Speaking to history [[electronic resource] ] : the story of King Goujian in twentieth-century China / / Paul A. Cohen ; with a foreword by John R. Gillis

• Autore: Cohen Paul A
• Pubblicazione: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2009
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (381 p.)
• Disciplina: 931/.03092
• Soggetto topico: HISTORY / Asia / General
• Soggetto geografico: China History 20th century
• Soggetto non controllato: 20th century chinese history; 5th century chinese history; antiquity; bai hua; chiang kai shek; china; chinese culture; chinese history; collective memory; crisis and response; cross cultural perspectives; cultural narratives; cultural studies; folklore; folktales; history; hope; insider cultural knowledge; inspiration; king goujian; late qing years; national humiliation; nobility; past story; political allegory; political; present reality; privatizing china; republican years; royalty; taiwan; woxin changdan fever; xiao jun
• Altri autori: GillisJohn R
• Note generali: A Philip E. Lilienthal book.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: The Goujian story in antiquity -- The burden of national humiliation : late Qing and republican years -- The plight of Chiang Kai-shek's Taiwan -- Crisis and response: the Woxin changdan fever of the early 1960s -- Political allegory in the 1980s : Xiao Jun and Bai Hua -- The Goujian story in a privatizing China -- Conclusion : cross-cultural perspectives.
• Sommario/riassunto: The ancient story of King Goujian, a psychologically complex fifth-century BCE monarch, spoke powerfully to the Chinese during China's turbulent twentieth century. Yet most Americans-even students and specialists of this era-have never heard of Goujian. In Speaking to History, Paul A. Cohen opens this previously missing (to the West) chapter of China's recent history. He connects the story to each of the major traumas of the last century, tracing its versatility as a source of inspiration and hope and elegantly exploring, on a more general level, why such stories often remain sealed up within a culture, unknown to outsiders. Labeling this phenomenon "insider cultural knowledge," Cohen investigates the relationship between past story and present reality. He inquires why at certain moments in their collective lives peoples are especially drawn to narratives from the distant past that resonate strongly with their current circumstances, and why the Chinese have returned over and over to a story from twenty-five centuries ago. In this imaginative stitching of story to history, Cohen reveals how the shared narratives of a community help to define its culture and illuminate its history.
• Titolo autorizzato: Speaking to history
• ISBN: 1-283-29174-6; 9786613291745; 0-520-94239-6
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910812925503321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
• Serie: Asia--local studies/global themes ; ; 16.