39Although the above is only in a montage-like manner, they were my actual experi-
ence and played a role in shaping how I view real-world educational issues and how I
assess other people’s work in the field of higher education research. The first two
scenarios show how a person’s perspective and frame of reference influence the pic-
ture a researcher has. The third montage indeed left its long-lasting mark on me. Many
years later I still try to reflect on that. Together with the fourth and the fifth, they show
how deeply Chinese contemporary education has been separated from even irrelevant
to societal needs and how little attention the education pays to the real world. Similar
stories can be easily found throughout China at all levels of education.
The above montages also show collectively knowledge politics in Chinese contem-
porary education, similar to the situations in most non-Western societies where formal
education is foreign (usually Western) in nature without much linkage to their actuali-
ties. While Dewy ( 1938 ) insisted that the educator’s role was in creating an educative
experience, the experience in Chinese schooling is often based on Western experi-
ence. As the last montage shows in particular, Western education is perceived as pres-
tigious in non-Western societies. Western knowledge is the one that counts as the real
knowledge by both the educator and the general public. The student who complained
about my suggestion was indeed paying a dear price to buy a Western degree.
Understanding is hermeneutically always conditioned by one’s own horizon and
perspective. Our horizon and perspectives are shaped by a variety of factors.
Furthermore, they are multifaceted and are always in a change state. What should be
the appropriate perspective for observing East Asian higher education? How should
we interpret what we have observed? All of the above reflections have significant
implications for how we should conduct our research and how we assess the exist-
ing literature on East Asian higher education.
Perspective, Frame of Reference, and Comparative Historical
Analysis
In 1804, Shu Shi (1037–1101), one of China’s greatest poets in history, wrote a poem
on Mount Lu. The poem has since been well known for articulating philosophical
insights into the interaction between recognition and perspective. It is often under-
stood as a reflection on the limitation and blindness of an insider’s point of view or
the difficulty of knowing something up close. It describes Mount Lu in four lines^2 :
Viewed horizontally a range; a cliff from the side;
It differs as we move high or low, or far or nearby.
We do not know the true face of Mount Lu,
Because we are all ourselves inside.(^2) The Chinese original is 苏轼,《题西林壁》:横看成岭侧成峰, 远近高低各不同。不识庐山真
面目,只缘身在此山中。
3 Foil to the West? Interrogating Perspectives for Observing East Asian Higher...