Chinese Image in Lin Yutang's Trans-Creation Works

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Chinese Image in Lin Yutang's Trans-Creation Works Journal of Literature and Art Studies, April 2021, Vol. 11, No. 4, 242-247 doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2021.04.006 D DAVID PUBLISHING Overlapping or Reshaping: Chinese Image in Lin Yutang’s Trans-creation Works LIU Ru-fei School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 43000, China Lin Yutang had been working hard to spread Chinese culture in English since he settled abroad in 1936 and all his oversea trans-creation works to some extent re-shaped the Chinese image in the West. This paper makes a contrast study between the stereotyped one in the West and the real Chinese image in Lin Yutang’s trans-creation works and finally points out that Lin Yutang’s adoration for Chinese culture and his passion for establishing culture identity overseas has set a good example for building up a good national image for China today. Keywords: Lin Yutang, Trans-creation works, Chinese image Introduction The national image is a comprehensive evaluation and overall impression of the international community on a country in politics, economy, military, spirit, consciousness, concept, customs, environment and other aspects. Tracing back the history, from 13th to 19th century, the image of China displaying in the western eyes had experienced from the process of “worship” to “devaluate”, from “paradise” to “hell”, most of which were from the “Text China” written by missionaries or writers (Zhouning, 2011). Until modern times, by grace of the efforts made by Gu Hongming and Lin Yutang and other devoted Chinese writers, who had been committed to introducing Chinese culture directly to the world in foreign languages, Chinese image underwent real re-shaping and therefore, excellent Chinese culture could be spread in the world. Wang Qinling (2018) believes that when the author transforms Chinese culture in his mind into specific English words, it is a typical phenomenon integrating translation and writing, that is “trans-creation”. Lin Yutang’s oversea works, from proses collections as My Country and My People to novel trilogy as Moment in Peking, A Leaf in the Storm and The Vermilion Gate to his classics translation collections as The Wisdom of Confucius to whatever (Lin, 2009), can be called as his trans-creation. It is his trans-creation that well re-shaped the Chinese image with cultural confidence and national confidence, and thus realized the interaction and communication between China and Western countries. Therefore, the study of Chinese image created by Lin Yutang’s trans-creation works can give us a better understanding for writer himself, and furthermore, provides reference for the global-establishment of a good national image for China today. LIU Ru-fei, Ph.D. of Literature, Associate Professor of Wuhan University of Technology, shows interest in literature, art and Lin Yutang’s study. OVERLAPPING OR RESHAPING: CHINESE IMAGE IN LIN YUTANG’S TRANS-CREATION WORKS 243 Literature Review There are many scholars involving in the study of “Chinese image” in Lin Yutang’s the overseas trans-creation works. Among them, Gao Hong (2004) explores the different characteristics of the Chinese image created by Lin Yutang’s overseas trans-creation works through the angle of comparative literature, the cultural identity and narrative strategy his overseas trans-creation works convey; Wang Zhaosheng (2007) analyzes the relationship between Lin Yutang’s overseas trans-creation works and Chinese classical novels; Feng Zhiqiang (2018) puts forward the “language confidence” in Lin Yutang’s translation works for the first time; Xiao Bairong (2019) expounds that the translation writing method in Lin Yutang’s English novels contributed to the output of Chinese culture and the reshaping of Chinese image. Compared with domestic study, there are few abroad studies of Lin Yutang’s overseas trans-creation works on Chinese image, and if so, sporadic papers are almost limited to Moment in Peking. For example, Dudásová (2015) has analyzed respective Chinese image by comparing Pearl Buck’s Earth and Lin Yutang’s Moment in Peking, in which the different language strategies adopted by the two authors when facing American readers are explored from the different narrative styles. Stereotypes: Changing Chinese Image in the West Before the spread of Lin Yutang’s works, Chinese image were mostly stereotyped-one from“Text China” constructed by missionaries or writers. In Travels of Marco Polo (William Marsden, 1998), Marco Polo, an Italian businessman in the 13th century, concentrated on describing Chinese cities and transportation, products and commerce, as well as politics and religion. For the first time, he highly materialized the image of China in his travels. In the 16th Century, in his book China in the 16th Century: The Journal of Matthew Ricci (He Gaoji, 2010), Matthew Ricci depicted the ancient image of the great Chinese Empire in a rich and comprehensive way. Then, when in 1687, the landmark work Confucius: Chinese philosopher (Philippe Couplet, 1998) compiled by Philippe Couplet was published in Paris, the “Confucian Utopia” marked an era of philosophical image in China. However, from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, the image of “Utopia” created by the “Text China” finally ended after some foreign missions’ visits from Britain and the Netherlands. Arthur H. Smith (Chinese name: Mingenpo) (Liu Wenfei, 2014) in his Chinese Characteristics depicted the ugly image of the Chinese people and won the popularity in the West, which led Chinese image to the bottom. Moreover, at the end of the 19th century, with the spread of the Yellow Peril theory and the widespread panic caused by Chinese Boxer Rebellion in 1900, Chinese people became the immoral villains and the dangerous devils haunted in the Westerners’ nightmare. Overlapping: Positive Stereotyped Chinese Image in Lin Yutang’s Trans-creation Works Marco Polo viewed China as a rich place with endless gold and silver treasures; Matthew Ricci regarded that Chinese people revered the imperial power and family system was the foundation of Chinese society; Philippe Couplet depicted a “Confucian Utopia” attracting due adoration, all of which might overlap Lin Yutang’s oversea trans-creation works. 244 OVERLAPPING OR RESHAPING: CHINESE IMAGE IN LIN YUTANG’S TRANS-CREATION WORKS In Moment in Peking, Lin Yutang made great efforts to render Mulan’s luxurious and spectacular wedding. 1 gold juyi, I silver juyi, 4 jade juyi, 1 pair of solid old gold bracelets of dragon design, 1 pair of gold-fibered bracelets of lobster-feelers design, 1 gold lock pendant, 1 gold neck ring, 1 pair of gold curtain hooks, 10 gold ingots; 2 sets of table silver… 1 set of jade animals, 1 set of amethyst, 1 set of amber and carnelian, then followed the stationery and antiques, such as sandalwood curio cabinets, a case of carved ivory followed, after which came 10 cases of silk, gauze, crepe, and satin, 6 cases of furs… (Lin, 2009, p. 325) In the above description, “ruyi, bangles, jade, amethyst, oracle bone, ivory, silk and satin” and other unique products appearing on Mulan’s wedding showed the prosperity and happiness beyond people’s imagination, shaping Chinese image of being “rich”. In chapter six of My Country and My People, Lin Yutang discussed the state from aspects of “government dimension” and “cultural dimension”. And among them, “government dimension” was mainly about the “virtuous government”, “township system”, “family system” and so on. While, “cultural dimension” was about the description of Chinese image generally distributed in “social life and political life” because of their unique cultural value and aesthetic conception, which reflected the temperament of the country. In his mind, different from the West, Chinese government was “Government by Gentlemen”. The most striking characteristic in our political life as a nation is the absence of a constitution and of the idea of civil right… which mixes moral with politics and is a philosophy of moral harmony rather than a philosophy of force… (Lin, 2009, p. 178) When talking about the base of Chinese family system, he said, The family system colors all our social life, it nearly takes the place of religion by giving man a sense of social survival and family continuity … (Lin, 2009, p. 179) Since he had set a tone for the Chinese government and family, it is no wonder that in his other trans-creation works, the big families in the stories had such relations with the royal family, and several heroines Mulan, Meiling and Rouan were all born in the rich and precious families, thus shaping Chinese image of being “noble, civilized and harmonious”. Confucius-worshipped People The Wisdom of Confucius is a compilation of Chinese classics typically characterized by lots of culture-bound words or phrases and proverbs. In chapter five Aphorisms of Confucius, when mentioning the standards of being a superior man, Confucius said, “There are three things about the superior man that I have not been able to attain. The true man has no worries; the wise man has no perplexities; and the brave man has no fear” (Lin, 2009, p. 208). Besides the trans-creation works related to Chinese classics, Lin Yutang also quoated Confucius and Analects many times in his novels. In the A Leaf in the Storm, Lao Peng was a real gentleman meeting the Confucian value of “worry not and fear not” and Lao Peng’s wife only liked Confucius’ Chinese character and refused to learn pinyin. In A Moment in Peking, even when eating crabs in the Mid Autumn Festival, young people did not forget to quote Analects of Confucius in their argument. In The Vermilion Gate, Du Zhong was OVERLAPPING OR RESHAPING: CHINESE IMAGE IN LIN YUTANG’S TRANS-CREATION WORKS 245 both the royalist and loyal defender of Confucianism, who was compared as an old oak tree, which might be cut down by the axe, but not rotten inside.
Recommended publications
  • Identity and Hybridity – Chinese Culture and Aesthetics in the Age of Globalization
    Identity and Hybridity – Chinese Culture and Aesthetics in the Age of Globalization Karl-Heinz Pohl Introduction: Culture and Identity Thirty years ago (1977), Thomas Metzger published a book which became well known in Sinological circles: Escape from Predicament: Neo-Confucianism and China’s Evolving Political Culture. In this book, Metzger discusses a serious problem Chinese scholars were confronted with at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century: the modernization of China and catching up with the West without giving up two thousand years of culturally valuable Confucian teachings. From the 1920s on, Confucian thought was replaced by Marxist ideology and, with the beginning of the Peoples’ Republic in 1949, the latter was firmly established as the new order of discourse. Metzger argues persuasively, however, in spite of all the new leftist ideology that poured into China after the May Fourth Movement of 1919, that Confucianism was not relegated to the museum of History of Philosophy in China as Joseph Levenson (in his Confucian China and its Modern Fate of 1958) had predicted. Instead, Confucian thought – as an integral part of the Chinese cultural psyche – survived and remained influential, though not visible, in shaping modern China. Even radicals of this time, such as Mao Tse-tung, although they attempted to give China a completely new ideological order, were formed by their cultural tradition to such an extent that it was impossible to shake it off completely. The above historical example is significant for our theme. It concerns the question of persistence of culture in the face of cultural encounters – both of the unfriendly kind, such as the first “clash of civilizations” between China and the West in the 19th century (after the Opium Wars), as well as of the latest and somewhat friendlier meeting, the process of mingling and interpenetration of cultures called globalization.1 Hence, the significance of culture and cultural identity in the age of globalization remains a question to be answered.
    [Show full text]
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY of the COMPLETE Works of LIN YUTANG 1
    APPENDIX: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LIN YUTANG1 a. Works in German and German-Chinese Translations 1923 Altchinesiche Lautlehre. Doctoral dissertation, Leipzig University, 1923 (unpublished) “海呐选译”,《晨报副刊, 1923年11月23日, 3–4版(署名:林玉堂) “海呐歌谣第二”,《晨报副刊》, 1923年12月31日, 3版(署名:林玉堂) 1924 “海呐选译”, 《晨报副刊》, 1924年2月2日, 3–4版(署名:林玉堂) “海呐选译”, 《晨报副刊》,1924年2月3日, 4版(署名:林玉堂) “译德文‘古诗无名氏’一首”, 《晨报副刊》, 1924年4月9日, 3版(署名:林 玉堂) “戏论伯拉多氏的恋爱(译海呐诗)”,《晨报副刊》, 1924年4月24日, 3版(署名:林玉堂) “海呐春醒集第十七”, 《晨报副刊》, 1924年4月25日, 3版(署名:林玉堂) “春醒集(第三十六)”, 《晨报副刊》, 1924年6月2日, 3版(署名:林玉堂) 1925 “海呐除夕歌(译)”, 《语丝》, 第11期, 1925年1月26日, 7–8页(署名:林 玉堂) © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 407 S. Qian, Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth, Canon and World Literature, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4657-5 408 APPENDIX: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LIN YUTANG b.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Scholar Xu Guangqi and the Spread of Catholicism in Shanghai
    Asian Culture and History; Vol. 7, No. 1; 2015 ISSN 1916-9655 E-ISSN 1916-9663 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Christian Scholar Xu Guangqi and the Spread of Catholicism in Shanghai Shi Xijuan1 1 Doctoral Programme, Graduate School of Humanities, Kyushu University, Japan Correspondence: Shi Xijuan, Doctoral Programme, Graduate School of Humanities, Kyushu University, Japan. E-mail: [email protected] Received: October 28, 2014 Accepted: November 6, 2014 Online Published: November 13, 2014 doi:10.5539/ach.v7n1p199 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ach.v7n1p199 Abstract Xu Guangqi, one of the first and most notable Christian scholars in the Ming Dynasty, cast a profound influence on the spread of Catholicism in Shanghai. After his conversion, Xu Guangqi successfully proselytized all of his family members by kinship and affinity, a fact that was foundational to the development of Jesuit missionary work in Shanghai. His social relationships with pupils, friends, and officials also significantly facilitated the proliferation of Catholicism in Shanghai. This paper expands the current body of literature on Chinese–Christian scholar Xu Guangqi and his role in the spread of Catholicism in Shanghai during the late Ming and early Qing. Though there are several extant studies on this topic, most of them focus on Xu’s personal achievements and neglect the areas that this paper picks up: the role of Xu’s family and social status in his proliferate evangelism, and the longevity his influence had even beyond his own time. Through this approach, this paper aims to attain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of Xu Guangqi’s influence on the dissemination and perdurance of Catholicism in Shanghai.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jesuit Translation and Interpretation of the Yijing (Classic of Changes) in Historical and Cultural Perspective
    International Forum of Teaching and Studies Vol. 16 No. 2 2020 The Jesuit Translation and Interpretation of the Yijing (Classic of Changes) in Historical and Cultural Perspective Yang Ping Zhejiang International Studies University, Hangzhou, China [Abstract] This article examines the Jesuit translation and interpretation of the Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) from the historical and cultural perspective. The Jesuits dissected Chinese characters for religious interpretation, equated the trigrams and hexagrams with Christian conceptions, and linked Chinese cultural heroes with biblical figures in order to establish compatibility between the Yijing and the Bible. Although the Jesuit hermeneutical strategy described as “Figurism” failed in the end, this interpretive approach was part of a long tradition of Yijing exegesis, textual transmission, and cultural transformations, which sheds new light on questions of cross-cultural exchanges and understanding. [Keywords] The Yijing, Jesuits, translation, interpretation, Figurism Introduction The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes, 易經) began as a divination manual about three thousand years ago in ancient China, but it evolved to become “the first of the [Chinese] classics.” With its philosophical sophistication, psychological potential, and encyclopedic comprehensiveness, it has had unrivalled prestige in China since ancient times. As Steve Moore puts it: “If the importance of books is measured by the numbers of their readers, the amount of commentary written on them, the quantity of editions and translations…then surely two would appear far ahead of the rest of the field. One, of course, is the Christian Bible. The other, though it may surprise readers brought up in Western traditions of literature and learning (and especially those who regard it as little more than a fortune-telling book), is the I Ching, or “Book of Changes” (Hacker et al., 2002, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Psychobiographical Study of Lin Yutang
    What Maketh the Man? Towards a Psychobiographical Study of Lin Yutang Roslyn Joy Ricci School of Social Science/Centre for Asian Studies University of Adelaide November 2013 Abstract Dr Lin Yutang, philologist, philosopher, novelist and inventor was America’s most influential native informant on Chinese culture from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. Theoretical analysis of Lin’s accomplishments is an ongoing focus of research on both sides of the North Pacific: this study suggests why he made particular choices and reacted in specific ways during his lifetime. Psychobiographical theory forms the framework for this research because it provides a structure for searching within texts to understand why Lin made choices that led to his lasting contribution to transcultural literature. It looks at foundational beliefs established in his childhood and youth, at why significant events in adulthood either reinforced or altered these and why some circumstances initiated new beliefs. Lin’s life is viewed through thematic lenses: foundational factors; scholarship and vocation; the influence of women; peer input; and religion, philosophy and humour. Most of his empirical life journey is already documented: this thesis suggests why he felt compelled to act and write as he did. In doing so, it offers possible scenarios of why Lin’s talents developed and why his life journey evolved in a particular manner, place and time. For example, it shows the way in which basic beliefs—formed during Lin’s childhood and youth and later specific events in adulthood—affected his life’s journey. It analyses how his exposure to the theories of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism affected his early childhood basic belief—Christianity—and argues that he accommodated traditional Chinese beliefs within Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Conference on the Cross-Cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang in China and America
    The International Conference on the Cross-cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang in China and America Venue: Multi-Media Conference Room, 4/F, Cheng Yick Chi Building 19-20 December 2011 City University of Hong Kong Organized by: Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong Co-sponsored by: US Consulate in Hong Kong Program Schedule 18 December 2011 (Sunday) 6:30pm Pre-Conference reception dinner (Chao Yang Chinese Cuisine) 19 December 2011 (Monday) 9:30 – Registration 9:45am 9:45 – Opening Ceremony 10:10am Professor Arthur B. Ellis Provost, City University of Hong Kong Professor Kingsley Bolton Acting Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences City University of Hong Kong Dr. Sin King Kui Acting Head, Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics City University of Hong Kong Dr. Qian Suoqiao Conference Organizer, City University of Hong Kong 1 10:10 – Photo Session and Tea Reception 10:30am 10:30am – Keynote Session 11:20pm Chih-ping Chou, Princeton University “林语堂的抗争精神” Chair: Qian Suoqiao, City University of Hong Kong 11:20 – Panel 1: Lin Yutang and Chinese Language 12:20pm Peng Chunling, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Science “林语堂与现代中国的语文运动” Thomas S. Mullaney, Stanford University “Splitting the Chinese Atom: Lin Yutang, the MingKwai Typewriter, and the Crisis of Information Retrieval in 20th Century China” Chair and Discussant: Vivian Lee, City University of Hong Kong 12:20 – Lunch (Chinese Restaurant) 2:30pm (hosted by the US Consulate General in Hong Kong) 2:30 – Panel
    [Show full text]
  • On Transmission of Chinese Culture to the West During the Late Ming and Early Qing
    ISSN 1712-8056[Print] Canadian Social Science ISSN 1923-6697[Online] Vol. 13, No. 12, 2017, pp. 52-60 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/10069 www.cscanada.org On Transmission of Chinese Culture to the West During the Late Ming and Early Qing LIU Jianguo[a],*; WANG Yu[b] [a]Research Centre of Song History, Hebei University, Baoding, China. the other hand, they introduced Chinese culture to the [b] First Construction Corporation, China Petroleum Engineering and West. Construction Corporation, Luoyang, China. *Corresponding author. Received 30 September 2017; accepted 18 December 2017 1. TRANSLATION AND INTRODUCTION Published online 26 December 2017 OF CHINESE CLASSICS The worldwide discussion about Chinese culture Abstract and Western culture began from the translation and The Catholic missionaries acted an indispensable role in introduction of Chinese classics by the missionaries. the cultural communication between China and the West Before Great Navigation Era, the Europeans’ during the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties. Standing knowledge about China was basically from the travel in a two-way street, on one hand, they introduced western notes of tourists and explorers who came to China by culture to China, and on the other hand, they introduced landway. In the famous book The Travels of Marco Polo, Chinese culture to the West. there were some descriptions about Chinese religion, Key words: Catholic missionaries; Transmission; but there was no introduction of Confucianism, the Chinese culture mainstream of Chinese culture. That was why some people said Marco Polo looked on China only with a Liu, J. G., & Wang, Y. (2017). On Transmission of Chinese Culture to the West During the Late Ming and Early Qing.
    [Show full text]
  • First Section: Introduction
    First Section: Introduction Chapter 1: Historical Background 1. Long Genesis 3 2. Christian Allegory Versus Rational Reading 18 3. Cross-cultural Hermeneutics 24 Chapter 2: Choice for the Song, Ming and Qing Hermeneutics 1. Disguised Choice for Zhu Xi’s Canon 29 2. Disguised Choice for Zhu Xi as Commentator 32 3. Different Textual Layers 37 Chapter 3: Philosophical Approach of the Song 1. Chinese Philosophy and Learning 41 2. Metaphysical Framework 44 3. Intellectualist Epistemology 51 4. Intellectualist Anthropology and Morality 55 Chapter 4: Political and Historical Approaches of Ming-Qing 1. Teaching Addressed to the Rulers 61 2. Predicament of Government by Virtue 65 3. Historical Figure of Confucius and the Ancient 68 Kings 4. Historical Criticism 70 Conclusion 75 Prospero Intorcetta Detail - Oil on canvas - 1671 Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo - Sicily Chapter 1 Historical Background Even though our present study is based on the final text of the Sinarum Philosophus, the book was the product of a complex and lengthy historical development which covers one hundred years and spans from China to Europe. The Sinarum Philosophus fits inside the debate among Europeans about how to read the Chinese classics. The very nature of this debate, with deep philosophical and theological implications, made the Jesuits engage Chinese classics at a very rational level, instead of a more metaphorical approach. In this chapter, we shall propose a model of cross-cultural hermeneutics, identifying the different layers of the Western and Chinese traditions involved in the translation of the Confucian classics in the West. 1 Long Genesis What was to become the Sinarum Philosophus went through three different stages.
    [Show full text]
  • Undoing the Binaries, Rethinking Encounter
    Undoing the Binaries, Rethinking “Encounter”: Translation Works of Seventeenth-Century Jesuit Missionaries in China A Senior Honors Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with distinction in Comparative Studies in the undergraduate college of The Ohio State University by Erin M. Odor The Ohio State University December 2006 Project Advisors: Professor Patricia A. Sieber, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures Professor Daniel T. Reff, Department of Comparative Studies Odor 1 I. INTRODUCTION “Translation is the performative nature of cultural communication.” Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture It has been a common conception that there exists a fundamental difference between the “East” and the “West.” Certain postcolonial writings, such as Edward W. Said’s influential Orientalism (1978), have reshaped our understanding of encounters between Europeans and non- Westerners as one in which the European Self speaks for and creates its Other, always in a hierarchical, binary relationship. One may well imagine that only recently have we become aware of these power imbalances and begun to engage in productive, cross-cultural dialogue. However, such an understanding limits not only our conception of history, but also reduces the two participants in the interaction to singular, static entities. The encounter between European Jesuit missionaries and Chinese elites during the mid- sixteenth through late-eighteenth centuries challenges such claims on several counts. First, the Jesuits acknowledged ideological diversity among the Chinese; indeed, religious pluralism was a primary obstacle to their proselytizing efforts. In addition, they often collaborated with Chinese literati, both converts and non-Christians, when producing their texts. Finally, they engaged in such a degree of culture dialogue that it may seem to us that they were ahead of their time.
    [Show full text]
  • A Tale of Two Warlords Republican China During the 1920S by Matthew R
    Asia: Biographies and Personal Stories, Part I A Tale of Two Warlords Republican China During the 1920s By Matthew R. Portwood and John P. Dunn When the wind blows, the grass bends with the wind. —Yuan Shikai Soldiers of Feng Yuxiang practice with their heavy machine guns ca. 1930. Source: US Army Heritage and Educational Center. sually translated into English as “warlords,” junfa were the bane of Chinese, who suffered from their misrule, were Republican China. Some were highly trained officers, others self- all too familiar with the warlords. Sun Yat-sen, made strategists or graduates of the “school of forestry,” a Chinese Ueuphemism for banditry. In the words of a contemporary, they “did more acclaimed “Father of the Republic,” denounced harm for China in sixteen years than all the foreign gunboats could have done in a hundred years.”1 Warlords struggled for power between the death them as “a single den of badgers.” of would-be Emperor Yuan Shikai in 1916 and the end of the republic in 1949. Holdouts dominated remote frontier provinces until 1950; some of their lieutenants fought a decade later to control drug trafficking in the this in his New Yorker satire on the 1936 Xian Mutiny, in which warlord Golden Triangle. Zheng Xueliang kidnapped Guomindong leader Chiang Kai-shek: Warlords began their rise to power during the 1911 Revolution that “Young” Chang (“Old” Chang’s son, but not “Scalawag” Chang or “Red” ended millennia of imperial rule. Leaders like dentist-turned-revolution- Chang) offered to return the Generalissimo to Soong, who didn’t give a ary Sun Yat-sen argued Western-style Republicanism was the new stan- hang, but was only negotiating for his sister (who is married to Chiang).
    [Show full text]
  • China, Social Ethics and the European Enlightenment
    Edinburgh Research Explorer China, social ethics and the European Enlightenment Citation for published version: Brown, S 2020, China, social ethics and the European Enlightenment. in A Chow & E Wild-Wood (eds), Ecumenism and Independency in World Christianity: Historical Studies in Honour of Brian Stanley. Theology and Mission in World Christianity, vol. 15, Brill, Leiden, pp. 243-261. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004437548_015 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1163/9789004437548_015 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: Ecumenism and Independency in World Christianity General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 China, Social Ethics and the European Enlightenment Stewart J. Brown Abstract: This chapter recognises Professor Stanley’s global perspectives and pathbreaking work on the Enlightenment and missions by offering an account of Chinese influences in the making of the European Enlightenment. Europe’s growing awareness of Chinese moral thought and culture, as conveyed through the translations and commentaries of the Jesuit missionaries, played a significant role in shaping the European Enlightenment.
    [Show full text]
  • Canon and World Literature
    Canon and World Literature Series editor Zhang Longxi City University of Hong Kong Kowloon Hong Kong World literature is indeed the most exciting new phenomenon in liter- ary studies today. It is on the rise as the economic, political, and demo- graphic relationships and balances are changing rapidly in a globalized world. A new concept of world literature is responding to such changes and is advocating a more inclusive and truly global conceptualization of canonical literature in the world’s different literary and cultural tra- ditions. With a number of anthologies, monographs, companions, and handbooks already published and available, there is a real need to have a book series that convey to interested readers what the new concept of world literature is or should be. To put it clearly, world literature is not and cannot be the simple conglomeration of all the literary works writ- ten in the world, but only the very best works from the world’s different literatures, particularly literary traditions that have not been well stud- ied beyond their native environment. That is to say, world literature still needs to establish its canon by including great works of literature not just from the major traditions of Western Europe, but also literary traditions in other parts of the world as well as the “minor” or insuffciently stud- ied literatures in Europe and North America. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15725 Qian Suoqiao Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth Qian Suoqiao Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Canon and World Literature ISBN 978-981-10-4656-8 ISBN 978-981-10-4657-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4657-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939888 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright.
    [Show full text]