1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821042403321

Autore

Qian Suoqiao

Titolo

Liberal cosmopolitan [[electronic resource] ] : Lin Yutang and middling Chinese modernity / / by Qian Suoqiao

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden ; ; Boston, : Brill, 2011

ISBN

1-283-12038-0

9786613120380

90-04-19214-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (282 p.)

Collana

Ideas, history, and modern China, , 1875-9394 ; ; v. 3

Disciplina

895.1/85109

Soggetti

Cosmopolitanism - China - History

China Intellectual life 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: re-discovering Lin Yutang in the post-Mao era -- Chinese modernity: nationalism, imperialism, and the liberal cosmopolitan alternative -- Enlightenment and national salvation: the politics of a liberal nationalist -- "Little critic:" "returned" professionals and the cosmopolitan modern -- A cross-cultural aesthetics of life: translating "xingling" into "self-expression," "xianshi" into "leisure" and "humor" into "youmo" -- Oriental other: the business of translating Chinese and American cultures -- Cosmopolitan difference: critique of imperialism and debating "Chinahands" -- Conclusion: what a liberal cosmopolitan alternative means for contemporary Chinese intellectual dilemma -- Appendix. Chronology of Lin Yutang.

Sommario/riassunto

Chinese modernity discourses have been dominated by nationalism and revolutionary radicalism in much of the 20th century, but liberal cosmopolitanism has always been an important force in modern Chinese intellectuality, though a much neglected topic in modern Chinese studies. This book is a cross-cultural critique on the problem of the liberal cosmopolitan in modern Chinese intellectuality in light of Lin Yutang’s literary and cultural practices across China and America. It includes comparative reference to other discourses of major literary and intellectual figures such as Zhang Zhidong, Liang Qichao, Gu



Hongming, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Pearl S. Buck, Agnes Smedley and Edgar Snow. It also demonstrates that a liberal cosmopolitan road, which suggests a middling Chinese modernity, is both possible and desirable.