Humanistic East: A Collection of Research by Chinese Scholars Abroad

Author: Lu Xiaoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-11-01
Features: The compilation of this book originated directly from a wish of the East Asian Culture Research Center at East China Normal University. This wish was already expressed in a call for papers issued by the "Center" to scholars abroad a year ago: "One of the goals of the Center is to serve as a bridge connecting overseas Chinese scholars, fostering exchange and interaction to jointly promote the development of Chinese academic culture." The East Asian Culture Research Center at East China Normal University was officially established in May two years before the new millennium. At that time, I received research funding from the Shanghai Ancient Books Planning Leading Group, tasked with compiling and publishing the Collected Works of Okamura Kazuo (ten volumes in total; a summary can be found in the doctoral dissertation by Dr. Yu Weici included in this book). The translation and publication of complete works by overseas scholars studying Chinese classical academic culture in China had no precedent, marking a small step in the development of Chinese academic culture towards overseas audiences. I interpret the significance of this task not only as translating and introducing the Collected Works of Okamura Kazuo, but also as highlighting an internationalized development direction it suggests and emphasizes—overseas Chinese academic culture needs to be further integrated into local perspectives, and local academic culture requires more overseas dissemination and response. Therefore, how to make full use of this limited research fund to implement this task has become an inherent requirement and synchronous goal of my undertaking. For this, an operational platform needed to be established, and connections with like-minded individuals and supportive participants were required. With the strong support of my doctoral advisor, Mr. Wang Yuanhua (the Chief Advisor of this "Center"), and the support of my university department, the "East Asian Culture Research Center at East China Normal University" was officially established in the following month. The compilation intention of Human East thus emerged. The authors of the papers included in this book are primarily scholars in the humanities who studied abroad and resided overseas after China's opening-up, achieving notable academic success. Since China's opening-up, a large number of scholars have studied abroad, either in economics and technology or in the social sciences and humanities. Regardless of their choices after completing their studies, due to their natural ties with mainland China, their work and research objectively constitute a special part of the broader development of China. As far as I can observe, the attention paid to the group of social science and humanities scholars who studied abroad has been significantly less than that paid to the group of economics and technology scholars. If it is true that the construction of spiritual civilization is as indispensable to China's modernization as the construction of material civilization, if the value of Chinese academic culture is no longer confined to its local domain, and if its development is also the aspiration and pursuit of scholars abroad, if in the context of globalization, the dissemination and research of overseas scholars are increasingly constituting a special part of the development of Chinese academic culture and may serve as a certain special reference or, then we have reason to pay more and more conscious attention to the state of Chinese academic culture overseas, especially to the Chinese academic culture research of overseas Chinese with natural ties to their homeland. This book primarily collects papers by humanities scholars who studied abroad and achieved success after China's opening-up, with the hope of showcasing, from one perspective, the local sentiments and academic styles of this group of overseas Chinese humanities scholars. Due to their cultural background rooted in China, this background often constitutes their "identity" (nature of identity) in their survival abroad, and they harbor an inescapable maternal complex towards their homeland culture that local scholars may not equally deeply feel. For them, studying Chinese academic culture is not merely a professional or occupational skill but also carries cultural identity and self-affirmation, either consciously or subconsciously. Therefore, even if they discuss the same topics in the same way as local scholars, even if such discussions do not directly involve value issues, from the authors' subjective perspective, their elaborations may contain implications that go beyond what local scholars perceive and discuss; from the objective perspective of the works, the same topics proposed in an overseas environment itself imply the global extension of the gravitational field of Chinese academic culture. Both of these aspects should be valued by the Chinese academic culture community. Due to their cultural environment in a foreign land and the accumulation of research in an alien cultural setting, the research of overseas scholars on Chinese academic culture generally possesses the characteristics of direct and authentic cross-cultural perspectives compared to most scholars in China. On one hand, when a subject living in an alien cultural environment examines Chinese academic culture topics, his examination itself directly constitutes a cross-cultural activity. His examination may not only involve intellectual reflection on cultural differences but also sensory experience of cultural differences, the latter of which is difficult for those confined to a local cultural environment to perceive concretely. Due to the immersion in such sensory experience, he may be more authentic in his intellectual reflection in terms of "cross-cultural comparison." On the other hand, as many contemporary philosophers emphasize, culture is primarily a linguistic phenomenon. In this sense, a genuine cross-cultural perspective requires mastery of the languages of two different cultures. In the Chinese-language papers included in this book, it is not difficult to find that not only many topics have direct cross-cultural characteristics, but also the sources of evidence used by many authors are cross-linguistic. This cross-linguistic nature in the textual form reveals certain characteristics of the academic style of overseas scholars. From the perspective of Chinese academic culture research, this characteristic may not simultaneously include certain shortcomings, but at least for Chinese scholars interested in comparative literature or comparative culture, it should hold inspirational significance. A European contemporary philosopher, Habermas, who visited and gave lectures at East China Normal University a year ago, pointed out in his famous "Theory of Language Communication" that culture arises from interpersonal interaction and extends through it. In the so-called "postmodern" era of increasingly frequent and close interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds, each cultural subject needs to enhance their "intersubjectivity." This demand presupposes two premises: in the process of globalization, on one hand, various subject cultures cannot and do not need to dissolve their own uniqueness; on the other hand, various subject cultures must interact, communicate, absorb, and coexist with other cultures. If Chinese academic culture also needs to enhance its "intersubjectivity" in the context of globalization and international development, then overseas scholars, due to their direct cross-cultural background, may more easily possess the characteristics of "intersubjectivity" in their perspectives, methods, and even viewpoints on the study of Chinese academic culture. To present this characteristic is one of the intentions of compiling this book, although this "intersubjectivity" may evoke a temporary sense of "strangeness" for some Chinese scholars. The papers selected for this book involve a significant portion of the field of classical Chinese culture, which is partly due to the compilers' interest in classical academic culture, but also relates to the general tendency of the dissemination and research of Chinese academic culture overseas. Based on the compilers' experience and limited observations, overall, overseas research on Chinese academic culture tends to emphasize classical and historical fields. This is manifested in: many overseas scholars who obtain teaching or research positions at overseas universities have a foundation in Chinese classical studies; major centers of Sinology overseas often focus on classical Chinese culture (e.g., European Sinology, the Kyoto School in Japan, the Harvard-Yenching Institute in the United States); even in the field of modern and contemporary Chinese academic culture overseas, many influential and accomplished scholars have a deep understanding and grasp of classical Chinese culture; and some figures in modern scientific research fields overseas often show a rare and profound appreciation and identification with classical Chinese culture, beyond the common knowledge of modern people (this can be seen in the works of famous overseas scientists such as Yang Zhenning). Chinese studies, which are mainly distributed in developed countries and regions worldwide, generally have a tradition of emphasizing classical Chinese culture. I believe this phenomenon itself is also worth deep reflection for the Chinese academic culture community currently undergoing modernization.