Origin and Operation of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: An Interaction between Expertise and Politics

• In Event: The Making of Asian Science: Comparative and Historical Perspectives

Abstract

Despite the fact that national academies of engineering increasingly influence professional life and public perceptions of engineering, there does not yet exist any extended scholarly examination of the establishment and functioning of an engineering academy. As a contribution to remedying this situation, the presentation will describe the decades-long emergence of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and its current structure and operations, interpreted as an interaction between expertise and politics.
To understand the CAE origins and activity, it helps to recognize the etymological background of “engineering” and “engineer” in China which indicates the Chinese historical and cultural context for engineering. The brief etymological investigation of the Chinese term gong cheng (engineering) and gong cheng shi (engineer) provides a historical background on the matter that in China political perspectives and interests have been deeply implicated in engineering while engineering itself has become increasingly engaged with Chinese politics and government. The defining relationship is not a tension between engineering and business interests (as Layton has argued was the case for American engineering) but one between engineering and politics, as revealed especially in the establishment and functioning of the CAE.
With the founding of the PRC in 1949, and then after the interruptions of the Great Leap Forward and the Culture Revolution, national development needs contributed to the advancement of engineering development. In these circumstances, formal establishment of the CAE went through a long process during the period from its original conception in 1978 to its final birth 1994. The conception of creating the CAE initially originated from and was promoted by some CAS members to upgrade the status of engineers and facilitate the development of engineering. This was due to both the urgent need for national modernization and the general growth trend of international engineering institutions. After years of private discussion among the originators, some politicians joined with the scientists and engineers and submitted a CAE creation proposal through an available political channel. Repeated pressures from the public and central government concern resulted in eventual CAE establishment.
An examination of the CAE structure and scope of activities during the first twenty years of its existence further confirms this interpretation. An analysis of the CAE’s tasks, nine divisions, and membership illustrates that the structural development of CAE was not only based on the need for expertise for the national modernization, but also the effect of politics on academic promotion. In addition, the examination on CAE’s strategic national consultations, scientific and technological services, and engineering personnel training shows that the CAE has increasingly sought to place technical expertise in the service of governmental decision making.
In general, the CAE offers a strong example of the Chinese understanding of this politics-engineering interaction. In most countries, the problem of an alliance between applied scientists, engineers, and the state, that is, a technocracy, has been discussed mostly in terms of the ways such a relationship constitutes a challenge or threat to democracy and public participation in political affairs. By contrast, in China the policy recommendations from scientists and engineers can be interpreted as a kind of democratization insofar as it involves more than politicians in political decision making, which is so called China model.

Author

• Nan Wang, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences