Boundary-Crossing Words, Beliefs, and Experiences

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Gang
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
Modern Era

The rise of China as a leading power in today’s world has attracted increasing scholarly attention to the country’s encounter with the West (primarily referring to Europe and North America in this volume) in the modern era, i.e., from the late sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries. While more recent research began to shift away from the model of a tradition–modernity polarity in explaining late imperial Chinese history, new approaches have been proposed to explore a broader range of subjects tied with the richly documented exchanges between China and the West since the sixteenth century. However, there is still a lack of collaborative effort to examine how Western culture, long shaped by the dominant Christian religion, was conceptualized and imagined by late imperial Chinese people, and vice versa, how Confucian-based Chinese culture was understood and interpreted in modern Europe and North America. Indeed, the multilayered two-way flows of words, beliefs, and experiences in such a significant cross-cultural encounter open up intriguing possibilities for further investigation. This volume, which consists of seven studies, presents cutting-edge research on the formation and transformation of different types of knowledge, perceptions, and representations exchanged between China and the West through the modern period. It aims to shed new light and provide refreshing perspectives for future exploration of related subjects in this field....

Reshaping the Boundaries

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Official Records

This book presents extensive research on the formation and transformation of varied types of knowledge, perceptions, and representations exchanged between China and the West from 1600 to 1900. The interweaving of both Chinese and Western perspectives goes beyond the limitations of some influential theories and methodological models, e.g., the Eurocentric assumption of a simple one-way cultural flow, with Western missionaries transmitting and the Chinese receiving. Meanwhile, the book sets a framework in which the seven studies taken together uncover the distinctive feature of “in-betweenness” embedded in the encounter of late imperial China and the modern West. The contributors to this book take a multidisciplinary approach to this significant cross-cultural encounter, featured by three major Christian denominations—Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. They use abundant existing and newly found sources, including official records, personal letters, musical instruments, news reports, rumors, and miracle stories, to illustrate how ideological, religious, and cultural boundaries may have been reshaped on both sides of the encounter. The “in-between” or hybrid ideas, images, and identities emerging from these boundary-crossing interactions demonstrate the interactiveness and interdependence of Chinese and Western peoples not only among themselves but also within a larger global community during the modern era.

Mega-Events and Social Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Roche
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
The West ◽  
Mega Events ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Media ◽  
Relative Decline ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
The Rise Of China

This book analyses the biggest, most spectacular and at times most controversial types of events, namely ‘mega-events’, and particularly recent Olympics and Expos. In this respect it builds on the sociological, historical and empirical account of mega-events originally presented in Roche’s influential study ‘Mega-Events and Modernity’ (2000). This new book addresses how mega-events have changed in recent times. It argues that contemporary mega-events reflect the major social changes which now influence our societies, particularly in the West, and which amount to a new ‘second phase’ of the modernization process. These are particularly visible in the media, urban and global locational aspects of mega-events. The book suggests that contemporary mega-events, both in their achievements and their vulnerabilities, reflect, in the media sphere, the rise of the internet; in the urban sphere, de-industrialisation and the growing ecological crisis; and in the global sphere, the relative decline of the West and the rise of China and other ‘emerging’ countries. It investigates the way in which contemporary mega-events reflect, but also mark and influence, social changes in each of these three contexts.

Some Things We Used to Know about China's Past and Present (But Now, Not So Much)

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Lyman Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
Historical Themes ◽  
The Rise Of China

AbstractAmerican public discourse today about the rise of China and its implications for the United States frequently draws on broad themes and parallels from Chinese history, both to explicate China's present and to project its future. These themes and parallels draw on a picture of the Chinese past that, as recently as twenty-five years ago, was embraced by many (though by no means all) professional historians and propagated by some of them as the best means to understand contemporary China. But since the 1970s, the community of historians of China has produced work that severely undermines longstanding conventional judgments of China's past. As a consequence, the historical themes and parallels that once were thought useful in illuminating interpretation of contemporary China have been stood on their head.

Opening Up the Chinese Socio-cultural Sphere

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-96
Author(s):  
Wu-Ling Chong
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
Cultural Sphere ◽  
Business Connections ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
Opening Up

This chapter examines the opening up of the Chinese socio-cultural sphere in post-Suharto Medan and Surabaya. Chinese Indonesians who strongly support Chinese ethnic and cultural identities have made use of the more liberal environment to establish Chinese-based organisations and Chinese-language newspapers. In general, these organisations and newspapers have made use of intra-ethnic linkages to safeguard Chinese ethnic and cultural identities, thus contributing to multiculturalism in post-Suharto Indonesia. The rise of China as an economic power has also prompted leaders of some Chinese organisations to utilise their intra-ethnic linkages and social networks in China to assist local governments in establishing cultural and business connections with China. Many indigenous Indonesians, however, perceive that the active role of Chinese organisations in promoting Chinese culture indicates an insistence upon separateness. At the same time, there are Chinese Indonesians who favour the integration of the Chinese into the wider Indonesian society and who have established non-ethnic-based socio-cultural organisations to promote cross-ethnic understanding and solidarity. On the whole, however, the socio-cultural activities and endeavours of Chinese organisations and Chinese-language newspapers have reproduced and perpetuated stereotypes of the Chinese as insular, opportunistic, and oriented towards China instead of Indonesia.

MODERNITY, INTERNATIONALIZATION, AND WAR IN THE HISTORY OF MODERN CHINA

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
RANA MITTER
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
The West ◽  
Chinese Modernity ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Chinese Communist Party

Twenty years ago, the study of modern China in the west was heavily focused on rural China. It used the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party as its overarching narrative, and treated the communist victory of 1949 as a watershed. This review surveys several recent trends in the writing of Chinese history in the west which have challenged these models. Among the changes of emphasis in the field that are noted are: a new interest in China's place in global history, urban history, and the history of consumption; a rethinking of the significance of nationalism and imperialism; warfare as a vehicle of sociocultural change; and a reinterpretation of Chinese modernity that stresses the similarities, as well as the differences, between the Chinese Communist Party and its predecessors, the Nationalists, and also stresses continuities as well as changes across the ‘barrier’ date of 1949. The review highlights areas of interest to non-specialists in Chinese history, and concentrates on studies of the Republican period (1912–49) published since the 1990s, although it also covers work covering topics in the late imperial and early People's Republic periods.

scholarly journals Analysis of Chinglish from the Perspective of Feminism

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Mingjing Su
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
The West ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Chinese Men ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Variation Tendency

<p><em>Xi Yan is one of the protagonists and plays a significant role in Chinglish. The paper applies feminism to analyze Xi Yan and to find out what it represents. As opposed to the traditional women, Xi Yan goes after physical pleasure and spiritual fulfillment and gains both spiritual and physical freedom. In contrast with Chinese men, she performs even better than men and wins a certain economic and social status. In terms of foreign men, she prevails in the relationship with Daniel, which is a symbol of the rise of women that portends the rise of China.</em></p><em>The findings demonstrate that: Xi Yan symbolizes the transformation of modern women from being suppressed to the pursuit of spiritual and physical liberation; she is on behalf of strong women who try to improve the situation of women, in pursuit of equality; and the change in the relative power of male and female reveals the variation tendency of the relative force of the East and the West.</em>

scholarly journals Changes in Chinese-Indonesian Identity: Indonesianization or Re- Sinicization?

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harryanto Aryodiguno
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Political Status ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
Do So

During the Suharto era, which began after the anti-Chinese riots in 1965 as a result of the deterioration of the relation between Indonesia and China, forced policies of assimilation was adopted for curtailing the Chinese culture and to control Chinese-Indonesians. Yet, anti-Chinese sentiments remained, and attacks against them reached its climax in May 1998, when anti-Chinese riots recurred because of the allegation that Chinese-Indonesians had an advantageous economic status, and they were the culprit that brought financial crisis to Indonesia. The May 1998 riot ended Suharto’s era, and Chinese Indonesians saw improvement in their position and condition. Now, they strive to find their own identity and political status. Their efforts to do so were also influence by the rise of China. That is why, this paper aims at examining whether the reintroduction of Chinese cultural celebrations into Chinese-Indonesian community would result in the demise of policies of assimilation. It also examines whether the rise of China would propel them to establish a closer identification with the People’s Republic of China. How do Chinese-Indonesians view their identity? How do they choose this identity and their political inclinations? These are the research questions this paper is going to answer. The findings show that the status of the Chinese in Indonesia is divided into two groups. The first group is the one who is determined to break away from Chinese identification, and the second group is the one that still maintains their Chinese culture.

China and “Modernity”: the Uses of the Study of Chinese History in the Past and the Present

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Zurndorfer
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Data ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
The Past

AbstractThe central focus of this paper is the lack of impact Euro-centric theories of development have made on twentieth century historical writing by leading Chinese and Japanese scholars. The author reviews publications by three important historians, Naitō Konan, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, and Yü Ying-shih, all of whom attempt to locate China's first experience with “modernity” prior to nineteenth or twentieth century encounters with the West. Although all three historians differ in their interpretation of the concept “modernity,” they find Chinese culture a central feature in the identification of this concept. Furthermore, all three writers rely upon historical evidence, in particular economic and social data, to counter claims of China's history as a process of linear development.

4. From the end of the cold war to a new world dis-order?

2019 ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Michael Cox
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International System ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Clinton Presidency ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Rise Of China

This chapter provides a broad overview of the international system between the end of the cold war— when many claimed that liberalism and the West had triumphed— through to the second decade of the twenty-first century, when the West itself and the liberal economic order it had hitherto promoted appeared to be coming under increased pressure from political forces at home and new challenges abroad. But before we turn to the present, the chapter will look at some of the key developments since 1989—including the Clinton presidency, the George W. Bush administration’s foreign policy following the attacks of 9/11, the 2008 financial crash, the crisis in Europe, the transitions taking place in the global South, the origins of the upheavals now reshaping the Middle East, the political shift from Barack Obama to Donald Trump, the emergence of Asia, and the rise of China. The chapter then concludes by examining two big questions: first, is power now shifting away from the West, and second, to what extent does the current wave of populism in the West threaten globalization and the liberal order?

Wild Game Changer

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 147-168
Author(s):  
Deborah Cao ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Wild Game ◽  
Globalized Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
Moral Universe ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
Game Changer

For the last two decades, the world has seen the rise of China. With its rise, unfortunately, has come the fall, retreat, and demise of some animals and animal species. China is often singled out for special attention in terms of animal destruction and endangerment. With an increasingly globalized economy and world, we now have a globalized wildlife crisis. This essay focuses on the exploitation of wild animals in China. It argues that the plight of wildlife in China stems from an underlying position in Chinese culture that animals are instruments for human benefits, and such an instrumentalist approach has always dominated the Chinese landscape. This is the case despite the fact that animals and humans are considered to be organically connected in the moral universe in Chinese traditional philosophy in contrast to the segregated approach to humans and non-humans in Western philosophical traditions. It is suggested that to achieve substantive progress in the protection of wildlife and other animals in China, a fundamental change of thinking and acting toward animals by the Chinese to recognize the intrinsic value of animals would be imperative.

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