Liberty and Zhi: Chinese and Anglo-American Ideas of the University

Host Alex Usher interviews Dr. Lily Yang (University of Hong Kong) about her book, Higher Education State and Society, comparing Chinese and Anglo-American higher education as distinct cultural worldviews rather than just systems. Yang argues cultural traditions shape how concepts like the person/individual, equity, society, and the public good are understood, and why key ideas do not translate cleanly across contexts. They discuss similarities and deeper differences in student development, contrasting human-capital and tuition-fee rationales with China’s view of higher education as a state-supported apparatus serving broader social goods. Yang explains China’s historically encompassing notion of state and society, differing meanings of liberty versus zhi (free will), and culturally bounded university autonomy and academic freedom. 👉 Episode Links:Higher Education State and Society, Comparing The Chinese and Anglo-American Approaches