Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T13:21:23.253Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Re-conceptualizing China in our Time: From a Chinese Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2015

Zhang Longxi
Zhang Longxi*
Affiliation:
Department of Chinese, Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong; E-mail: ctlxzh@cityu.edu.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

China as a concept had not been put under much scrutiny and challenge until the recent postmodern and postcolonial theoretical discourse on nation and nationhood, and the radical scepticism about tradition and homogeneity. Some scholars have questioned whether China could have been a nation state before there was any nation state in Europe, and others have challenged the very notions of China and Chineseness. How do the Chinese themselves respond to such scepticism and challenge? How does one re-conceptualize China at the present time? By drawing on recent debates on such important issues, this essay tries to find some answers and offers some views from a Chinese perspective, while fully engaging Western theoretical discourses, to attempt an international dialogue and meaningful exchange.

Type
Rediscovering China from Today’s Perspective
Information
European Review , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , May 2015 , pp. 193 - 209
Copyright
© Academia Europæa 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Trivedi, H. (2007) The nation and the world: an introduction. In: H. Trivedi, M. Mukherjee, C. Vijayasree and T. Vijay Kumar (eds), The Nation across the World: Postcolonial Literary Representations (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), p. xi.Google Scholar
2.Chow, R. (2000) Introduction: on Chineseness as a theoretical problem. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Chow, R. (2000) Introduction: on Chineseness as a theoretical problem. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 9.Google Scholar
4.Chow, R. (1993) Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Studies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), p. 25.Google Scholar
5.Trivedi, H. (2007) The nation and the world: an introduction. In: H. Trivedi, M. Mukherjee, C. Vijayasree and T. Vijay Kumar (eds), The Nation across the World: Postcolonial Literary Representations (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. xxii–xxiii.Google Scholar
6.Ang, I. (2000) Can one say no to Chineseness? Pushing the limits of the diasporic paradigm. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 293.Google Scholar
7.Ang, I. (2000) Can one say no to Chineseness? Pushing the limits of the diasporic paradigm. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 295, quoting R. Chow (1993) Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Studies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), p. 24.Google Scholar
8.Ang, I. (2000) Can one say no to Chineseness? Pushing the limits of the diasporic paradigm. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 296.Google Scholar
9.Ang, I. (2000) Can one say no to Chineseness? Pushing the limits of the diasporic paradigm. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 297.Google Scholar
10.Chun, A. (1996) Fuck Chineseness: On the Ambiguities of ethnicity as culture as identity. boundary 2, 23(2), p. 113.Google Scholar
11.Chun, A. (1996) Fuck Chineseness: On the Ambiguities of ethnicity as culture as identity. boundary 2, 23(2), p. 114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Wallerstein, I. (2004) World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 42.Google Scholar
13.Chun, A. (1996) Fuck Chineseness: On the Ambiguities of ethnicity as culture as identity. boundary 2, 23(2), p. 138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Trivedi, H. (2007) The nation and the world: an introduction. In: H. Trivedi, M. Mukherjee, C. Vijayasree and T. Vijay Kumar (eds), The Nation across the World: Postcolonial Literary Representations (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), p. xiii.Google Scholar
15.Ang, I. (2000) Can one say no to Chineseness? Pushing the limits of the diasporic paradigm. In: R. Chow (Ed.), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field (Durham: Duke University Press), p. 283.Google Scholar
16.Junjie, Huang (2006) On the meaning of the concept of Zhongguo in Chinese classics and its transformation in modern Japan and contemporary Taiwan. Taiwan Dongya wenming yanjiu xuekan [Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies], 3(2), p. 93.Google Scholar
17.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 28.Google Scholar
18.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), pp. 25–26.Google Scholar
19.Mu, Qian (1988) Zhongguo wenhua shi daolun [Introduction to the History of Chinese Culture] (Shanghai: Sanlian), p. 35.Google Scholar
20.Ying-shih, Yu (1993) The concept of the state and national consciousness. In: Wenhua pinglun yu Zhongguo qinghuai [Cultural Criticism and Chinese Sentiments] (Taipei: Yunchen), p. 18.Google Scholar
21.Xun, Jiao (1954) Mengzi zhengyi [The Correct Meaning of the Mencius]. In: Zhuzi jicheng [Collection of Maters Writings], 8 vols. (Beijing: Zhongshu), 1, pp. 317–319.Google Scholar
22.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 27.Google Scholar
23.Junjie, Huang (2006) On the meaning of the concept of Zhongguo in Chinese classics and its transformation in modern Japan and contemporary Taiwan. Taiwan Dongya wenming yanjiu xuekan [Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies], 3(2), p. 92.Google Scholar
24.Junjie, Huang (2006) On the meaning of the concept of Zhongguo in Chinese classics and its transformation in modern Japan and contemporary Taiwan. Taiwan Dongya wenming yanjiu xuekan [Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies], 3(2), p. 95.Google Scholar
25.Junjie, Huang (2006) On the meaning of the concept of Zhongguo in Chinese classics and its transformation in modern Japan and contemporary Taiwan. Taiwan Dongya wenming yanjiu xuekan [Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies], 3(2), p. 97.Google Scholar
26.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), pp. 107–108.Google Scholar
27.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 111.Google Scholar
28.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 112.Google Scholar
29.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 47.Google Scholar
30.Porter, D. (2012) Introduction. In: D. Porter (Ed.), Comparative Early Modernities: 1100–1800 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 5.Google Scholar
31.Bin Wong, R. (2012) Did China’s late empire have an early modern era? In: D. Porter (Ed.), Comparative Early Modernities: 1100–1800 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 206.Google Scholar
32.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 64.Google Scholar
33.Chakravorty Spivak, G. (2008) Other Asias (Oxford: Blackwell), p. 214.Google Scholar
34.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 175.Google Scholar
35.Antoni, K. (2004) Karagokoro: Opposing the ‘Chinese Spirit’: on the nativistic roots of Japanese fascism. In: E. B. Reynolds (Ed.), Japan in the Fascist Era (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 54.Google Scholar
36.Zhaoguang, Ge (2011) Zhai zi Zhongguo: Chongjian youguan Zhongguo de lishi lunshu [Here in China I Dwell: Reconstruct a Historical Discourse on China] (Beijing: Zhonghua), p. 185.Google Scholar
37.Antoni, K. (2004) Karagokoro: Opposing the ‘Chinese Spirit’: on the nativistic roots of Japanese fascism. In: E. B. Reynolds (Ed.), Japan in the Fascist Era (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 50.Google Scholar