China and the West: A Fascinating Chapter in the 19th Century

China and the West:A Fascinating Chapter in the 19th Century

San-pao Li, Ph.D.Department of Asian and Asian American Studies

California State University, Long Beach

October 11, 2001

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Some Defining Characteristics of a Modern Society

Emphasis on efficiency and utility Prevalence of rationalism Scientific and technological advancement Due respect to individual worth and dignity The concept of progress High level of literacy Sound social welfare system

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High GNP and per capita income High degree of urbanization L’esprit de lois A pluralistic society Shared concern for ecologically healthy

environment Adequate health care delivery system

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Generous investment in infrastructure Rapid transportation and communication Encourages creativity and fulfillment of

individual’s potential and faculty Rapid change Clear division of labor International- mindedness Other

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Modernity (Modernization)

Modernization involves the systematic, sustained, and

purposeful application of human energies to the “rational” control

of man’s physical and social environment for various human

purposes.

Benjamin Schwartz (Harvard University)

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Modernity (Modernization)

Modernity is always an incomplete state of

becoming.

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China’s Tortuous Process of Modernization

Foreign Aggression and Domestic Rebellion (1800-1864)

T’ung-chih Restoration (1862-1874) Self-Strengthening Movement

in an Age of Accelerated Foreign Imperialism (1874-1895)

Reform and Revolution (1898-1912) The May Fourth Movement: Ideological

Awakening (1919-1923-1930’s) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

(1966-1976) The Four Modernizations (1978-present)

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Reform and Revolution (1898-1912) The May Fourth Movement: Ideological Awakening

(1919-1923-1930’s) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution


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Trade and Proselytization The Opium War (1839-1841) The Nanking Treaty (1842) Internal Decay and Unrest

The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

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T’ung-chih Restoration (1862-1874)

Chinese ego was severely battered Government appeared hopeless and demoralized

The Taipings devastated much of China British and French navies brushed past Taku defenses

The emperor fled to Jehol and died there

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The Restoration, for all its obvious influence on later periods, was NOT the seedbed of 20th-century movements to fashion a new

China, but the last great effort to reassert the validity of Chinese traditional institutions.

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The Restoration was perhaps the most elaborate,

the most consistent, and the most fully documented

conservative program in history.

Mary Wright, The T’ung-chih Restoration

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The Self-Strengthening Movement (1874-1895)

Arsenals Shipyards Railroads Telegraph Lines Translation Bureau

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The Ti-Yong Dichotomy Chinese Learning

for the essential principles (ti) Western Learning

for the practical applications (yong)

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The traditional Chinese state was attacked and mortally wounded

The imperial military was discredited The agrarian economy was disrupted The emperor’s prestige was dimmed Superficial adoption of arms and technology proved

unavailing The old order was unable to respond adequately

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Deceptively easy to adopt new technologiesPut a thin veneer over the surface of an ancient civilization

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New ideas and attitudes resulted from contact with the West

remained minor elements in the broad stream of Chinese

tradition

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Ideas of change were spreading, but

veeeeeery slowly.

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China’s modernization was inspired by Western examples

and yet had to be superimposed upon old indigenous institutions, which persisted so strongly as to slow down the need or demand

for innovation.

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Faustian-Prometheanism

Faust The old philosopher who sold his soul to

the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. The hero of several medieval

German legends and later literary and operatic works.

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Prometheus A giant in Greek mythology who stole fire

from heaven, consequently was tied to a huge rock on Caucasus with his liver

picked by the eagles. Having the quality of being life-bringing,

creative, and courageously original.

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Faustian restlessness (be skeptical, critical, and bold in

re-evalutating tradition) and

Promethean defiance (releasing the energy of individuals,

concept of linear progress)

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Reform and Revolution (1898-1912)

China’s defeat by Japan in 1894 Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki The 1898 Reform (100 days) The 1911 Revolution (Dr. Sun Yat-sen) Founding of the Republic of China

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Reform and Revolution (1898-1912)

Realization of the true spirit or essence of Western civilization

The emergence and persistence of radical revolt against China’s cultural tradition

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Reform and Revolution (1898-1912) The May Fourth Movement: Ideological

Awakening (1919-1923-1930’s) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution


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The May Fourth Movement (1919-1923-1930’s)

The patriotic feelings and zeal for reform culminated in the incident of May 4, 1919, from which the movement took its name.3,000+ students from 14 universities in Beijing held mass demonstration.

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Began as a socio-political reform movementPublication of the New Citizen (1902)Publication of the New Youth (1915)China’s intellectual revolutionScience and Democracy

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Radical anti-traditionalismAttacked traditional Chinese ethics, philosophy, religion, and many varieties of social and political institutionsAdvocated liberalism, pragmatism, nationalism, anarchism, and socialism

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With 400+ newspapers and magazinesVigorously spread the tide of new thought and new literatureA period marked by iconoclasm, criticism, and furious destructionLeft unchallenged virtually NO tradition that appeared doubtful

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Decline of traditional ethicsChallenged traditional family systemEmancipation of womenVernacular literature emergedThe press and public education made progressModern intelligentsia became a major factor in China’s subsequent political development

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Emergence of a new awareness

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Involution vs. Revolution The development of certain

phenomena within a large cultural context that is not itself undergoing

significant or basic change.

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Between May Fourth and June Fourth

Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)The Notorious Nanjing Massacre (1937)300,000 slaughtered in Nanjing

The Communist Takeover Founding of PRC on October 1, 1949The rule of the Chinese CommunistsThe Cultural Revolution

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(1919-1923-1930’s) The Great Proletarian Cultural

Revolution (1966-1976) The Four Modernizations (1978-present)

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The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Totalistic antitraditionalism Intellectual holocaust of

unprecedented magnitude

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The Four Modernizations (1978-present)

Science and technology Agriculture Industry National defense (Democracy???)

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The Four Modernizations (1978-present)

From central planning to market economy

From villages to urban centers Political ideology is losing its magical

power and potency

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ConclusionA Thought-Provoking Question

Nobel Prize in Literature 1950

A Polish novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis (Whither Goest Thou?)

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Thank you!Thank you!

Your Comments and Suggestions Are Welcome!

China and the West: A Fascinating Chapter in the 19th Century

Documents

tungchih restoration

domestic rebellion

selfstrengthening movement

ideological awakening

great effort

unrestthe taiping rebellion

modern societyemphasis

modern societyhigh gnp