On Wang Hui's Re-Imagination of Asia and Europe Weber, Ralph

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On Wang Hui's re-imagination of Asia and Europe Weber, Ralph

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Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Weber, R. (2011). On Wang Hui's re-imagination of Asia and Europe. Europa Regional, 17.2009(4), 221-228. https:// nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-310877

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RALPH WEBER

Abstract For roughly two decades now, WANG HUI has been a prominent voice within academic, cultural and political discourses in China, but incre- asingly also in Europe and the United States. WANG’s still developing oeuvre might be understood as an attempt to ‘provincialize Europe’ (DIPESH CHAKRABARTY) from a political perspective and by drawing on historical and present-day China. In this article, the main focus is on one specifi c aspect in this attempt, namely WANG’s view of Europe, and I shall investigate that aspect on the basis of an article by WANG on the concept of Asia: “The Politics of Imagining Asia” (2007). I fi rst discuss WANG’s genealogical analysis of Asia as a “European concept” before attending to what he perceives as derivations of it in Asia itself. I then engage with WANG’s proposal to go beyond the framework of nation-state/ empire, and argue that he fails to offer an attractive re-imagination of the concept of Asia. When fi nally turning to his view of Europe, I shall issue a criticism of some misplaced anti-Eurocentrism in his work on the conceptual level.

Wang Hui, anti-Eurocentrism, concepts, Europe, Asia

Zusammenfassung Über die von Wang Hui entwickelte Re-Imagination Asiens und Europas Seit nunmehr fast zwei Jahrzehnten ist Wang HUI in den wissenschaftlichen, kulturellen und politischen Diskussionen in China, zunehmend aber auch in Europa und in den Vereinigten Staaten, eine prominente Stimme. Die von WANG entwickelte Vorstellung könnte als ein Versuch der „Provinzialisierung Europas” (Dipesh CHAKRABARTY) in politischer Hinsicht und in Bezug auf das historische und heutige China verstan- den werden. Der Schwerpunkt dieses Artikels liegt auf einem speziﬁ schen Aspekt dieses Versuchs, und zwar auf WANGS Sichtweise von Euro- pa. Diesen Aspekt untersucht der Autor auf der Grundlage eines Artikels von WANG über den Begriff Asien: “The Politics of Imagining Asia” (Die Politik der Imagination Asiens) (2007). Zunächst diskutiert der Autor WANGS genealogische Analyse Asiens als „Europäischen Begriff”, bevor er auf Abweichungen von diesem Begriff in Asien selbst eingeht. Danach setzt sich der Autor mit WANGS Vorschlag auseinander, über den Rahmen des Nationalstaates/Reiches hinauszugehen, und weist darauf hin, dass WANG keine attraktive Re-Imagination des Begriffs von Asien anbietet. Wenn der Autor abschließend auf WANGS Sicht von Europa eingeht, kritisiert er einen gewissen deplazierten Anti-Eurozentrismus in dessen Arbeit auf begrifﬂ icher Ebene.

Wang Hui, Anti-Eurozentrismus, Begriffe, Europa, Asien

In his new preface to Provincializing Eu- ding the universality of capitalism. It is “established by itself, not as forms of its rope, DIPESH CHAKRABARTY writes that the very kind of universalistic thinking own life-process.”6 In CHAKRABARTY’s “there must be many different locations which underlies what he calls History 1, view, Marx thus anticipates the relevan- […] from which one could provincialize i.e. “the past posited logically by the ca- ce of singular and unique histories of Europe with different results.”1 For CHA- tegory ‘capital’.”4 Yet, taken by itself and places, but fails to develop the point. KRABARTY, unlike Marxist scholarship in as the only kind of thinking applicable to Places and their histories, however, which “the ‘local’ is a surface phenome- social life, it “evacuates all lived sense of are crucial for the idea of provincializing non of social life [and], in the ultimate place assigning it to what is assumed to Europe from different locations. These analysis, some kind of an effect of capi- be a deeper and a more determining le- are the histories “that capital anywhe- tal”, locations and places clearly matter.2 vel, the level at which the capitalist mode re – even in the West – encounters as This is not to say that he is anti-Marxist. of production creates abstract space.”5 its antecedents”.7 CHAKRABARTY refers He himself argues for the importance of CHAKRABARTY quotes Marx as saying that the local precisely by offering a “selec- capital also encounters “antecedents” not tive but close reading of Marx”.3 CHAK- RABARTY embraces Marxist claims regar- 6 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 63. In German: „… nicht als von ihm gesetzte Voraussetzungen, nicht als Formen seines eignen Lebensprozesses.“ See: Karl Marx, MEW 26.3, p. 4 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 63. An example, which Chakra- 460. Marx’s examples are “money circulation” (Geld- barty off ers, is the necessary severance of the connec- zirkulation) and “commodity” (Ware), both of which 1 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. xviii. tion between land/tool and labourers, without which do not necessarily belong to capital’s life process or to 2 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. xvi. workers cannot be available to capital in the fi rst place. the past.

3 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 47. 5 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. xvii. 7 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 69.

221 to them as History 2s. Their function is also the present, cannot be adequately Asia itself as WANG fi nds it in the work constantly to interrupt “the totalizing understood only within the framework of several Japanese sinologists, Lenin, thrusts of History 1,” i.e. capital’s att- of European modernity (i.e. capitalism, and Sun Yat-sen. In a next step, WANG’s empt “to subjugate or destroy the multip- liberal democracy and the nation-state), proposal of a political perspective beyond le possibilities that belong to History 2.”8 which is itself a local framework and a the nation-state is critically assessed with No global capital, in CHAKRABARTY’s historical form. a view to how his concept of Asia relates words, “… can ever represent the univer- Yet in spite of all similarities WANG to place. Although Europe will be present sal logic of capital, for any historically very clearly occupies and writes from as a topic throughout the article, I address available form of capital is a provisional a very different location than CHAKRA- it explicitly only in the concluding step, compromise made up of History 1 modi- BARTY does. His four-volume The Rise of when the consequences of WANG’s re- fi ed by somebody’s History 2s. The uni- Modern Chinese Thought has been wide- imagination of Asia on his view of Eu- versal, in that case, can only exist as a ly acclaimed as a landmark publication, rope are examined. It will become clear place holder, its place always usurped by and is intriguing in its historical and that WANG views Europe mainly as an ori- a historical particular seeking to present epistemic scope as well as theoretical ginator of concepts, which dominate the itself as the universal”.9 ambition.12 In ZHANG YONGLE’s opinion, new imperial neo-liberal order and which Hence, when CHAKRABARTY, for in- it “can be safely said that nothing compa- only for the reason of their verbalization stance, sets out to investigate Bengali rable to WANG HUI’s work has appeared and use in 19th century European history modernity by drawing up an affective in China since the late Qing-early Repu- he understands as defi nitely “European narrative of human belonging around the blican period.”13 His developing oeuvre, concepts”. I will object to this conceptual social practice of adda, he is translating generally speaking, is on the location(s) anti-Eurocentrism, which I fi nd philoso- into his Marxist categories “the existing of China, its history and modernity, and phically problematic and which motivates archives of thought and practices about its present condition in an age of neo- esoteric political arguments of presumed human relations in the subcontinent,” liberalism and the ‘war on terror’.14 And traditional or cultural internality.16 but is wholly aware that this also means writing from a different location may, It is important to be clear from the to “modify these thoughts and practices as CHAKRABARTY suggests, also mean outset that WANG is here not understood with the help of these categories.”10 to arrive at different results. It is in this as representative of China’s intellectuals. It takes not much to see that WANG HUI spirit and to this end that I seek to enga- His view is not ‘the Chinese view on Eu- (1959*) – a scholar of Chinese intellectu- ge WANG’s work and to assess his view rope’. One of the broader aims of this pa- al history, a fi gurehead of the New Left of Europe. I do so from a philosophical per is precisely to show that while a view and one of the most prominent intellectu- perspective that is interested in concepts, from nowhere is impossible, assertions als in contemporary China – shares some which is both a perspective and an inte- of views from somewhere are all too suffi ciently similar discursive space with rest different from WANG’s, but I think possible, but highly problematic, as they CHAKRABARTY so that the former might one that might profi tably contribute to easily turn on what are doubtful or undue easily be understood as an ally in the scholarship on Wang’s work. simplifi cations (as when a view suddenly latter’s effort to provincialize Europe.11 What I would like to suggest is that becomes the view). Given the diversity For instance, WANG draws on similar his- WANG’s view of Europe may fi nd one of in the intellectual landscape of contem- torical and philosophical scholarship to its best expressions not in his scattered porary China, it seems clear that no one refl ect on global capitalism and local his- comments on Europe, but in an article of person could lay claim to such repre- tories (such as the coming about of sin- his which deals with the concept of Asia sentativity. Even to call WANG’s view ‘a gle aspects of ‘Chinese modernity’, e.g. and, by implication, with the concept Chinese view on Europe’ is problematic, the scientifi c worldview or taxonomies of Europe. The article is entitled “The for precisely what does one mean by the of knowledge). Also WANG insists that Politics of Imagining Asia: A Genealo- adjective ‘Chinese’ and why should that these local histories, and for that reason gical Analysis” and has been published matter? It is because I would not know in 2007.15 WANG’s view of Europe is thus how to answer this question that I shall approached through an examination of confi ne myself to assess ‘WANG’s view his concept of Europe and of what he of Europe’, which in some sense perhaps 8 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, pp. 65-66. takes to be “European concepts” in this might be fancied as a Chinese view, but 9 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 70. article. I proceed in four steps. First, surely also is much more than that. 10 CHAKRABARTY, 2008, p. 71. WANG’s genealogical analysis of Asia as a 11 A participant in the protests on Tiananmen Square in “European concept” is discussed. I then 1989, WANG HUI had to undergo one year of compulsory re-education. Besides his political engagement in the follow up derivations of that concept in New Left (a label which he does not endorse partly 16 WANG’S work has recently been the topic of heated because it sparks unwelcome associations with the discussion over accusations of plagiarism, as to the ac- Cultural Revolution and partly because it is a ‘Western’ curacy of which I cannot say anything – yet I should like term), he became prominent as co-editor (1996-2007) to point out that such accusations in the complicated of the infl uential monthly literary journal Dushu 读书. 12 WANG, 2008a. For academic discussions in English, political situation in the People’s Republic of China of He was a fellow at the prestigious Wissenschaftskolleg see: Murthy, 2006; Wang Ban, 2007; Huang, 2008; and course might express concern about scholarly stan- zu Berlin and a guest professor in New York (at New especially Zhang 2010, which off ers several forceful dards, but are more likely to be a pretence for political York University and at Columbia University), Tokyo and criticisms. manoeuvres, particularly given Wang’s involvement in Heidelberg. In 2008, the magazines Foreign Policy and 13 Chinese intellectual discussions. I should be clear that ZHANG, 2010, p. 71. Prospect listed him as one of the world’s top 100 public my criticism of WANG’S work in this article is not to play 14 intellectuals, notably as a “political theorist” (May/ See: WANG, 2003; WANG 2009. into the hands of those interested in such manoeuv- June, 61). He is a research professor at the School of 15 WANG, 2007. The subject-matter of the article is dis- ring. In fact, I believe that my criticism is a forceful one, Humanities and Social Sciences at Qinghua University cussed in more detail in Chinese in the second appen- whatever may be the case in terms of plagiarism as well in Beijing. dix of Wang 2008a, pp. 1531-1608. as in terms of politically motivated accusations.

222 Europa Regional 17(2009)4 Asia as a “European concept” i.e. the writing of a story of their crafting nally related”.21 WANG also emphasizes WANG HUI is usually translated as trea- and uses with a special focus on power the “internal relations” of Hegel’s and ting the words ‘Asia’ and ‘Europe’ va- relations and exertions. And this is pre- Smith’s depiction of stages in world his- riously as labels, categories, notions, cisely what WANG HUI offers in his article tory.22 Stages in both authors are linked ideas or concepts. In his Chinese wri- “The politics of imagining Asia” – pri- to taxonomies of regions and peoples tings, he uses categories (fanchou 范畴 ) marily for the concept of Asia but, by and embedded in chronological narrati- and concepts (gainian 概念) largely implication, also for the one of Europe. ves. Yet, while Smith takes the “market synonymously. Despite the vagueness WANG’s genealogical analysis of Asia mode as both the result of historical introduced by this practice, it is clear takes its starting-point in Europe and in development and the inner law of his- that, in WANG’s work, there is more to fact reads across large sections much like tory”, Hegel incorporates these econo- ‘Asia’ and ‘Europe’ than the seemingly a ‘European history of ideas’. Thus he mic factors into a “political framework innocent denotation of two geographical writes that “historically speaking”, the concerning the state”, which in the end regions by means of proper names. For concept of Asia “is not Asian but, rather, becomes the main standard for evalua- the purposes of this article, I consistent- European.”18 Particularly in the 18th and ting the different stages.23 WANG’s ge- ly take these words to indicate either the 19th centuries, the concepts of Asia and nealogical analysis shows that Asia and proper name of geographical regions or Europe underwent considerable and las- Europe are hence presented as “two some kind of concept. To understand ting changes through the twin movement correlated organic parts of the same how proper names are transformed into of new imaginaries emerging during the historical process”, but at the same concepts, one may want to think of ex- European Enlightenment and the tighte- time “occupy two drastically different pressions such as ‘Singapore is Asia’s ning grip of European colonialism. The stages in this historical continuum.”24 Switzerland’ or ‘Mopti is the Venice of resulting concepts indicated a determi- And at the bottom of this diachronism, Africa’. In the latter statement, the city ning contrast at the core of European still in WANG’s analysis, lurks the issue of Venice is conceptualized by imputa- modernity and were the product of a new of state-formation. Asia had not yet de- tion of a quality, say, the one of ‘being system of knowledge. WANG speaks of veloped states and thus not formed his- built on water’, the point of which pre- a “new worldview in every aspect” and torical subjects. Were that to happen, cisely consists in it not being applicable mentions the burgeoning disciplines of i.e. the transition from empire to state, to Venice only. Venice thus becomes a “historical linguistics, race theory, mo- then Asia would no longer be Asian, as concept and is readily applied to many dern geography, political economy, the- WANG succinctly puts it. Venices, of the West (Nantes), the North ories of state, legal philosophy, the study In sum, 19th century European con- (Hamburg, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bir- of religion, and historiography.”19 19th structions of the concept of Asia accor- mingham, etc.) and the East (Suzhou). century scholars working on these to- ding to WANG exhibit the following traits: By the same token, Asia and Europe may pics, he claims, all in one way or another multi-national empires, political despo- be understood as concepts standing for embraced teleological views of history tism, and nomadic and agrarian modes one or another quality of ‘being Asian’ and on that basis advanced a “univer- of production. Under the premise of a or ‘being European’, which by itself con- salist narrative of European modernity” teleological view of history with the Eu- veys little meaning but requires further around the three central themes of “em- ropean nation-state and the expansion of paraphrase. pire, nation-state and capitalism.”20 the capitalist market system as its telos, Concepts such as Asia and Europe But the self-image of Europe as the Asia was consequently constructed as seem to depend much – and much more engine of ‘universal progress’, WANG located at a backward stage. WANG wri- or more clearly than other concepts – on explains, needed to be brought to terms tes: “In this context, Asia was not only a language and linguistic practices. This with newly acquired insights such as geographic category, but also a form of makes it especially troublesome (and in the one by linguists into the historical civilization: Asia represented a political many cases outright impossible) to di- links between the European langua- form defi ned in opposition to the Euro- stinguish between concept and word. ges and Sanskrit. Asia, in 19th centu- pean nation-state, a social form defi ned Concepts of this kind are part of larger ry European texts, was thus presented and shifting vocabularies, resist defi niti- as the starting point of world history. on, and are further distinguished by the But how could Europe derive from fact that they are “bearers of multiple Asia and at the same time fi nd itself at 21 WANG, 2007, p. 4. In the original German: „die zu- gleich so disparate Ausbildung einer uranfänglichen 17 ‘meanings’ at any given time”. They such a different stage of development? Verwandtschaft”, in: G.W.F. Hegel, Vorlesungen über die have been continuously and variously WANG quotes Hegel who is reported in Philosophie der Geschichte, Einleitung. crafted by the imaginations of innume- his lectures on the philosophy of histo- 22 WANG writes: „Because his account of civil society, market and commerce derives from the Scottish school rable language-users – and have been put ry to have spoken of the “so dissimilar of political economy, Hegel’s notion of a despotic Asia to many a use and purpose. Such craf- development of what had been origi- is linked to a certain economic system. If we contrast Hegel’s historical philosophical account of the four ting and use-making reveals an impor- stages – the Orient, Greece, Rome and the Teutonic tant political dimension. Recognition of peoples, with Adam Smith’s delineation, from the perspective of economic history, of four historical stages – that dimension suggests an investigation hunting, pastoral, agricultural, and commercial, it is not into the genealogies of Asia and Europe, diffi cult to discover internal relations between Hegel’s historical description centered on political forms and Smith’s historical stages centered on productive 18 WANG, 2007, p. 2. forms.“ See: WANG, 2007, p. 5.

19 WANG, 2007, p. 4. 23 WANG, 2007, p. 5.

17 GEUSS, 2001, p. 7. 20 WANG, 2007, p. 4. 24 WANG, 2007, p. 4.

223 in opposition to European capitalism, tive terms already in Fukuzawa Yukichi To conceive Asian modernity as an out- and a transitional stage between prehis- (1835-1901) and his call to ‘shed Asia’ come of European modernity is also a tory and history proper.”25 of 1885 (later expanded into the slogan pattern that WANG detects in a second For WANG, Asia “or China” (as he ‘shed Asia and join Europe’). Asia in derivation of the European construction most tellingly adds) in Montesquieu, He- this slogan in WANG’s view includes two of Asia along the binary state-empire gel and Marx develop on the basis of an references, one to “a region with a high and that he sees exemplifi ed in Lenin’s imaginary of a contrasting civilization. degree of cultural homogenization, i.e. writings. Lenin of course took Russia To construct Asia in this way, “it was Confucian Asia”, and one, on more po- to be an Asian country, but, as WANG necessary to elide its internal develop- litical terms, to the “China-centered im- comments, “this orientation is not defi - ment and change”. In this imaginary, perial relations”.28 The shedding of Asia ned from the perspective of geography Asia becomes a static historical form in this context implied the construction but from the degree of capitalist de- that displays eternal characteristics and of a European-style nation-state and in- velopment and the process of Russian thus quintessentially is void of any his- voked a cluster of terms such as ‘free- history.”32 The creation of conditions for tory of its own. It hence is thought of as dom’, ‘human rights’, ‘national sove- an agricultural capitalism, the appropria- lacking the “historical conditions or im- reignty’, ‘civilization’, and ‘independent te and necessary next step for China and petus for producing modernity” on the spirit’. From this perspective, Asia is Russia, hinged on its being closely tied to basis of “the ‘state’ and its legal system, actually thought of as “internal to Euro- the nation-state. WANG quotes Lenin as its urban and commercial way of life, or pean thought” and the proposals to ‘shed saying that “the national state is the rule its mechanism for economic and milita- Asia’, as WANG writes, “derive from the and the ‘norm’ of capitalism; the multi- ry competition based on nation-states.”26 nineteenth-century European concep- national state represents backwardness, It is this imaginary to which WANG ob- tion of ‘world history’.”29 The analogy or is an exception.”33 In WANG’s analysis, jects, and which leads him to set out to on which WANG’s strong claim rests is Lenin’s Asia is not unlike Smith’s Asia re-imagine Asia. the following: “Just as European self- or Hegel’s Asia, i.e. largely without a consciousness required knowledge of its history of its own and, in Lenin’s words, Asian derivations of Asia ‘outside’, ‘shedding Asia’ was a way of “standing still for centuries.”34 The fatal opposition of empire and state forming self-consciousness through dif- WANG’s genealogy of Asia really for WANG is the key to any understan- ferentiating Japan from Asia. From this culminates in the work of Sun Yat-sen, ding of history and global capitalism and perspective, ‘shedding Asia’, this propo- which is also the part where WANG’s ge- also for the further ramifi cations of the sal of early modern Japanese particula- nealogical analysis turns into a more ex- concept of Asia in Asia. WANG sees two rism, in fact derived from early modern plicit presentation of his own arguments. dominant derivations of the concept in European historical consciousness. In Although the European Asia is still partly Asia. One of these derivations prompts other words, Japanese particularism de- present in the prominence Sun accords to WANG to propose a new reading of the rived from European universalism.”30 the nation-state, in WANG’s analysis Sun Meiji Japanese ‘theory of shedding Asia’. The questionability of the claim, I eventually transcends the framework of The other manifests itself in the social re- would submit, is in notions such as “Eu- state-empire to lead the way to the con- volutionary visions of agricultural capi- ropean self-consciousness” and “Euro- ditions for formation of the ‘active sub- talism in Lenin and Sun Yat-sen. In fact, pean universalism” for it is unclear whe- ject’ in revolutionary politics. In Sun’s the claims that go with WANG’s argument ther the weighty act of differentiating an proposal of ‘Great Asianism’, WANG are strong and surely questionable. But outside is particularly tied to the histo- fi nds two contrasting Asias: “one was the their validity is not primarily what is at rical formation of European self-con- ‘birthplace of the most ancient culture,’ issue here. His claims in any event illust- sciousness or proper to just any forming but which lacked ‘a completely indepen- rate the enormous infl uence he attributes of self-consciousness. For WANG, there dent state’; the other was the Asia about to the question of traditional or cultural is indeed evidence for that this Japanese to be rejuvenated.”35 This rejuvenation internality vs. externality, and give us an Asia is by and large a replication of the in Sun’s opinion had to follow the ex- access point into one important aspect of European Asia. Drawing on Perry An- ample of Japan insofar as it had become his view of Europe. derson, WANG seeks to illustrate how the the fi rst independent state in Asia. Sun’s WANG begins his analysis of the Ja- contrast between European nation-states vision of Asia was one that stretched all panese case by quoting Takeuchi Yo- and Asian empires (as in Machiavelli, the way from Japan to Turkey and that shimi (1910-1977), who in a 1948 ar- Bodin and Montesquieu) fi nds itself in contained independent nation-states. ticle on “What is modernity?” wrote: much a similar fashion in the self-under- WANG appends two important qualifi ca- “[If we want to] understand East Asia standing of Meiji Japan as “the contrast tions, which signal Sun’s transcendence (Jpn. Tōyō), [we must appreciate that] between a single-ethnicity Japan, muta- of the European-derived framework of what constitute Asia are European fac- ting from feudalism to a modern state, state-empire. First, these looming Asian tors existing in Europe. Asia is Asia and a multi-ethnicity China, trapped in nations were to be outcomes of “natio- by dint of its European context.”27 This Confucian empire systems.”31 nal independence movements and not an view fi nds itself in somewhat more nega-

28 WANG, 2007, p. 3. 32 WANG, 2007, p. 8.

25 WANG, 2007, p. 4. 29 WANG, 2007, p. 3. 33 WANG, 2007, p. 10.

26 WANG, 2007, p. 5. 30 WANG, 2007, p. 3. 34 WANG, 2007, p. 11.

27 WANG, 2007, p. 2. 31 WANG, 2007, p. 6. 35 WANG, 2007, p. 12.

224 Europa Regional 17(2009)4 awkward imitation of European nation- WANG claims his re-imagination of Asia perspectives in understanding and con- states”, because they were carrying with to be different from those based on “va- structing ‘Asian’ identity”, particular- them an Asian culture based on the prin- rious culturalisms, statisms, and theories ly those that exhibit “strong culturalist ciple of the kingly way (wang dao 王道) of civilization that emerged from early overtones”, such as the attempts to de- and opposed to the hegemonic way (ba modern history.”39 He accords Asia a lineate a unitary and modern East Asia dao 霸道). The former was part and par- “unique position” in the midst of world by the Japanese Kyoto-school sinologists cel of Sun’s Asia, while the latter he saw capitalism and imperialism. This unique- Nishijima Sadao (1919-1998) or Miyaz- embodied in Europe. Secondly, and in ness stems from internal “social forces aki Ichisada (1901-1995).44 Their search WANG’s view despite the Confucian ori- and their relations”, which become only for an Asian modernity, in WANG’s opi- gin of the distinction between kingly and visible once one adopts a social revoluti- nion, results in historical narratives of hegemonic ways, Sun’s Asia does not onary perspective and subjects internati- East Asian history that merely reproduce build upon some core of cultural homo- onal relations and different societies to a the “inherent standards of the Hegelian geneity, neither Confucian nor other, but dynamic and “political analysis.”40 world order” which they have set out to rather upon cultural heterogeneity, i.e. a To adopt a social revolutionary per- deconstruct. When Miyazaki argues for “political culture that accommodates dif- spective means to embrace a “political a Song Dynasty capitalism and thus for ferent religions, beliefs, nations, and so- perspective”, which according to WANG an East Asian early modernity, he con- cieties”; the “category of nation provides requires “both the placement of con- structs a historical narrative that esta- the vehicle for the heterogeneity inherent scious subjects within this perspective blishes a parallel development with the in the idea of Asia.”36 In the writings of and the discernment of various active West and thus rests trapped in teleolo- Sun, national self-determination weighs subjects – discernment of friends and gy and “various European concepts”.45 strongly but is balanced by an interna- enemies, and assessment of the direc- WANG is more sympathetic to the more tionalism that is as much based on an tion of social movements.”41 By thus recent narrative offered by HAMASHITA alliance of the masses as it is on nation- discerning different “political forces TAKESHI who stipulates an “inner orga- states.37 Sun’s Asia, it seems, would have within and among societies” along a nicity” of Asia along a centre-periphery to be a combination of the pluralism of Left-Schmittian line, WANG seeks to perspective and economic and political the tributary model, socialism, and the overcome the framework of statism and factors, particularly the maritime com- new relations among nation-states. international relations.42 In particular, mercial relations and distinctive tri- he opposes the vulgar view of equating butary networks.46 However, also that A political perspective beyond the the state with the political. From a social account in WANG’s view reproduces the nation-state and Asia revolutionary perspective, “the political” binary of empire-state. For him, what is Returning to CHAKRABARTY’s distinc- exists beyond the state in various acti- required is a narrative that includes wars tion between History 1 and History 2 ve subjects. To equate the state with the and revolutions and a focus on continen- and recalling the close connection bet- political, however, since the late 1970s tal relations besides maritime commer- ween capital(ism) and the nation-state in has become the standard perception of a cial networks. For the tributary system WANG’s account, one might be tempted to reality which WANG much deplores and is not “a simple economic relation”, but understand the emphasis on the pluralis- which to him denotes “an era of ‘depoli- “encompasses ritual and political rela- tic tributary model in the face of the new ticization,’ a process in which state me- tions among various social groups with historical conditions of nation-states as a chanisms have gradually appropriated differing cultures and beliefs.”47 It can- version of History 2. In Sun and Lenin, active subjectivity or subjective agency not be described along a hierarchical re- WANG sees formulated “a revolutionary into ‘state rationality’ and the tracks of lation between centre and periphery, but perspective on Asia’s social characteris- the global market.”43 its complex meanings and uses point to tics”, and in some interpretative state- But given that this perspective can be a considerable “overlap or conﬂ ict with ments he indeed seems to pit the histo- applied to just any location, what would modern capitalist relations.”48 rical particular against the universal lo- it mean to apply it to Asia? To what Asia? WANG proposes a more entangled gic of capital: “In this perspective, what In other words, what is the relation of the view of Asia and Europe, in which the makes Asia Asia is not any cultural es- location(s) of Asia to WANG’s concept question of Asia’s modernity and the re- sence abstracted from Confucianism or of Asia? WANG opposes “essentialist lationship between Asia and Europe is any other type of civilization, but rather taking the communication and transpor- the special position of Asian countries in the capitalist world-system. The special position is not produced by a structural 39 WANG, 2007, p. 14. 44 40 WANG, 2007, pp. 18-19. narrative of world capitalism, but by a WANG, 2007, p. 14. 45 41 WANG, 2007, p. 19. In my view, all concepts should WANG, 2007, p. 14. dynamic analysis of the class composi- be universally available for historiographic purposes. 42 tion and historical traditions internal to WANG bases much of his discussion of ‘the political’ Contra Wang, I would hold that one does not necessari- on Carl Schmitt. While he explicitly references and Asian society.”38 ly see more or less using one or the other concept, but argumentatively draws on Schmitt’s The Concept of one sees diff erent things, which is not to say that all the Political and his Theory of the Partisan, it should be such eff orts should be equally valued. noted that he himself does not explicitly subscribe to 46 the label of ‘Left-Schmittianism’. That label refers to WANG, 2007, p. 20. An English translation of a group of political theorists and philosophers (e.g. Hamashita’s work has just appeared: Takeshi Hamashi- Chantal Mouff e, Gopal Balakrishnan) who use Carl ta, Trade and Finance in Late Imperial China: Maritime 36 WANG, 2007, p. 12. Schmitt and the concept of ‘depoliticization’ for mark- Customs and Open Port Market Zones, Singapore, 2010. 37 WANG, 2007, p. 13. edly left-wing political ends. 47 WANG, 2007, p. 25.

38 WANG, 2007, p. 14. 43 WANG, 2007, pp. 17-18. See also WANG 2002 and 2006. 48 WANG, 2007, p. 25.

225 tation not as “the stiff bundling together a cultural continuity which WANG labels political ‘new empire’.”58 The aim of the of two worlds”, but more like “two gears Confucian and which gives substance to ‘new empire’ is no less than “the cons- connected with a belt: when one turns, his many claims of internality.54 Perhaps, truction of a total order at all levels.”59 the other must turn as well.”49 Yet, still, the reason for all this is that WANG lacks The link between WANG’s criticisms of what is the role of locations in his Asia? CHAKRABARTY’s fi rm commitment to the Eurocentrism and of the ‘new empire’ How to re-imagine Asia? WANG explains universality of capital. Perhaps, as I will is manifest in the following quote: “The that in his vision of “an interactive nar- argue, there is still too much of a mis- critique of Eurocentrism is not an affi r- rative of history, the validity of the idea placed conceptual anti-Eurocentrism and mation of Asiacentrism, but rather a re- of Asia diminishes, since it is neither a reliance on a specifi c concept of Europe jection of that sort of egocentric, exclusi- self-contained entity nor a set of self- in WANG’s post-revolutionary vision. vist, and expansionist logic of dominati- contained relations… [and] neither the on. In this sense, revealing the disorder beginning of a linear world history nor Re-imagining Europe and conceptu- and plurality within the ‘new empire’, its end.”50 New imaginings of Asia, in al (anti-)Eurocentrism breaking open the taken-for-granted no- WANG’s opinion, must provide space for Although WANG’s main concern is with tion of Europe, is not only one of the pre- considerable cultural and political plu- the concept of Asia, he leaves no doubt conditions for reconstructing the ideas of rality and must heed “institutional ex- that a re-imagination of that concept on Asia and Europe, but also the necessary periences common to Asian cultures”.51 the basis of an “interactive narrative of path for breaking out of the ‘new impe- WANG’s talk of Asian cultural commo- history” includes the re-examination of rial logic’.”60 nality, however, remains undetermined, the concept of Europe.55 WANG’s concept What to think of WANG’s re-imagina- vague and eventually unsatisfying.52 of Europe, i.e. the quality which he impu- tion of Asia and Europe? WANG’s criti- How would this concept of Asia relate tes to ‘being European’, seems largely to cism of Eurocentrist historiography and to the geographical region Asia? Could consist in his account of 19th century Eu- its Asian derivations is suggestive and it still possibly stretch from Japan to ropean history and its proliferating use his studies on the rise of modern Chine- Turkey? WANG does mention one more of concepts which he deems infl uential se thought, particularly his discussions commonality which, however, also fails up to the present day. His re-imagination of junxian zhi 郡县制 (“rational bureau- to provide clarity: “The commonality of of Europe aims at challenging “Euro- cracy”), fengjian zhi 封建制 (“feudal Asian imaginaries partly derives from centrist historical narratives” and criti- system”), shishi 时势 (“the trend of the imaginers’ common subordinate cizing “Eurocentrism” more generally.56 times”) and tianli 天理 (“heavenly prin- states under European colonialism, the WANG’s critique of Eurocentrism is hence ciple”), offer rich conceptual resources Cold War, and the present global order, intimately linked to contemporary poli- for critical thought and for new avenues and the trends of national self-determi- tics, for his call to re-imagine Asia (and in historiography.61 He often presents nation, socialist, and democratization Europe) targets the lingering continuities these conceptual resources as internal movements.”53 of European colonialism as well as what to the Chinese tradition.62 In fact, as one One wonders whether many African he calls the new order of “neoliberal em- commentator highlights, Confucianism, imaginaries could not claim much the pire/imperialism”. in WANG’s view, “did not wait for moder- same subordination. What about some That ‘new empire’, in WANG’s view, nity to have a self-critique of domination European imaginaries (given inner-Eu- has been a product of the ‘war on terror’ and inequality”.63 In the light of DIPESH ropean colonialism)? Does it in the end and “follows naturally upon the heels CHAKRABARTY’s question in the opening all hinge on a claim of continuing colo- of neoliberal globalization.”57 Where- pages of this journal about what “terms nialism? as neoliberal globalization “seeks to of criticism” the emerging superpowers Somehow and somewhere along the restructure various social traditions” of India and China will offer the victims argument, WANG’s Asia seems to have along “marketist principles such as the of their domination, WANG’s work might become smaller and larger at the same legal protection of private property, the thus be understood as a forceful answer time, more like East Asia or, rather, state’s withdrawal from the economic (although WANG, as I said before, is not China on cultural terms and more like sphere, and the transnationalization of representative for China – and a fortiori ‘anything but not Europe’ in terms of productive, commercial, and fi nancial not for the China presented in the imagi- subordination. There is clearly a tension systems”, the ‘war on terror’ makes use nary of a superpower).64 WANG’s answer, in WANG’s work between on the one hand of “violence, crises, and social disinteg- however, suffers from several problems, the acknowledgement of the cultural he- ration” that come with neo-liberalism as which need to be addressed. terogeneity of Asia, East Asia, and even “pretenses to reconstruct a military and China and on the other hand a reliance on

58 Wang, 2007, p. 1.

59 WANG, 2007, p. 1. 54 See: WANG, 2007, p. 28; WANG, 2008b, p. 118 and p. 122. 49 WANG, 2007, pp. 26-27. 60 WANG, 2007, p. 29. 55 WANG, 2007, p. 27. 50 WANG, 2007, p. 27. 61 Cf. WANG, 2008b, pp. 120-123. 56 WANG, 2007, pp. 28-29. WANG, for instance, fi nds 51 62 WANG, 2007, p. 28. “philosophical analysis of Song dynasty within the He, for instance, repeatedly speaks of “Chinese 52 The dissatisfaction is reinforced by the fact that in framework of ontology, realism, and epistemology” traditional categories”. For an important qualifi cation, where WANG speaks out against “a simple reliance on his The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought, WANG builds his dissatisfying, for “such a method itself is external to argument on a cultural continuity along Confucian ritu- Song thought; it is an interpretative system based on traditional conceptions and paradigms”, see: WANG, 2008b, p. 115. al and morality. It is unclear how WANG’S Confucianism the concepts, categories, and theoretical frameworks relates to his re-imagination of Asia. of European philosophy.” See: WANG, 2008b, p. 118. 63 WANG BAN, 2007, p. 226.

53 WANG, 2007, p. 29. 57 WANG, 2007, p. 1. 64 CHAKRABARTY, 2011.

226 Europa Regional 17(2009)4 WANG’s call for re-imagining Asia and tury European scholars have done when ture, or tradition. If anything, the con- Europe in terms of criticism is a dou- conceptualizing Asia. cepts on which terms of criticism draw ble blow against the historiography of Although the notion of ‘travelling should be universally available. To pro- “world history” from the 19th century on- concepts’ is currently championed by mote such critical use perhaps is what is wards and against the 21st century global many, I would think of it as a useful no- required if the meaning of ‘being Asian’ political order, which he epitomizes as tion only if it is to say that concepts tra- or ‘being European’ in the 21st century the “‘new imperial’ order and its logic”.65 vel inasmuch as their use does. Whether is not to repeat the inadequacies of the For WANG, these two matters are so something counts as a use of a travelled insular politics in the past. closely related that the Eurocentrism in concept (whose meaning is thereby con- the former can only be part of the prob- fi rmed, altered or changed) or as a use of lem in the latter. Yet, and here comes the some other new concept is in each case critical distinction I want to foreground, a contested and inconclusive matter and for WANG this seems to hold also at the certainly subject to argument. Anybo- conceptual level as regards both his- dy of course is free to argue that some toriography and political argument. In use of a concept is linked to some con- other words, there is a conceptual anti- ceptualized geographical region, or, for Eurocentrism in WANG’s work manifest that matter, to some culture or tradition. in his talk and criticism of “European If, however, such a link is argued to be concepts” and in his search for and advo- conclusive and henceforth unbridgeable References cacy of concepts and categories internal with the consequence that concepts are CHAKRABARTY, D. (2008): Provincializi- to the Chinese tradition. This seems phi- opposed or endorsed on that basis only, ng Europe: Postcolonial Thought and losophically and politically problematic. then one risks to buy into the use of the- Historical Difference, reissue, with a In terms of philosophy, I think that an ar- se concepts as mere shibboleths (surely new preface by the author. Princeton. gument could be produced which would a ‘Hebrew concept’?). Concepts thus CHAKRABARTY, D. (2011): A Europe in the show that the notion of a “European easily become the esoteric prerogative World? – Twenty Years After 1989. In: concept” is either nonsensical or an in- of some guardians of a presumed tradi- Europa Regional 17, 4, pp. 181-183. attentive shorthand to refer to some “Eu- tion, culture or civilization, as if the use GEUSS, R. (2001): History and Illusion in ropean” history of verbalized use of the of a concept by an ‘outsider’ would be at Politics. Cambridge. concept in question. WANG’s emphasis on all impossible or, if possible, would be HAMASHITA T. (2010): Trade and Finance the 19th century European historical for- inadequate. More often than not, talk of in Late Imperial China: Maritime Cus- mation of these concepts suggests that he “European concepts” merely means to toms and Open Port Market Zones. uses “European concepts” in just such a offer abridged arguments and to cover Singapore. shorthand manner. To draw a distinction political agendas. In WANG’s re-imagina- HUANG, P. C.C. (2008): In Search of a between a concept and its use is howe- tion of Asia and Europe, the one political Chinese Modernity: Wang Hui’s The ver crucial, as there is no necessary con- agenda of Left Schmittianism is fairly Rise of Modern Chinese Thought. In: nection between Europe and these con- explicit. But arguably there is a second, Modern China 34 (3), pp. 396-404. cepts. The use of concepts is historically more implicit political agenda which MURTHY, V. (2006): Modernity against contingent, and WANG is mistaken if he is manifest in arguments drawing on a Modernity: Wang Hui’s Critical His- takes some verbalized uses in 19th cen- presumed Chinese tradition or Confuci- tory of Chinese Thought. In: Modern tury European history – however domi- an culture. How the two political agen- Intellectual History 3 (1), pp. 137-165. nant and infl uential they may have been das relate to each other is unclear. That WANG BAN (2007): Discovering Enligh- – as a defi nitive marker for the quality WANG asserts a diminished validity to the tenment in Chinese History: The Rise of ‘being European’. For one thing, this concept of Asia while re-imagining it in of Modern Chinese Thought, by Wang is so because any so-called “European the form of Confucian East Asia or China Hui. In: Boundary 2, 34 (2), pp. 217- concept” is at best the result of a histori- should receive further critical attention. 238. cal process that is itself based on various WANG’s re-imagination of Asia and WANG HUI (2002): Political Failure and power differentials and readily traceable Europe were to profi t – I would venture the Necessity for Global Democracy. to earlier verbalized uses in more speci- to suggest – from getting rid of anti-Eu- In: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 3 (1), fi c locations. Given WANG’s skepticism of rocentrist traces on the conceptual level, pp. 139-144. the concept of state, why does he not talk lest his rightly criticized “culturalisms, WANG HUI (2003): China’s New Order: of the “Italian” or “Florentine” concept statisms, and theories of civilization” Society, Politics, and Economy in of the state, say Machiavelli’s il stato, risk re-entering through the backdoor. In Transition. Cambridge. and oppose Italocentrism rather than Eu- that sense, if there ever is to be a Chi- WANG HUI (2006): Depoliticized Poli- rocentrism? Put provocatively, it seems nese superpower, the sought terms of tics, Multiple Components of Hegem- as if talk of “European concepts” turns criticism, though likely to be expressive ony, and the Eclipse of the Sixties. In: Europe into a “static historical form” in of and questioned for location-specifi c Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 7 (4), pp. no less defi cient a manner than 19th cen- genealogies, are in political argument 683-700. profi tably understood as employing con- WANG HUI (2007): The Politics of Ima- cepts which are neither the prerogative gining Asia: A Genealogical Analysis. nor the burden of any conceptualized In: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 8 (1), 65 WANG, 2007, p. 29. geographical region, civilization, cul- pp. 1-33.

227 WANG HUI (2008a): Xiandai Zhongguo WANG HUI (2009): The End of Revoluti- Dr. RALPH WEBER sixiang de xingqi 现代中国思想的 on: China and the Limits of Moderni- Senior Researcher and Lecturer 兴起 (The Rise of Modern Chinese ty. London and New York. URPP Asia and Europe Thought), 4 vol., 2nd ed. Beijing. ZHANG, Y. (2010): The Future of the Past: Universität Zürich WANG HUI (2008b): The Liberation of On Wang Hui’s Rise of Modern Chine- Wiesenstrasse 7-9 Object and the Interrogation of Mo- se Thought. In: New Left Review 62, CH-8008 Zürich dernity. In: Modern China 34 (1), pp. March-April, pp. 47-83. Schweiz 114-140. [email protected]

Neuerscheinung

Ute Wardenga, Norman Henniges, Heinz Peter Brogiato und Bruno Schelhaas (2011) Der Verband deutscher Berufsgeographen 1950-1979 Eine sozialgeschichtliche Studie zur Frühphase des DVAG forum iﬂ 16, Leipzig: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL) 136 Seiten, broschiert, 9 Abbildungen und Anhang mit 16 Dokumenten ISBN 978-3-86082-078-0

Das aus Anlass des 60-jährigen Jubiläums des „Deutschen die Einrichtung von Diplomstudienstudiengängen und dem damit Verbands für Angewandte Geographie (DVAG)“ erschienene einhergehenden wachsenden Selbstbewusstsein des lange Zeit Heft beschäftigt sich mit der Geschichte des „Verbands deutscher marginalisierten Verbandes. Das Abschlusskapitel dreht sich um Berufsgeographen“, der Vorläuferorganisation des DVAG. Nach den gescheiterten Versuch der Etablierung eines Einheitsverbandes einer Einleitung, die eine methodische Refl exion enthält und der westdeutschen Geographie und den daraus resultierenden einen kurzen Überblick über die Untersuchungsergebnisse gibt, Neubeginn der nunmehr als „Deutscher Verband für Angewandte wird im ersten Kapitel die Vorgeschichte des 1950 gegründeten Geographie“ arbeitenden Organisation. Kurzbiographien der Verbands, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die durch die NS- ersten Mitglieder, ein Quellenanhang und das Literatur- und Zeit stark beeinfl ussten Prägungen im Selbstverständnis der Quellenverzeichnis runden die Publikation ab. Gründergeneration, beschrieben. Im zweiten Kapitel wird die Formierungsphase des Verbands vor dem Hintergrund der Das Heft kann zum Preis von 10 Euro (zzgl. Versandgebühr) unter Rekonstituierung der westdeutschen Geographie nach 1945 und P_Kraus@ifl -leipzig.de oder Tel. +49 341 600 55-102 bestellt den damit verbundenen Machtkämpfen analysiert. Ein weiteres werden. Redaktionen erhalten Besprechungsexemplare kostenlos. Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit den langwierigen Diskussionen um

228 Europa Regional 17(2009)4