Utilitarianism and the Westernization of Modern Mohist Studies

The term “utilitarianism” in English translates into Chinese as gongli zhuyi. When Liang Qichao and Hu Shi first imported the concept of utilitarianism into the study of Mohist thought, the term was initially translated as shili zhuyi or leli zhuyi. The use of gongli zhuyi in Mohist studies was established only through the efforts of Yan Fu and Wu Yu to break down the negative connotations of gongli in traditional Chinese culture and through the systematic research and scholarly influence of Feng Youlan. The study of Mohist thought within the framework of utilitarianism as gongli zhuyi is now common practice throughout academia with few scholars objecting to the use of this term.

Swiss Enchantment

A vast and hyper-centralized Asian empire built on the premise of an alleged cultural homogeneity. A small, federalist Alpine state sustained by the ideal of coexistence of different languages and religions. The differences between China and Switzerland could not be wider, and it is therefore understandable that the Swiss confederacy has been fascinating Chinese intellectuals in both the modern and contemporary era. In the late Qing and early Republican period, Switzerland was mentioned by prominent figures like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, who praised its democracy, and in the 1920s the Swiss political system became a source of inspiration for “provincial patriots” in Hunan or for Chinese federalists such as Chen Jiongming. The present paper intends to survey these political encounters and perceptions, focusing on the transformation of the Swiss institutional model and historical experience into a “political concept”, and on the reasons for its final rejection as an unrealistic utopia unsuited for China.

Nationality, Authenticity and Food: A Revisiting on the History of Chop Suey

In the early twentieth century, the authenticity of chop suey was challenged by mainstream American media, as journalists could not find evidence of the dish in China. This caused a decline in the availability of chop suey in the American restaurants. However, chop suey was simultaneously recognized as a Chinese food by educated Chinese elites such as Liang Qichao, who raised no concerns about its authenticity. This article examines the difference between Chinese elites and the American media and discusses the relationships among food, authenticity and nationality. It argues that despite the different perceptions of Chinese elites and the American media, they both used a single standard to determine whether chop suey was “Chinese food” and failed to realize the close relationship between the Chinese community and American society. Both were influenced by a common perception of Chinese communities as isolated within American society and separate from other groups and close contact with China.

Colonial Stereotypes and Martialized Intellectual Masculinity in Late Qing and Early Republican China

This article adopts an intersectional approach incorporating gender, race, and colonialism to illuminate a martial trend among Chinese men of letters at the turn of the twentieth century. Within the late Qing reformist intellectual discourses championed by Liang Qichao, it analyzes three racialized colonialist stereotypes: the “effeminate” Confucian literatus, the “Sick Man of East Asia,” and the “Yellow Peril.” The purpose is to reveal these stereotypes as collateral elements of the ideological reconfigurations of the Chinese nation and Chinese masculinities. I argue that although the homology of Western colonialist logic and gender politics powerfully manipulated narratives on Chinese masculinities, male Chinese intellectuals did not passively adopt orientalized images of “Chinamen.” Rather, they strategically reappropriated these stereotypes and invented a new homology of racial and gender politics in order to address abiding concerns with race, nation, and male sexual potency.