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dc.contributor.authorMackerras, Colin
dc.contributor.editor耿, 幼壮
dc.contributor.editor杨, 慧林
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-07T04:22:40Z
dc.date.available2020-04-07T04:22:40Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.identifier.isbn9787300266794
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/393016
dc.description.abstractThis paper attempts to analyse trends in Western sinology and China studies since the late twentieth century, as well as set them in the context of the times. The object of what the sinologists study is China, past and present, especially the People’s Republic in the Reform period. The central argument is that, although the topics researched in sinology have expanded enormously, political trends in the West remain an important consideration in formulating those topics and how they are treated. Since the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first, Western scholarship has tended to approach China studies and sinology both from a comparative disciplinary point of view, but has also taken up a specific country-based focus. Economists and demographers, among others, may use less Chinese sources than anthropologists and historians. One very important development is that China is used much more as an example illustrating theoretical trends. A very good example is the work of Kenneth Pomeranz on The Great Divergence, which is about how and why the economy and other aspects of development in England and Europe diverged so greatly from that in China, establishing an effective dominance. This work and others like it make any discussions of economic history in general very difficult unless they take account of China. One trend visible in sinology, both as the study of the contemporary and past China, is globalization and, though not new to the twenty-first century, it appears to have gathered momentum then. Western scholars travel to China much more, and Chinese scholars study and work in the West. They also contribute to publishing on China in the West in European languages, to an extent that it is legitimate to ask whether their works are part of Western or Chinese sinology. Because of the realities of power, American China studies tend to dominate this globalized scholarship, which means that the influence of American universities is greater than those of other countries. The publishing houses of other countries are sometimes even absorbed into the American scene: for instance, Oxford University Press is as much an American publishing house as it is an English one. Certain fields have become more fashionable than was once the case. Possibly the most important one of all is the rise of China, a phenomenon much more pronounced in the twenty-first century than it has been for quite a few centuries. This has drawn enormous response, both from scholars and journalists, especially in the field of international relations. The reason it is so important is that it challenges the existing West-dominated world order. Other fashionable fields include gender studies and minority studies. The Reform period beginning in 1978 made intensive field study possible in a way that was out of the question earlier. This spawned an enormous growth in anthropological and social studies. In the case of minority studies, this was helped by the growth of interest in ethnic issues in the West itself. Social and cultural studies both necessitate the use of Chinese-language sources. Whether China tends to be portrayed positively or negatively in the twenty-first century is a very interesting and important question. Images depend on a great many factors, many of them in the West rather than in China. A major one is politics, especially American politics. Unfortunately, this tends to mean that images of contemporary China have not improved to the extent that realities should warrant, at least as the present author perceives them. This applies more to journalists than scholars, who are more easily able to do long-term research that does not have to meet very close and strict deadlines. However, in the big picture politics tends to affect all groups.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageChinese
dc.language.isochi
dc.publisherChina Renmin University Press 中国人民大学出版社
dc.publisher.placeBeijing
dc.publisher.urihttp://www.crup.cn/Book/Detail?doi=a1abb6aa-99d2-4a34-920a-56cbe8d6877e&urltype=0
dc.relation.ispartofbooktitleWorld Sinology 世界漢學, volume 17
dc.relation.ispartofchapter2
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom12
dc.relation.ispartofpageto23
dc.relation.ispartofvolume17
dc.subject.fieldofresearchAsian history
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode430301
dc.title20 世纪末以来的西方汉学走向
dc.title.alternativeTrends in Western Sinology Since the Late Twentieth Century
dc.typeBook chapter
dc.type.descriptionB1 - Chapters
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMackerras, C, 20 世纪末以来的西方汉学走向, World Sinology 世界漢學, volume 17, 2019, 17, pp. 12-23
dc.date.updated2020-04-07T03:50:59Z
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorMackerras, Colin P.


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