TRENDS: A CHINA FOCUS

The China Narrative in 21st Century and Its Universalizing Logic: Centered on the Notion of “Civilization”

  • HE Guimei
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  • Department of Chinese Literature, Peking University, Peking 100871, China

Published date: 15 Mar 2019

Copyright

2019 Higher Education Press and Brill

Abstract

As we enter 21st century, with China’s economic rise, Chinese intellectual circle have come up with some new narratives regarding China’s position in the world order. Among these narratives, one that attracts most attention is the “civilization narrative.” It holds that China is not a general “nation-state,” nor a traditional “empire,” but a political body that should be described in terms of “civilization.” This article, by combining together intellectual history and social history, tries to make a critical evaluation of this “civilization narrative” from four aspects: first, the narratives about “civilization-state”; second, the relation between “civilization” and “China”; third, the contemporaneity of “civilization,” i.e. the historical condition under which classical canons and tradition are reconstituted in contemporary China; fourth, to examine the genealogy of “civilization narratives” and conceive the possibility for imagining a pluralistic world.

Cite this article

HE Guimei . The China Narrative in 21st Century and Its Universalizing Logic: Centered on the Notion of “Civilization”[J]. Frontiers of Literary Studies in China, 2019 , 13(1) : 97 -121 . DOI: 10.3868/s010-007-019-0005-0

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