Abstract

Beida reformers invoke the legacy of Cai Yuanpei’s cosmopolitan vision for making it a world-class university while erecting it on the principles of the “market university,” which are contradictory to Cai’s aesthetic ideals of universality, transcendence, and freedom of thought. This study compares the conceptual underpinnings of both models and proposes a pathway for resurrecting Cai’s foundational idea of the university and preserving the “Beida spirit.”

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