Rethinking China's Rise
A Liberal Critique
Published on 14. June 2018
252 pages
978-1-108-64065-7 (ISBN)
Description
China's rise to power is the signal event of the twenty-first century, and this volume offers a contemporary view of this nation in ascendancy from the inside. Eight recent essays by Xu Jilin, a popular historian and one of China's most prominent public intellectuals, critique China's rejection of universal values and the nation's embrace of Chinese particularism, the rise of the cult of the state and the acceptance of the historicist ideas of Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss. Xu's work is distinct both from better-known voices of dissent and also from the 'New Left' perspectives, offering instead a liberal reaction to the complexity of China's rise. Yet this work is not a shrill denunciation of Xu's intellectual enemies, but rather a subtle and heartfelt call for China to accept its status as a great power and join the world as a force for good.
Reviews / Votes
'Within China today, there are many voices calling for reforms. Among them is the prominent liberal scholar Xu Jilin. And in Rethinking China's Rise: A Liberal Critique, David Ownby has produced an excellent English translation of eight essays Xu has written over the past decade.' Kishore Mahbubani, Harper's MagazineMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
File size
13,71 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-108-64065-7 (9781108640657)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2020
Cambridge University Press
€48.80
Available immediately
Book
07/2018
Cambridge University Press
€122.40
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Xu Jilin is Professor of History at Shanghai Normal University, and is one of China's most prominent public intellectuals. His many articles and books have focused on various aspects of China's modern intellectual history. David Ownby is Professor of History at the Universite de Montreal. He worked on the history of societies in Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China (1996) and popular religion in Falun Gong and the Future of China (2008), before returning to an earlier interest in contemporary Chinese intellectual life.
Content
Preface; Editor and translator's introduction; 1. What kind of civilization? China at a crossroads; 2. The spector of leviathan: a critique of Chinese statism since 2000; 3. Universal civilization, or Chinese values? A critique of historicist thought since 2000; 4. After the 'Great Disembedding': family-state, tianxia, and self; 5. What body for Confucianism's lonely soul?; 6. The new tianxia: rebuilding China's internal and external order; 7. Two kinds of enlightenment: civilizational consciousness or cultural consciousnes; 8. Li Shenzhi: the last scholar-official, the last hero; Glossary; Index.
