Chinese History and Culture

Chinese History and Culture

Seventeenth Century Through Twentieth Century, Volume 2

  • Author: Yü, Ying-shih; Chiu-Duke, Josephine; Duke, Michael
  • Publisher: Columbia University Press
  • Serie: Masters of Chinese Studies
  • ISBN: 9780231178600
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780231542005
  • Place of publication:  New York , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2016
  • Month: September
  • Language: English
The recipient of the Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and the Tang Prize for "revolutionary research" in Sinology, Ying-shih Yü is a premier scholar of Chinese studies. Chinese History and Culture volumes 1 and 2 bring his extraordinary oeuvre to English-speaking readers. Spanning two thousand years of social, intellectual, and political change, the essays in these volumes investigate two central questions through all aspects of Chinese life: what core values sustained this ancient civilization through centuries of upheaval, and in what ways did these values survive in modern times?

From Ying-shih Yü's perspective, the Dao, or the Way, constitutes the inner core of Chinese civilization. His work explores the unique dynamics between Chinese intellectuals' discourse on the Dao, or moral principles for a symbolized ideal world order, and their criticism of contemporary reality throughout Chinese history. Volume 2 of Chinese History and Culture completes Ying-shih Yü's systematic reconstruction and exploration of Chinese thought over two millennia and its impact on Chinese identity. Essays address the rise of Qing Confucianism, the development of the Dai Zhen and Zhu Xi traditions, and the response of the historian Zhang Xuecheng to the Dai Zhen approach. They take stock of the thematic importance of Cao Xueqin's eighteenth-century masterpiece Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) and the influence of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, as well as the radicalization of China in the twentieth century and the fundamental upheavals of modernization and revolution. Ying-shih Yü also discusses the decline of elite culture in modern China, the relationships among democracy, human rights, and Confucianism, and changing conceptions of national history. He reflects on the Chinese approach to history in general and the larger political and cultural function of chronological biographies. By situating China's modern encounter with the West in a wider historical frame, this second volume of Chinese History and Culture clarifies its more curious turns and contemplates the importance of a renewed interest in the traditional Chinese values recognizing common humanity and human dignity.
  • Table of Contents
  • Author’s Preface
  • Editorial Note
  • List of Abbreviations
  • Chronology of Dynasties
  • 1. Some Preliminary Observations on the Rise of Qing Confucian Intellectualism
  • 2. Dai Zhen and the Zhu Xi Tradition
  • 3. Dai Zhen’s Choice Between Philosophy and Philology
  • 4. Zhang Xuecheng Versus Dai Zhen: A Study in Intellectual Challenge and Response in Eighteenth-Century China
  • 5. Qing Confucianism
  • 6. The Two Worlds of Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber)
  • 7. Sun Yat-sen’s Doctrine and Traditional Chinese Culture
  • 8. The Radicalization of China in the Twentieth Century
  • 9. Neither Renaissance nor Enlightenment: A Historian’s Reflections on the May Fourth Movement
  • 10. Modernization Versus Fetishism of Revolution in Twentieth-Century China
  • 11. The Idea of Democracy and the Twilight of the Elite Culture in Modern China
  • 12. China’s New Wave of Nationalism
  • 13. Democracy, Human Rights and Confucian Culture
  • 14. Changing Conceptions of National History in Twentieth-Century China
  • 15. Reflections on Chinese Historical Thinking
  • 16. Modern Chronological Biography and the Conception of Historical Scholarship
  • 17. The Study of Chinese History: Retrospect and Prospect
  • 18. Confucianism and China’s Encounter with the West in Historical Perspective
  • 19. Clio’s New Cultural Turn and the Rediscovery of Tradition in Asia
  • Acknowledgments
  • Appendix. The John W. Kluge Prize Address and The Tang Prize for Sinology Acceptance Speech
  • Untitled

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