Political purges, funding cuts and a growing hostility towards expertise have unsettled the US research community, evoking memories among Chinese-Americans of a dark chapter in Chinese history and prompting some to look to China for stability.
The Cultural Revolution, launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 to eliminate “bourgeois” influence and consolidate his power, plunged China into turmoil. Factories and schools were shut down while scholars were denounced and exiled for “re-education”.
The upheaval…