"As far as I know, Wang's work is outstanding. I wonder whether there are any elements irrelevant with academic study involved in this case. How we separate them is a tough task," he said.

Secondly, communication between different academic schools, which can hardly be seen today, should be restored and encouraged. Tu said in 1985 scholars holding different ideas could discuss with each other freely along with their peers in New York, Cambridge and Paris. More recently he has observed that many Chinese scholars spent too much energy on internal friction.

"We need to build a public space for argument and discussion between varying thoughts and guarantee that the difference in minds will not lead to the break-up of friendship and witch hunting," he said.

Another important part of a healthy academic environment in China is to establish a sound supervision system. In Wang Hui's case, his own university and department made no clear statement. Wang himself didn't respond until four months later, which reflected the weakness of the supervision system. Tu believes the key to an improved supervision system is a common view reached through public debate.

"Without this process, only an individual supervision system can hardly do anything," he said.

In contrast to science departments, where evaluation by quantitative indicators is possible, the work of humanities is harder to quantify, but Tu says it is feasible to set up a relatively individualized judgment standard. He noted renowned philosopher and Harvard professor John Rawls, who hadn't published a book in 10 years, yet was still regarded as a preeminent scholar.

"China's judgment system needs more participants instead of only a few universities or groups. If academic issues are politicized, it will be difficult to develop," Tu said.

Background:

Tu Weiming is a representative of new Confucianism. He gained a PHD degree at Harvard University and worked as a professor there. He has attracted many American students with his lectures on Confucian ethics. He is now the dean of Advanced Humanity Research Center of Beijing University.