ABSTRACT
In the contemporary world, whether in China and foreign countries, “intellectuals” mean, in most cases, “people with professional knowledge”. However, if compared with the spirit of scholar-officials featuring the tradition of Chinese intelligentsia and the Confucian tradition, such a self-identity is somewhat narrow. In direct meaning, there was in ancient China no discussion which was commensurate with the issue of modern public intellectuals. Confucian scholars had maintained the character which was similar to that of public intellectuals from their appearance to the later period of the Chinese Empire. In contrast, in Western culture, resources of public intellectuals in modern sense are very weak. However, the concept of public intellectuals does not mean to fundamentally oppose the reasonable and progressive significance of professionalization in social and professional division. Richard A. Posner pointed out sharply that American public intellectuals now have poor performance in disseminating information and offering opinions and that misjudgments frequently occur.
