Since Qin, China has had strong government combined with harsh punishment for anyone daring to challenge the state, or the official thinking. Through thousands of years of this human selection, there has never been any system and tradition formed among Chinese learned men who can become independent.

54 was the beginning of the realization of this trap or bound on Chinese people. The very agenda the young Chinese had was to challenge the status quo that has been there for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, those among the challengers now became the new rulers of another round of dynasty, the CCP dynasty. Since they know better how to challenge the old regime, they become more cruel and more thorough and more merciless in dealing the new challengers.

There wasn't no independent 知识分子 in China, and will not be as long as this strong state exists. This is nothing new - the last 90 years just a small sample embedded in the 5000 year history.