Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2023

Time and Language

New Sinology and Chinese History

Edited by: Ori Sela , Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Joshua A. Fogel
With contributions by: Peter C. Perdue , Pingyi Chu , Joshua A. Fogel , Zvi Ben-Dor Benite , Theodore Huters , Peter Zarrow , Joan Judge , Janet Y. Chen , Marten Saarela , Ori Sela and Kang Xiaofei

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824894580

Overview
Contents

About this book

China’s past and present have been in a continuous dialogue throughout history, one that is heavily influenced by time and language: the temporal orientation and the linguistic apparatus used to express and solidify identity, ideas, and practices. Presenting a host of in-depth case studies, Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History argues for and demonstrates the significance of “New Sinology” by restoring the role of language/philology in the research and understanding of how modern China emerged. Reading the modern as a careful and ongoing conversation with the past renders the “new” in a different perspective. This volume is a significant step toward a new historical narrative of China’s modern history, one wherein “ruptures” can exist in tandem with continuities. The collection accentuates the deep connection between language and power—one that spans well across China’s long past—and hence the immense consequences of linguistic-related methodology to the comprehension of power structures and identity in China.

Each of the essays in this volume tackles these issues, the methodological and the thematic, from a different angle but they all share the Sinological prism of analysis and the basic understanding that a much longer timeframe is required to make sense of Chinese modernity. The languages examined are diverse, including modern and classical Chinese, as well as Manchu and Japanese. Taken together they bring a spectrum of linguistic perspectives and hence a spectrum of power relations and identities to the forefront. While the essays focus on late Qing and early twentieth-century eras, they refer often to earlier periods, which are necessary to making real sense of later eras. The methodological and the thematic do not only converge, but also generate a plea for fostering and expanding this approach in current and future studies.

Author / Editor information

Sela Ori :

Ori Sela is senior lecturer of East Asian studies at Tel Aviv University and currently serving as chair.Ben-Dor Benite Zvi :

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite is professor in the Departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.Fogel Joshua A. :

Joshua A. Fogel is professor of history at York University in Toronto.Fogel Joshua A. :

Joshua A. Fogel is professor of history at York University in Toronto.Ben-Dor Benite Zvi :

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite is professor in the Departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.Sela Ori :

Ori Sela is senior lecturer of East Asian studies at Tel Aviv University and currently serving as chair.Ori Sela (Editor)
Ori Sela is senior lecturer of East Asian studies at Tel Aviv University and currently serving as chair.

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite (Editor)
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite is professor in the Departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.

Joshua A. Fogel (Editor)
Joshua A. Fogel is professor of history at York University in Toronto.

Reviews

Timothy Cheek, The University of British Columbia:
This is a richly researched and intelligently argued collection of studies that highlight a key methodological and interpretive issue in China studies and provides a considerable empirical detail that makes their point. The volume delivers on the promise of the editors to bring language/philology back in—to argue for and demonstrate the significance of “New Sinology”: the careful attention to historical language and knowledge in texts both contemporary and earlier to illuminate the power of cultural habitus as well as conscious practice over time as expressed in the written version of Austin’s speech acts. These studies show that the tools of traditional Sinology, with a focus on linguistic and philological expertise, can and do contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the genesis and experience of modern China.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Time, Text, and History in China Ori Sela, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Joshua A. Fogel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Tulišen’s Embassy to Distant Territories: The Travels of a Text Peter C. Perdue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2 Struggles over the Historical Memory of a Heterodoxy: Chinese Commentaries on the Nestorian Stele Chu Pingyi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
3 How Much Does an Understanding of History Help? Naitō Konan’s Reading of “Communism” in China Joshua A. Fogel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
4 To “Turn the Historical Clock Back”: Past, Text, and the Politics of Yuan Shikai’s Monarchy Zvi Ben-Dor Benite Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
5 Wenxue and New Practices of Writing in Post-1840 China Theodore Huters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
6 Cai Yuanpei’s Politico-Philosophical Languages Peter Zarrow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
7 Vernacular Knowledge in Time: Sinology outside the Archive Joan Judge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
8 In Search of a Standard National Language in Republican China Janet Y. Chen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
9 A Guangxu Renaissance? Manchu Language Studies in the Late Qing and Their Republican Afterlife Mårten Söderblom Saarela Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
10 The Textual Time Machine: Truth, Facts, and the Shuowen, 1770–1932 Ori Sela Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
11 A Time to Heal or a Time to Kill: Confessions in the Anti-Shaman Campaign at Communist Yan’an, 1944–1945 Kang Xiaofei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Illustrations
- Other: 1 b&w illustration
Keywords: New Sinology; Sinology; Chinese History; East Asian History; Language

eBook

Published: March 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780824894580