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New and ambitious approaches to contemporary China, informed by perspectives taken from civilizational analysis and the specific concept of social imaginaries.
This collection of essays by some of today's most prominent scholars on Chinese society, culture, and philosophy offers unusually comprehensive perspectives on contemporary China—a "broad way to China." Most of the essays are informed by the ambitious and erudite approaches of civilizational analysis developed in the theoretical and empirical lifework of Jóhann P. Árnason. Some authors explore China's long history and enduring philosophical and political traditions, revealing their continued influence on contemporary social imaginaries. Others critique the narrow limitations of most Euro-American views and discussions of China, highlighting how these can be an obstacle to a fruitful dialogue between China and "the West." Additionally, some essays present new perspectives on the potential value of Chinese social, political, and philosophical insights, suggesting they could inspire improvements in social, political, and philosophical dialogue within Euro-American cultures themselves.
"Presenting a variety of perspectives on China, its imaginaries, its Axial Age, and its modernity, Imaginary Worlds and Imperial Power brings a unique approach to a crowded field of East Asian studies and is a significant contribution to the large English-language audience in search of more in-depth studies of China." — Jeremy C. A. Smith, Federation University Australia
Preface
Roger T. Ames
Introduction: Broadening Our Way to China
Geir Sigurðsson
Part I
1. The Chinese Challenge to Historical Sociology
Jóhann P. Árnason
Part II: Imaginaries, Continuities, and Imaginary Continuities
2. China in Eurasia: Goody, Árnason, and Imaginaries of the Landmass
Chris Hann
3. Early Modern Periodizations and Their Philosophical Consequences: Figuring the Seventeenth-Century Ming-Qing Transition as a Philosophical Problem
Leigh Jenco
4. The Preconceived Empire: China's Imperial Experience and Its Current Relevance
Yuri Pines
Part III: Civilization, Modernization, and Normativity
5. China's Path to Modernization: Implications for Global Governance
Ting-mien Lee
6. Árnason, Modern Confucianism, and the Cultural Conditionality of Modernization
Jana S. Rošker
7. Multiple Modernities — A Legitimate Heir to the Axial Age?
Heiner Roetz
Part IV: Toward Constructive Engagements
8. Chinese Civilizational Identity: Ideological Models of the World and the Sacralization of a Confucian Huaxia Identity
Daniel Sarafinas
9. The Politics of Sincerity, or Why Is the Legacy of Pre-Qin Confucianism Worth Fighting For?
Guanjun Wu
10. Tribunals, Trials, and Windows: De-Orwellizing Western Perspectives on China
Ľubomír Dunaj
List of Contributors