Volume 15, Issue 2, 2018

Jiang SunPages 1-11DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.01 ABSTRACT If we do not shrink from making rough generalizations and adopt a broad, conventional approach, then what we call modernity refers to the process whereby a state of heterogeneity progresses toward homogeneity in time, space, human collectives, social order, and other areas. In his book The Cheese and the Worms, …

Preface: Transcultural Turn of Conceptual History Research Read More »

Zhongjiang WangPages 13-29DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.02 ABSTRACT The entrance of “nature” from English to Chinese and the transformation of the word ziran 自然 in Chinese had been intertwined together. In the formal process, “nature” was not translated as ziran at first while in the latter process, the western concept and Chinese ideas of nature combined together with …

How the Concept of “Nature” Emerged and Evolved in Modern China Read More »

Chien-Shou ChenPages 31-52DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.03 ABSTRACT This article attempts to strip away the Eurocentrism of the Enlightenment, to reconsider how this concept that originated in Europe was transmitted to China. This is thus an attempt to treat the Enlightenment in terms of its global, worldwide significance. Coming from this perspective, the Enlightenment can be viewed as …

The Enlightenment Turns to China: The International Flow of Concepts and Their Geographic Dispersion Read More »

Donglan HuangPages 53-72DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.04 ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the change of the meaning of “self-government” after it was introduced from Western world into East Asia in late 19th and early 20th century. By surveying the process of translation and dissemination of the concept “self-government” as well as the institutionalization of local self-government in Japan …

The Concept of “Self-Government” across Cultures From the Western World to Japan and China Read More »

Jingdong YuPages 73-95DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.05 ABSTRACT There are two frequent misunderstandings in the scholarship on modern China’s territorial transformation. First, the concept of lingtu 领土 (“territory”) is often seen as only developing after the 1911 Revolution, in opposition to the earlier concept of jiangyu diguo 疆域帝国 (“imperial frontier”). Second, jiangyu and lingtu are often confused and …

The Concept of “Territory” in Modern China: 1689-1910 Read More »

Hanhao WangPages 97-115DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.06 ABSTRACT Imperialism, the key concept of modern politics and society, entered China via Japan in the late Qing Dynasty. This concept had been endowed with rich connotations before Lenin’s assertion that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism gained a dominant position in China. Liang Qichao influenced by the Waseda University …

Discourses of “Imperialism” in the Late Qing Dynasty Read More »

Chao LiuPages 117-134DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.07 ABSTRACT Confronted with the decline of Western hegemony, the post-Great-War American society witnessed a prevailing trend of racism represented by Lothrop Stoddard, who proposed to suppress the nationalist movements in Asia and completely prohibit the immigration of Asians into the United States to maintain white supremacy across the world. His racist …

Racism in the Early-20th-Century U.S. and Sun Yat-sen’s Outlook on Chinese Culture Read More »

Lifeng LiPages 135-156DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.08 ABSTRACT The “masses” (qunzhong 群众) discourse in modern China was influenced by two western intellectual traditions, i.e., mass psychology and historical materialism. The former regards the masses as a blind, impulsive, and irrational crowd, while the latter thinks that only the people are the real dynamic forces of historical development. As …

Ambiguous Subject: the “Masses” (qunzhong) Discourse in Modern China Read More »

Yiwei SongPages 157-172DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.09 ABSTRACT During the 20th-century Chinese revolution, L’Internationale was one of the most important political symbols. After the failure of the Paris Commune in 1871, Eugène Pottier wrote the poem titled “L’Internationale” which was published for the first time until 1887. It was set to music by Pierre Degeyter in 1888 and …

The Experience of L’Internationale in Modern China Read More »

Nan WangPages 173-178DOI: 10.3726/cul.2018.02.10 ABSTRACT There are many Chinese versions of The Communist Manifesto and all of them had problems with the translation of foreign concepts and words, which triggered debates for years. One of the most interesting questions in the debates on the translation of the Manifesto is how to translate (Ger.) Assoziation / …

On the Translation of “Association” in the Manifesto of the Communist Party Read More »