Some of China's most celebrated declarations about intellectuals were made by the Song-Dynasty writer and statesman Fan Zhongyan. In "Notes on Yueyang Tower," he wrote, "Worry before everyone else, and be content after everyone else." And in "Replying to the Ode to the Crow" he wrote, "Better to die speaking up than to live in silence."
當然，中國最著名、且為後人稱頌的知識分子宣言，當屬宋代文人政治家范仲淹〈岳陽樓記〉的「先天下之憂而憂，後天下之樂而樂」，以及〈答靈烏賦〉的「寧鳴而死，不默而生」。