manufacturing modern chinese identities dr. howard chiang, h0.16 ([email protected])
TRANSCRIPT
Chinese Dynasties
221-206 BC Qin Dynasty206 BC-220 AD Han Dynasty220-280 AD Three Kingdoms265-420 AD Jin Dynasty420-589 AD Southern and Northern Dynasties581-618 AD Sui Dynasty618-907 AD Tang Dynasy907-1125 AD Liao Dynasty907-960 AD 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms960-1279 AD Song Dynasty1271-1368 AD Yuan Dynasty1368-1644 AD Ming Dynasty1644-1911 AD Qing Dynasty
Education Reform
1894-1895 First Sino-Japanese War
1911-1949 Republican Period
1900s Western-style education
19th-c. missionary schools (southeast coast; treaty ports – extraterritorial rights)
Civil service examination system – producing the bureaucratic elite
Fuzhou Shipyard
Education Reform
1898 math was introduced into the exams
1902 “eight-legged essays” replaced by policy essays
1905 abolished the civil exam system altogether
New schools created; old schools converted (still mostly for boys; girls only 2% in 1909)- Transform the people into loyal patriots- Train competent officials
Education Reform
1903 & 1906: Qing issued sets of regulations- restricted the amount of time to be spent
in the traditional study of the Chinese classics
- new subjects: history, geography, science, mathematics, physical exercise, and music
Textbooks: introduced Western ideas, with themes of nationalism and patriotism
Guo (國 ) from dynasty to country as in Guoyu (“national language” or “Mandarin Chinese”)
Education Reform
New schools:- Time – divided into terms and weeks- Costume – new jackets and trousers- Etiquette – no more kowtow (kneeling on
the knees and knocking head on the floor)- Anti-Confucian value system – “no father,
no monarch”
Race and Revolution
Qing government began to send students abroad for advanced study- bring back technical skills- Europe, America, but mostly to Japan (Meiji
Restoration since 1860s)- 13 students sent to Japan in 1896; by
1905, the number rose up to 8,000-9,000- Political concerns over technical scientific
subjects: for example, Lu Xun (“father of modern Chinese literature”)
- Experiences clash with Chinese culturalism
Lu Xun (1881-1936)
Liang Qichao(1873-1929):
the concept of race
Race and Revolution
Liang Qichao’s conception of race:- 18th century: Manchu identity from cultural
practices to inheritance- Han Chinese being descendants of the
Yellow Emperor, the mythical founder of the Han race, as a kind of lineage binding the whole Han people into a single family
- Han vs. Manchu = ‘Chinese’ vs. others (replacing the older concept of flexible boundaries based on degrees of acculturation)
Race and Revolution
Liang Qichao’s conception of race:- From “all under heaven” (tianxia, 天下 ) to
country (guojia, 國家 )- “On a New People” - a new emphasis on
the relationship between individuals and the collective: the family, society, and country
- “Nation” (minzu, 民族 ) taken from Japanese (before 1900, minzu meant “tribes”; after 1900, it became part of anti-Manchu thought)
Revolutionary groups: Sun Yatsen, Kang Youwei
Sun Yatsen (1866-1925)
Revive China Society
“revolutionaries”
Kang Youwei(1858-1927)
Protect the EmperorSociety
“reformers”
Race and Revolution
Revolutionary groups- Sun Yatsen – “revolutionaries”- Kang Youwei – “reformers”
Huaqiao (華僑 ): “Overseas Chinese”- refer to ethnic Chinese living outside the
Chinese state- Chinese nationalism was from an early
stage pushed towards a definition of national identity that could encompass these groups (emphasis on descent)
Ethnicity
Han symbolism of revolution- Ethnic minorities distinguished earlier by bans on immigration, intermarriage, and even the learning of the Chinese language
Manchuria & Xinjiang – similar to rest of China
Mongolia – independence in 1911 (“kitad”)
Tibet – 1912 to 1951 de facto separation from China
