The future of the past

An assessment of Wang Hui's landmark "Rise of Modern Chinese Thought" outlining its origins and methodology, principal themes and arguments, and its place in Wang Hui's developing thought. In his search for the "seeds" of an alternative, non-Western modernity in traditi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New Left review 2010-03, Vol.62 (62), p.47-83
Main Author: Yongle, Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
China
Evaluation
History of political ideas
Modernity
Political philosophy
Political thought
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:An assessment of Wang Hui's landmark "Rise of Modern Chinese Thought" outlining its origins and methodology, principal themes and arguments, and its place in Wang Hui's developing thought. In his search for the "seeds" of an alternative, non-Western modernity in traditional Chinese cultural resources he engages with the prehistoric and feudal eras and reconstructs the intellectual frameworks of the systems of knowledge or belief relating to Confucianism that dominated China from the Song to the early Republic. Although his themes are science, empire and nation-state he does not seek out in conventional fashion the historical origin of contemporary processes. Instead, the aim is to retrieve the possibilities of China's modernity at different historical moments. If at the end of his four volumes the meaning of China's modernity is still unclear, that is a reflection of the post-Tiananmen age and the uncertainties of the inner dynamics of contemporary neoliberalism and socialism. (Quotes from original text)
ISSN:0028-6060