China's present backwardness in culture, knowledge, sciences, and technologies can be attributed to various reasons. There would not be a bright future in social reform at all if we did not carry out reform in the above areas. Many reasons account for this backwardness. From a long-term point of view, they are closely related to our ancient feudal history. From a more immediate perspective, they are related to all kinds of prevalent theories, views, or those so-called orthodox views in the last thirty years. We all know that in these thirty years, especially from 1957 on, we had many political campaigns that were absolutely hostile to knowledge and antagonistic to knowledge. From the so-called Anti-Rightist struggle to the Cultural Revolution, they were in fact attempting to eliminate knowledge. These are the modern roots that make our nation so backward. Today at least on the surface we seem to realize the power of knowledge and we have repeatedly emphasized the importance of knowledge, science, and technology. But why is it that the real situation has not changed much? I believe it is closely related to the strong orthodoxy of the more recent period. I should say that the formation of these antiknowledge and anti-culture political campaigns were directly associated with Comrade Mao Zedong's theories in his late years. Many of his thoughts are still very influential in China today. I don't think we can successfully advocate respecting knowledge and changing our nation's backwardness without touching some of his wrong theories. Comrade Mao had quite a few such erroneous theories. I can give you some examples. He said in 1958, "Intellectuals should integrate themselves with the working people." First of all, the substance of this theory is incorrect. He further pronounced the so-called theory that "The noble are the most stupid; the humble are the most wise." Generally speaking, what he meant by "noble" were knowledgeable people, but he did not point it out clearly. If you don't get to the heart of the meaning, these two phrases might sound reasonable. However, he was actually saying that "the knowledgeable are the most stupid; the ignorant are the most wise." He explained it even more clearly later on. In the Cultural Revolution he said, "Colleges of technology and sciences may still be in operation." "May" meant that colleges might or might not be run. I feel that these views are still influential, and they are far from disappearing. That is why today we cannot successfully advocate respect for knowledge without tackling this problem. Though some people have changed such attitudes, others still hold these attitudes toward knowledge, talent, and knowledgeable people, that is, toward intellectuals. I believe if this situation is not changed, there will be no hope for a successful reform. …