In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West

Benjamin I. Schwartz

Published by Harvard University Press 1964

In Search of Wealth and Power

Yen Fu and the West

Benjamin I. Schwartz

In the series Harvard East Asian Series

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674043329

Overview
Contents

About this book

Yen Fu spent years translating and commenting on the work of Western thinkers like Spencer, Huxley, Adam Smith, Mill, and Montesquieu. Schwartz examines the modifications and consequent revaluation of these familiar works as they were presented to their new audience and analyzes the impact of this Western thought on the Chinese culture of the time.

Reviews

Probably the most important cross-cultural study of ideas published in the last twenty years. It is not surprising that a brilliant and subtle scholar like Professor Schwartz should choose Yen Fu.
-- Martin Bernal New York Review of Books

To this period Professor Schwartz has applied the same brilliance and intellectual dexterity that he brought to the study of Mao Tse-tung’s evolution. His book is an analytical biography of Yen Fu (1853–1921) the essayist and translator of Spencer, Huxley, Mill, Montesquieu and others… For an understanding of the unresolved conflict between Chinese civilization and the outside world this study is no less illuminating and important than his analysis of Mao.
-- Times Literary Supplement

A study of modern Chinese intellectual history through the painstaking examination of one important thinker who devoted his life to introducing to China those dominant aspects of Western thought that he believed to be the key to Western wealth and power. The introduction by Professor Louis Hartz provides the stimulating insight for appreciating the significance of this work, which is in the best tradition of Sinology and historical scholarship.
-- Saturday Review

A notable contribution to our understanding of modern Chinese history. Professor Schwartz’ study of Yen Fu and the West is much more than an intellectual biography of an important transitional figure… The book brings into focus the bafflingly complex problem of the channels through which one culture…may influence another.
-- C. Martin Wilbur Journal of Asian Studies

Penetrating… With a command of both Eastern and Western sources rare among American scholars of his generation, Professor Schwartz presents a thoughtful and sophisticated attempt to reconstruct Yen Fu’s image of the world.
-- Li Yu-ning Political Science Quarterly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Louis Hartz Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
I. The Setting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
II. The Early Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
III. Declaration of Principles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
IV. Western Wisdom at Its Source: Evolution and Ethics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
V. The Wealth of Nations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
VI. On Liberty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
VII. The Spirit of the Laws Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
VIII. A History of Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
IX. Mill’s Logic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
X. Meditations on the Tao Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
XI. The Later Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
XII. Some Implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	284
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Copyright year: 1964
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674043329