GIMPEL, NIELSE GIMPEL, Explores new ways to understand the dynamics of change and mobility in ideas, people, organisations and cultural paradigms China is in flux but – as argued by the contributors to this volume – change is neither new to China nor is it unique to that country; similar patterns are found in other times and in other places. Indeed, Creative on the basis of concrete case studies (ranging from Confucius to the Vagina Monologues, from Protestant missionaries to the Chinese N & BAILEY avant-garde) and drawing on theoretical insights from different dis- ciplines, the contributors assert that change may be planned but the outcome can never be predicted with any confidence. Rather, there Spaces exist creative spaces within which people, ideas and systems interact with uncertain outcomes. As such, by identifying a more sophisticated Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China approach to the complex issues of change, cultural encounters and Spaces Creative so-called globalization, this volume not only offers new insights to scholars of other geo-cultural regions; it also throws light on the workings of our ‘global’ and ‘transnational’ lives today, in the past and in the future. Edited Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen by and Paul Bailey www.niaspress.dk Gimpel_pbk-cover.indd 1 20/11/2012 15:38 Creative Spaces Gimpel book.indb 1 07/11/2012 16:03 Gimpel book.indb 2 07/11/2012 16:03 CREATIVE SPACES Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China Edited by Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen and Paul J. Bailey Gimpel book.indb 3 07/11/2012 16:03 Creative Spaces: Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China Edited by Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen and Paul J. Bailey First published in 2012 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tel: +45 3532 9501 • Fax: +45 3532 9549 E-mail: [email protected] • Online: www. niaspress. dk © NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2012 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, copyright in the individual chapters belongs to their authors. No chapter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Creative spaces : seeking the dynamics of change in China. -- (NIAS studies in Asian topics ; 51) 1. Social change--China. 2. Literature and society--China. 3. Culture and globalization--China. I. Series II. Gimpel, Denise. III. Nielsen, Bent. IV. Bailey, Paul John, 1950–. 303.4’0951-dc23 ISBN: 978-87-7694-097-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-87-7694-098-0 (pbk) Typesetting by Donald B. Wagner Printed in the United Kingdom by Marston Digital Gimpel book.indb 4 07/11/2012 16:03 Contents Figures vi Acknowledgements vii Contributors ix Editors’ Notes xii Introduction Denise Gimpel 1 1. Confucius ver. 2.0 or Confucian Whatever-ism? A Preliminary Inquiry into the Constructs of a Cultural Conciliator Bent Nielsen 24 2. An English Missionary’s Contribution to the Historical Memories of Hangzhou: A Study of Arthur Evans Moule’s Writings and Photographs Shen Hong 48 3. Cultural Interaction, Globalisation and ‘Creative Spaces’ in the early 20th Century: Li Shizeng (1881–1973) and the Chinese Francophile ‘Lobby’ Paul J. Bailey 66 4. Writing from In-Between: The Transformative Space of Chen Hengzhe’s Fiction Denise Gimpel 92 5. The Narrator in Transit: Writing Between Self and Others in Ma Yuan’s ‘Lure of the Gangdisi’ Peter Damgaard 127 6. Beijing Bicycle: Stories from a Transformative Space Mai Corlin Bagger-Petersen 156 7. A Western NGO Goes East and Meets Up with Other Stories Cecilia Milwertz and Wang Fengxian 177 8. Speaking Bitterness and Pleasure: The Vagina Monologues in the People’s Republic of China Cecilia Milwertz and Bu Wei 203 Index 228 v Gimpel book.indb 5 07/11/2012 16:03 Figures 2.1 The old Pagoda of Six Harmonies 59 2.2 The Pagoda of Six Harmonies today 59 2.3 Ba 坝 or portage on the way to Hangzhou (1885) 60 2.4 Pavilion on the West Lake, Hangzhou (1885) 61 2.5 An entrance to the Yue Fei Temple (before 1900) 62 2.6 CMS church and mission house in Hangzhou (1879) 63 vi Gimpel book.indb 6 07/11/2012 16:03 Acknowledgements Getting a book manuscript ready for printing is a daunting task and one that takes much patience and attention to detail. It more often than not also entails the guiding and, at times, disciplining of individual contributors to ensure a publication that appears as quickly as possible and has something genuine to add to and enhance our knowledge of a particular area of schol- arly investigation. Having said this, however, it has to be admitted that the activities leading to the appearance of this book have been marked by col- legial cooperation and disciplined and constructive involvement on the part of all participants. The result, we feel, is a new look at old questions as well as the provision of insights into topics little known or addressed in studies to date. We feel that we have indeed made a contribution to the continuing research into transnational phenomena in their many guises. The results, of course, did not appear overnight; it has taken many years of cooperative involvement to bring these pages to fruition. It all began some six years ago in the autumn of 2006, when, at the invitation of Shen Hong, Paul Bailey and Denise Gimpel attended the first Sino-Western Conference in Hangzhou, and it continued in 2008, when they, together with Bent Nielsen and Peter Damgaard, attended and co-organised the second confer- ence in Hangzhou. Thus the very productive cooperation between Zhejiang University, Durham University and the University of Copenhagen began. This cooperation has meant new friends and colleagues for researchers and new opportunities for study abroad for students in each of the universities. For this we are very grateful and look forward to further common research and educational activities. We are especially looking forward to the upcom- ing third conference in Hangzhou in November this year and the possibility of a future conference in Durham. This book was also brought about as a result of support from the University of Copenhagen, in particular of the Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI), which supported our workgroup on two occasions in 2010 and 2011. Here we have benefited from and been grateful for the highly professional advice and help of ADI coordinator Marie Yoshida. We also thank the Department of Cross- Cultural and Regional Studies at Copenhagen University for providing us with the facilities for our symposia. The Department, moreover, as its name vii Gimpel book.indb 7 07/11/2012 16:03 viii Acknowledgements suggests, has been unfailing in its support of our Sino-European and cross- cultural endeavours. As editors we must also express our gratitude to the contributors to this volume and for their willingness to continue with the project over a long period of time. We are proud of the fact that they include both experienced Chinese and European scholars as well as young and promising scholars at various stages of their academic careers. We are also proud of the fact that we have been able to bring together many different disciplines within the scope of our activities and the pages of this book. It almost goes without saying – but must be said – that we may not have had the opportunity to express our pride and pleasure without the faith and trust placed in us and our endeavours by NIAS Press and its editor-in-chief, Gerald Jackson. Gerald’s generosity and good humour are unfailing. Finally we must extend our appreciation to Jessica Chabert Jensen without whose hard work and dedication the passage from idiosyncratically formatted manuscript to uniform book would never have gone so smoothly and profes- sionally. As a patient, reliable and meticulous copy editor, Jessica’s contribu- tion, though hidden from sight, has been absolutely invaluable. Gimpel book.indb 8 07/11/2012 16:03 Contributors Denise Gimpel has a background in modern literature and in Asian Studies. She read German and French in London and Chinese and Japanese at the University of Marburg, Germany. She is currently associate professor of Chi- nese history and culture at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University, where she is also Deputy Head of Depart- ment. She has published on early 20th-century Chinese literature and early translation activities, gender and body culture, intellectual history, and issues of knowledge transfer and cultural translation. She is presently completing a book on Chen Hengzhe as a transnational intellectual and developing a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural project on ‘Diverse Realities: Strategies and Significance of Cultural Boundary Drawing in Asian Societies’. Bent Nielsen is associate professor of Chinese civilisation and culture at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University, where he teaches Chinese history, intellectual history and classical and modern Chinese texts. Bent Nielsen is the author of A Companion to Yi jing Numerol- ogy and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han (202 BCE–220 CE) to Song (960–1279 CE) (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) and guest editor of Contemporary Chinese Thought (Vol. 39.3, Sharpe, 2008). Shen Hong is professor of English from the School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. He received his academic degrees from Peking University (B.A., 1982; M.A., 1985; Ph.D., 1990) and has been a visiting scholar to Oxford University, Harvard University, University of Toronto, and University of Bristol. Currently he is vice chairman of the Translators Association of Zhejiang, as well as executive director of Zhejiang Association of Foreign Languages and Literatures.