{"id":1245,"date":"2024-11-18T17:33:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T17:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2024-11-29T13:52:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T13:52:23","slug":"acting-and-reacting-easternization-in-chinese-confucian-renewals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2024\/11\/acting-and-reacting-easternization-in-chinese-confucian-renewals\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting and Reacting: Easternization in Chinese Confucian Renewals"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

This week\u2019s blog post is diving into the wild, wacky world of Chinese Confucian revivals in and beyond the early twentieth century. Throughout this time period, all manners of Chinese scholars and philosophers considered how Confucianism might be preserved, honored, and adapted into the Chinese culture of the future as the nation collectively reacted to and, more importantly, acted upon western ideas of globalization and modernization. Historian Edmund S. K. Fung discusses a key component of this discourse: cultural conservatism and a deeply held faith in traditional values which might be harnessed and revitalized for the purposes of modernization.1<\/a><\/sup>
I want to focus in on a specific concept which cropped up\u2013propagated by some, disparaged by others\u2013within this space of \u2018cultural conservatism and modernity\u2019 thought. Consider the term Easternization, especially with regards to the historically charged Westernization and all its implications of an encroaching, dominating, assimilating set of European ideas. The introduction and use of this word in Chinese philosophical discourse is deeply linked to Confucian revivals when considering the different ways in which Confucianism was harnessed as a cultural tool in the early twentieth century. Fung even suggests that Easternization may be understood “as a quest for global recognition of the universalism of a reinvigorated Confucianism…”.2<\/a><\/sup> Let\u2019s investigate what Easternization meant to some Chinese thinkers, how it was utilized, and the sorts of philosophical visions that were crafted in relation to it.
Many voices, both contemporary and historical, focus on the distinctions or incompatibilities between Western and Chinese systems and societies when discussing Chinese modernity. There are many fundamental differences which make this work relevant, but I personally tend to gravitate toward the points of similarity and connection among us humans. In this case, Western and Chinese philosophers offered valuable commonality as Confucianism found itself in conversation with different flavors of European humanism.3<\/a><\/sup> Suddenly, Parisian philosophers were seeking deeper understanding of Confucian texts while German philosophy was being translated into Chinese and spread in academic circles. Confucianism was just the thing for China to share with the world; the Confucian spirit was just the way to Easternize. Indeed, Chinese thinkers viewed their Confucian spirit as a crucial dimension of their culture which could fill a needed role for a western world filled with religious and moral declension.4<\/a><\/sup>
It\u2019s tempting to use language like \u201ccultural export\u201d or similar terminology to describe this sharing of Confucian ideals and Easternization more generally, but there\u2019s a very specific reason why I\u2019ve avoided doing so. The concept of Easternization goes much further than a one-sided imposition or the dropping of some imported goods on the doorstep. In order for classic and revivalist Confucian teachings to be shared to a western audience, a two-sided exchange of ideas needed to occur. Early twentieth century Chinese philosophers demonstrated this through their engagement with European philosophical circles and their amalgamating of Confucian ethics with European economic and political structures. Easternization demonstrated a story of Chinese cultural flexibility and active engagement with the direction of global modernization, offering a perspective far from the story of Westernization.5<\/a><\/sup>
When considered in this light, Easternization strikes me as an engaging space for study and teaching. Why had I never heard this phrase before now, when Westernization is so commonplace as to hardly warrant a critical thought outside of the classroom? I\u2019ll leave today\u2019s post with this question: how can we continue to identify and address Euro-centric narratives in our classrooms, and how can we perhaps utilize ideas like \u201cEasternization\u201d to combat such narratives?
That\u2019s all for this week. Stay safe, folks!<\/p>\r\n

  1. Edmund S. K. Fung, The Intellectual Foundations of Chinese Modernity: Cultural and Political Thought in the Republican Era<\/em> (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 61-62. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  2. Ibid<\/em>., p. 73. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  3. Ibid., <\/em>pp. 69-70, the New Humanist work of Irving Babbitt in particular. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  4. Ibid.<\/em>, pp. 75-76. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  5. Ibid.,\u00a0<\/em>p. 67. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week\u2019s blog post is diving into the wild, wacky world of Chinese Confucian revivals in and beyond the early twentieth century. Throughout this time period, all manners of Chinese scholars and philosophers considered how Confucianism might be preserved, honored, and adapted into the Chinese culture of the future as the nation collectively reacted to … Continue reading “Acting and Reacting: Easternization in Chinese Confucian Renewals”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1245"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}