conference is still the sinicization of social sciences, but discussion went beyond a few simple concepts. Most of the papers studied problems on both theoretical and empirical planes. Professor C.K. Yang, a prominent sociologist, though unable to attend the Conference, sent in an abstract of his paper 'Sociological Outlook: Modernization and Chinese Culture'. Professor Yeh Chi-jeng of National Taiwan University in his paper, 'Provinciality and Academic Development', pointed out that Taiwan's sociologists today are not unaware of their provincial dependence on western social sciences, nor are they unwilling to commit themselves to critical self-examination, but they do not have the ability and proper perspective for such examination. He attributed their limitations to the overwhelming influence of western models and the structure of their society. He has also set forth some solutions to the problem, such as the development of basic theories and the abandonment of utilitarian academic policies. Professor Michael Hsin-huang Hsiao, also from National Taiwan University, spoke on 'The Structural Problems in the Sinicization of Sociology in Taiwan Revisited: An Empirical Study of Sociology in Taiwan'. According to him, 'sinicization' has different levels of meaning, which, in order of priority, are: (1) creating in the context of Chinese history sociological theories peculiar to China herself; (2) sinicizing the contents and materials; (3) using foreign theories and 2 NEWS