Ten Theses on Chinese Studies Beyond China

Author: Ge Zhaoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: Giddens does not understand Chinese, although he has visited China. His narrative of China is actually based on the accounts of Western sinologists who do understand Chinese. In the West, much of the knowledge about "China" presented by sinologists supports various theories about "the world." As long as these theorists wish their arguments to be about "the world," they have no choice but to borrow knowledge about China from sinologists, like stealing through a wall. However, they often make mistakes in the process. Who should be blamed for this? In fact, such cases are quite common. In our academic research circles, there has always been a strong disdain for the use of secondary sources. However, when it comes to these top Western theorists, the tone sometimes seems to soften. These people seem to think, "After all, they are foreigners." As if foreigners can be given a pass. This book is a collection of ten essays on Chinese studies from abroad. The main content includes: Eighteenth-century academia and thought, A review of the new concepts of Japanese Chinese studies in the 1990s—Xing Yanhong and Kawakita Yasuzo's Detailed Examination of the Sui Book of Bibliographies, Understanding Chinese religion and society through burial customs, Impressions on Japanese research on the Chinese Daoist history, Approaches to philology and history, Re-examining the history of Tang Dynasty religion, Seeing the small to know the big, Glimpsing through a curtain also reveals insight, A shift in academic thinking, Appendix I: The prospects and dilemmas of linguistic critique, Appendix II: Preface to the Chinese translation of Suzuki Daisetsu's The Way to Zen, Postscript.