The Future of China’s Past examines how China’s traditional culture is being reinvented and manipulated for political purposes. Like no time before in its recent history, and certainly at no time in the history of the People’s Republic, China is being shaped in terms of its past, but which past—Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Buddhism—or combination of pasts is being held up as the model? Given its growing economic, political, and cultural significance, it is incumbent upon us to take China’s rise seriously, yet perspectives involving modern and contemporary geopolitical and intrastate dynamics are insufficient, on their own, for understanding China’s rise, and the same holds true for economic analyses, however pertinent. Instead, this book looks at current engagements with models of China’s past, introducing the four traditional lenses of Chinese thought and reflecting on their potential relevance for China’s—and the world’s—future.
Tabella dei contenuti
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: China and the East Asian Renaissance, Toward a New World Order
1. The Return of the Native: The Fall and Rise of Confucius in Modern China
2. Chinese Authoritarianism: The Role of Legalism and Militarism in the Making of Modern China
3. The Daoist Cycle of Life and the Way of Returning to the Fundamental: Millenarian Prophecy and the Environmental Movement in Contemporary China
4. The Return of the Nonnative: The Buddhist Revival in Contemporary China
5. Back to the Future? Prospects for Confucianism and Chinese Traditions in Contemporary China
Concluding Reflections
Epilogue
Postscript
Notes
Further Reading
Index
Circa l’autore
Albert Welter is Professor and Head of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. His previous books include
Religion, Culture, and the Public Sphere in China and Japan, co-edited with Jeffrey Newmark, and
A Tale of Two Stūpas: Diverging Paths in the Revival of Buddhism in Hangzhou China.
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