Papers on China Flashcards
Wakeman - initial communist ideology
Provided comfort to Mao’s generation, which had been humiliated by Japan and the West and were bereft of a social future
Wakeman - modernisation of China effect
As it modernised, China’s sacred community of the past gave way to modern secular communities, divided in labour and spirit (Durkheim)
As the individual lost their sense of belonging, social disintegration seemed inevitable unless basic social values were shared by all
By internalising ideological values, individuals might gain a sense of common identity
Wakeman - ideology as the product of modernism
Emerged through the cultural strain as traditional values disappeared along with the sacred society of the past
Charismatic authority arose out of momentary institutional failure
Wakeman - connections in Chinese culture
John Israel traces ideological connections between pre-modern and revolutionary China
Connection between the New Culture Movement (1900s) and Cultural Revolution (1960s)
Wakeman - intellectual developments 1915-1920
Presaged the adoption of Marxism
There was a distraught sense of cultural alienation during the New Culture period, responded eagerly to ideas fulfilling deep-seated intellectual and emotional needs
Wakeman - May Fourth
The May Fourth generation felt political revolution failed in 1913 as traditional cultural and social patterns had survived the overthrow of the dynasty
However it drew a strong link between culture and politics - intellectuals felt that political action would only succeed if carried out in the larger context of cultural change
Wakeman - 2 great intellectual crises in early C20
Professor Chen asserts this:
The first was the assault on Confucianism, which was replaced by Social Darwinism
The second was the loss of confidence in Social Darwinism after WW1 - replaced by Marxism-Leninism
Lu paper
Waking to Modernity: The Classical Tale in Late Qing China
Lu - revision of views on the formation of modern Chinese culture
The view that the May Fourth Movement of 1919 initiated a revolutionary break from tradition that has constituted the mainstream of Chinese modernity ever since should be revised
Lu - examination of the Late Qing period uses
Has been fruitful for globalisation studies and literary historiography
In retrospect, China’s earliest globalisation thinkers are found from the moment of encounter with the West
Lu - approach to narrative fiction
Should be investigated as the product of dormant, incipient, repressed Chinese modernities
Lu - reasons for repressed modernities
Wang argues it occurred as by the time China was recognised as an important part of modern civilisation, it had submitted to a monolithic discourse in which only Western theories and modernity could be spoken
Lu - importance of the modernisation of literature
Reformers considered the modernisation of literature to be a important since it was a major constituent of culture
Of all genres, narrative fiction was singled out as the most important and effective tool for the creation of a new culture - imbued with high moral, ideological and social values
Vernacular novel perceived as uniquely equipped for an expose of the old ways and creation of new sensibilities
Lu - literary focus of the paper
Wang Tao’s short stories ‘Random Records of a Recluse in Wusong’ (1884-87)
Clear tension between narrative form and ever-globalizing sensibility of the author
Lu - aim of the last blooming of the classical tale
As much a response to the modern world as it is a continuation of traditional Chinese motifs and themes
Effort to wrestle profound changes faced by China as it entered the modern world - tried to reposition it on the world map
Lu - Tao background
Fled from China in 1862 for alleged relationship with the Taiping
Brought back by Guofan and other officials in 1884; worked tirelessly for the Reform Movement (later started by Guangxu)
Exile in Hong Kong gave him the chance to reflect on his own culture from observations of the west
Used ancient literati mode of storytelling
Lu - Tao’s aim
Saw that China’s belief system was in crisis with the introduction of modern science
Advocated the adoption of western rationality, knowledge and institutions; but as a writer he attempts to enchant a disappearing magical world
Contradictory worldview as he was caught in a transitional historical period
Lu - context of Chinese worldview
Time when the self-contained, Sino-centric worldview about humanity, nature and the cosmos was being shattered by the gunboats of the West
Lu - Biography of May story
About May, who is in love with a British man, travels to China and falls in love with a Chinese man, is hunted by the Brit and they kill each other
May represents western technology, which ultimately finds its home in China rather than Britain
Part of a set of 3 stories which show inclusion, domestication and utility of the foreign in the Chinese world
Lu - Tao as a theorist
Seem as China’s first ‘globalisation theorist’, who saw the West not as a threat but a chance for transformation and renewal
Lu - storytelling as a vehicle
Tao used it as a vehicle for social reform, however his mode of storytelling was soon replaced by the long vernacular novel at the turn of the century
Lu - limit of Tao’s stories
Expansive yet limiting style of his tales could not create an expansive discursive space of dialogism to accommodate the worldview of diverse social strata in Chinese strata in Chinese society in a turbulent period
Dessein - western influence on defining religion
Western presence meant that the traditional Chinese spiritual realm started to be redefined in terms of the Western conception of ‘religion’
Traditional division between Confucian ‘civil religion’ and large grey areas of other faiths and ideologies removed
Replaced with ‘European’ division between ‘orthodox religion’ (Christianity) and ‘superstition’ - displaced Confcucianism
Dessein - traditional interpretation of Confucian rule
There is an intricate connection between the spiritual and political world
Therefore when C19 + 20 intellectuals strove to create a Chinese nation state after the Western model, this could not but have ramifications for the position of Confucianism (the backbone of traditional elite culture)
Dessein - reluctance to abandon Confucianism
Majority of intellectuals did not want to remove it - still had a lingering belief in the values of (a redefined) Confucianism
‘Self-strenghtening movement’ aimed to make China so materially strong it would be better able to defend itself against the west
Dessein - Wang Tao
Advocated studying western culture, so that western technology as ‘function’ could be fused with Chinese culture as ‘essence’
Would lead to an era of universal peace with the world ‘one great unity’
Believed that the right to rule ‘all-under-heaven’ would remain a Confucian prerogative
Dessein - opinion of Kang Youwei
Advocated redefining Confucianism as a religion in its own right
Wanted to make it a ‘national religion’ that mirrored the ‘orthodox’ religions of the west’
Local cult traditions would be removed, but this would remove division between elite and common people
Seen by republican parliaments as contrary to freedom of religion, and thus rejected in 1913 and 1916
Dessein - opinion of Sun Yatsen
Dismissed Confucianism as a vehicle to rally the collective and brought into the KMT the idea of ‘party state’
Thought it necessary to deconstruct the Chinese ‘cultural state’ in order to create a ‘nation state’
Dessein - opinion of Mao
Saw religion as ‘opium for the people’ and removed Confucianism
Yu - 1911 events
The Manchu dynasty was overthrown and the Republic declared to be a constitutional form of state, with monarchical institutions completely abandoned
Yu - reason for failure of republic
With no preparation or consideration of China’s past political experience. it discarded familiar political institutions and adopted a form of government she was neither prepared for nor experienced with
It was not questioned whether an Oriental depotism could be transmuted overnight into a modern democratic state
Yu - pre-republican change and values
The dynasty was a long-lived polity in which change came very slowly, if at all
It was dominated by a single powerful ideology which valued family and loyalty and accepted social divisions between the ruler and ruled
Yu - Imperial authority
Emperor demanded complete authority - factions and parties were illegal
Political opposition was limited as it required a complete overthrow of the regime, and if this failed, death
This was the environment into which liberal western political institutions and ideas were thrust in 1912
Yu - reception of Republicanism
Enthusiastically welcomed - it was felt that China had shrugged off the past and joined the modern world
Soon warlordism dominated, these men having no regard for the Republic
Yu - nationalists and the republic
Did little to make the republic work - it was placed second to the needs of gaining or merely holding power
They still fought with the Communists in the early 1930s and after 1941
Yu - nature of nationalist modernisation
When it occurred according to the liberal western image, it was organised on the basis of a traditionalist-authoritarian model
Yu - negative western powers
Helped make the republican experiment abortive, by taking and usually ignoring Chinese appeals for assistance
Importance of Liu Yizeng
Wrote histories of Chinese culture, seeing it as the primary category in envisioning the collective identity of the Chinese
His ‘culturalism as identity’ discourse tried to strike a balance between modernity and China’s particular nature
Dirlik - fall of Confucianism
Seemed dead against the teleology of modernisation
Faced crisis before the revolution as the monarchy it legitimated proved unable to cope with Capitalism
When the monarchy fell, it lost the institution that had provided it with a concrete embodiment for millenia
Dirlik - May Fourth period (late teens-early twenties)
Saw height of attack on Confucianism, as it was held responsible by a generation of intellectuals for the most basic social and political problems of society
Its role was questioned in sustaining an oppressive family structure, suppressing women and extinguishing youth creativity and independence
Dirlik - Marxist view of Confucianism
Saw it as the ideological expression of a ‘feudal’ period that had had lasted for an inordinately long time
Within the period, it had articulated the interests of the ‘feudal’ ruling class, but would then die an inevitable death
Dirlik - Weberian diagnosis of Confucianism
Considered ideological factors held China back, since it had most material prerequisites for the emergence of capitalism
Implied the necessity of abandoning Confucianism to develop capitalism
At time attacked by scholars who reconciled ‘western’ and ‘Chinese’ values to form ‘New Confucianism’
Elman - exams as a focal point
They were the focal point through which state interests, family strategies and individual aspirations were directed
Achieved a degree of national standardisation and local importance unprecedented in the premodern world
Elman - exam system odds
By 1850, they were very slim, with only 0.01% making it to the highest level
Elman - exam system exclusion
Due to the great cost of education, although the exams were technically open to all, over 90% of the population was excluded
Also necessitated learning of classical language
Elman - aim of system
Recapitulate in the present the classical genres in which the Confucian Classics had been composed
Also supported Qing political aims, as the ‘culturalism’ produced was ideologically supportive of the status quo
Strong piece of educational and social engineering
Guofan’s Confucian credentials
Upheld the four principal ideas of the Confucian man - achieving self-perfection, managing the family, governing the empire, and bringing order to all under heaven
Perfect family man - strict but loving with children
Qing economic situation
Elgin - China in ‘high-level equilibrium trap’
Growth without development; output high, but no method change
Chinese railway example
Example of reluctance to modernise was the purchase by authorities of the 1st railway line in Shanghai in 1877, to rip up the rails and turn the station into the temple because it disrupted the feng shui of the countryside
