Hybridisation and recombination: perspectives on higher education in Chinese societies

Abstract

This special issue of Discourse concerns itself with the complex issues about the integration between the seemingly contradictory Chinese and Western ideas of a university in five Chinese societies – Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore (plus Chinese communities in Southeast Asia). Our concern is not only with how higher education sectors are governed during the contemporary period, but also the influence of the past on the present governance of higher education in these Chinese societies. Our choice of the Chinese societies is based on both the shared cultural roots and their different paths of social and scholarly developments built on the shared wealth of cultural heritage. Facilitated by the potential of Chinese indigenous knowledge, they are all well positioned to overcome Euro/West-centrism and to counteract the tendency towards homogeneity and standardisation in higher education development. Indeed, against the historical background of European imperialism and colonialism, theWest came to the Chinese societies with immense prestige. The theory of academic dependency also adequately explains the situations of these societies. Given that the Chinese societies have undergone different social, economic and political changes and share a common cultural heritage, pursuing an empirically based comparative study between them becomes particularly meaningful. Chinese societies (huaren shehui) here refer to the ones that have significant ethnic, cultural and political connections with China (zhongguo). As indicated in the literature, two types of existing narratives interpret China as a cultural entity and a nation-state, respectively; additionally, the intertwining and evolution of these cultural and national narratives are exemplified by the centre–periphery relations between the central state and local institutions (Cohen, 1991; Ge, 2014; Jacques, 2012; Tu, 1991; Wang, 2014). This understanding of China forms a centre–periphery structure in which the selected societies can be put in order of Chineseness (huaren xing). In such a centre–periphery framework, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao are seen as ‘Lesser China’, where the traditions of Chinese civilisation are variously inherited and adapted on the broader picture of cultural China, despite the existence of strong but complex political ties between these societies and Chinese mainland (Lo, 2016; Wang, 1993). Similarly, despite its significant ethnic and cultural link with China, Singapore’s status as an independent and sovereign state prompts its ruling regime tomanage the Chineseness in its process of nation and identity building (Lee, 2017; Wong, 2005). From a historical perspective, Chineseness can be revealed by patterns and sequences of thought that constitute strong loyalty towards Chinese traditional cultural values and ideals (Wang, 2009). By contrast, the contemporary use of Chineseness also refers to an awareness of and admiration for the rise of China shared by its neighbouring societies