Ancient Beijing and Western Civilization

Ancient Beijing and Western Civilization
Author: Zhesheng Ouyang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2024-10-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 104016546X

This book explores the historical interactions between Beijing and the West before the Opium War. It focuses on the experiences of Western travellers, missionaries, and envoys who visited Beijing during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. As the capital of Imperial China since the Yuan dynasty, Beijing has been central to communication between China and the West. The study uses first-hand historical materials such as travelogues, memoirs, letters, Ming and Qing archives, and scholarly works from both the West and China. It examines their journeys to Beijing, their lives in the city, and their interactions with imperial officials and ordinary people. The book reconstructs Western perceptions of Beijing and their observations of its architecture, customs, geography, and China's history, culture, and political system. It also addresses important historical issues in Sino-Western relations, including the controversy over Chinese rites between Beijing and the Vatican, attempts to trade with Beijing, sinological studies, and intelligence gathering. The insights gained greatly enhance our understanding of the history of cultural exchange between China and the West. The book will appeal to a wide readership interested in the history of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the history of Beijing, Sino-Western relations, and international Sinology.

The Cambridge History of Ancient China

The Cambridge History of Ancient China
Author: Michael Loewe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1192
Release: 1999-03-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521470308

The Cambridge History of Ancient China provides a survey of the institutional and cultural history of pre-imperial China.

China

China
Author: The Editorial Committee of Chinese Civilization: A Source Book, City University of Hong Kong
Publisher: City University of HK Press
Total Pages: 833
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9629371405

Written with precision and flair by a host of leading academics from Beijing and Hong Kong, this single volume is a welcome addition to the study of world civilizations, a broad yet detailed chronological sweep through time. Every aspect of Chinese civilization is explained, interpreted, contextualized and brought to life with well-balanced commentary and photographic documentation. Published by City University of Hong Kong Press. 香港城市大學出版社出版。

The History of Chinese Legal Civilization

The History of Chinese Legal Civilization
Author: Jinfan Zhang
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 903
Release: 2020-07-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9789811010309

This book, based on the theory of Marxism-Leninism, aims to study the essence, content and features of various legal systems in China in different historical periods, as well as the rules of the development of Chinese legal systems. It effectively combines classic analysis and historical analysis to probe historical facts and elaborate the historical role of the legal system, revealing both the general and the specific rules of the development of China s legal system on the basis of the existing relevant research. The subject matter is of abundant theoretical and practical significance, as it enriches Marxist legal studies, deepens readers’ understanding of China s legal civilization and offers guiding principles for the creation of socialist legal systems with Chinese characteristics. It discusses the trends in thinking on the reconstruction of the legal system; changing laws; western legal culture; the legal system in the period of westernization, constitution and reform; preparation for constitutionalism; modification of the law during the late Qing Dynasty; criminal, civil and commercial legislation; and judicial reforms in the modern era as well as the various ups and downs and cases of malconduct after the founding of the People’s Republic of China

The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800

The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800
Author: D. E. Mungello
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2024-09-17
Genre: History
ISBN:

For the Chinese, the drive toward growing political and economic power is part of an ongoing effort to restore China's past greatness and remove the lingering memories of history's humiliations. This widely praised book explores the 1500–1800 period before China's decline, when the country was viewed as a leading world culture and power. Europe, by contrast, was in the early stages of emerging from provincial to international status while the United States was still an uncharted wilderness. D. E. Mungello argues that this earlier era, ironically, may contain more relevance for today than the more recent past. Building on the author's decades of research and teaching, this compelling book illustrates the vital importance of history to readers trying to understand China’s renewed rise.

The Core Values of Chinese Civilization

The Core Values of Chinese Civilization
Author: Lai Chen
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2016-12-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9811033676

Drawing on the core values of western civilization, the author refines the counterparts in Chinese civilization, summarized as four core principles: duty before freedom, obedience before rights, community before individual, and harmony before conflict. Focusing on guoxue or Sinology as the basis of his approach, the author provides detailed explanations of traditional Chinese values. Recent scholars have addressed the concept of guoxue since the modern age, sorting through it and piecing it together, which has produced an extremely abundant range of information. However, given that the concepts and theories involved have been left largely unanalyzed, this book develops a theoretical treatment of them in several important respects. First, it analyzes the mindset of guoxue, examining the dominant ideas and values of the era from which the term “guoxue” arose, focusing on its connection to early changes and trends in society and culture, and distinguishing three key phases of development. Past scholars mainly had in mind the range of objects studied in guoxue when defining it, and what this book underscores is the meaning of guoxue as a modern body of research. Secondly, it assesses several phases in the modern evolution of the body of guoxue research from the beginning to the end of the 20th century, i.e., ending with the later phase of the National Heritage movement. Third and lastly, the book explores the various main modes of modern guoxue, which correspond step by step with the evolutionary phases of guoxue research.

Encountering the Chinese

Encountering the Chinese
Author: Hu Wenzhong
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2010-12-15
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 098424719X

"A classic must-read for everyone coming to work or live in China." - Shelley Warner and Tony Voutas, cross-cultural trainers and founders of Asia Pacific Access Ltd, China China is in the midst of unprecedented economic and cultural growth. In the last decade alone, China joined the World Trade Organization, hosted the 2008 Olympics and experienced a remarkable, record-high increase in its foreign currency reserves. As these changes unfold, frequency of contact between the Chinese and Westerners is dramatically increasing in the office, the classroom and the home. With thought-provoking glimpses into history and tradition, Encountering the Chinese provides fundamental information on Chinese cultural norms and values, giving clear context for contemporary social standards. Readers will learn the etiquette necessary to build successful personal and professional relationships with the Chinese both inside and outside the People's Republic of China. This revised edition of Encountering the Chinese also explains how Chinese values are changing rapidly-and why it is more important than ever to keep up. For instance, compliments, once declined out of modesty, are now widely accepted in coastal cities; and some terms of address that were proper to use only a decade ago have grown offensive. Encountering the Chinese provides invaluable insight into the diverse and changing Chinese culture.

Chinese History And Literature: New Ways To Examine China's Past

Chinese History And Literature: New Ways To Examine China's Past
Author: Guanjun Wu
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2018-08-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 9813236744

Chinese History and Literature: New Ways to Examine China's Past collects important studies on Chinese history and literature studies conducted by the academics at East China Normal University (ECNU) in recent years. The book covers topics including the study of Chinese Economic History, 'Jiangnan Identity' in Chinese history and literature, a new study on the cause of the great proscription, the artistic presentation of a tragic character, among others.This book is the second volume in the WSPC-ECNU Series on China. The WSPC-ECNU Series showcases the significant contributions to scholarship in social sciences and humanities studies about China. The Series is jointly launched by World Scientific Publishing, the most reputable English academic publisher in Asia, and ECNU, a top University in China with a long history of exchanges with the international academic community.

Rethinking China's Rise

Rethinking China's Rise
Author: Jilin Xu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2018-07-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108470750

A vision of contemporary China from the inside, Xu's essays offer a liberal reaction to the complexity of China's rise.

The Prehistoric Maritime Frontier of Southeast China

The Prehistoric Maritime Frontier of Southeast China
Author: Chunming Wu
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2021-10-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811640793

This open access book presents multidisciplinary research on the cultural history, ethnic connectivity, and oceanic transportation of the ancient Indigenous Bai Yue (百越) in the prehistoric maritime region of southeast China and southeast Asia. In this maritime Frontier of China, historical documents demonstrate the development of the “barbarian” Bai Yue and Island Yi (岛夷) and their cultural interaction with the northern Huaxia (华夏) in early Chinese civilization within the geopolitical order of the “Central State-Four Peripheries Barbarians-Four Seas”. Archaeological typologies of the prehistoric remains reveal a unique cultural tradition dominantly originating from the local Paleolithic age and continuing to early Neolithization across this border region. Further analysis of material culture from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age proves the stability and resilience of the indigenous cultures even with the migratory expansion of Huaxia and Han (汉) from north to south. Ethnographical investigations of aboriginal heritage highlight their native cultural context, seafaring technology and navigation techniques, and their interaction with Austronesian and other foreign maritime ethnicities. In a word, this manuscript presents a new perspective on the unique cultural landscape of indigenous ethnicities in southeast China with thousands of years’ stable tradition, a remarkable maritime orientation and overseas cultural hybridization in the coastal region of southeast China.