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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Qian, Suoqiao.

Series:

Ideas, history, and modern China ; v. 3.

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

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosmopolitanism--China--History.

Cosmopolitanism.

China--Intellectual life--20th century.

China.

Lin, Yutang, 1895-1976--Criticism and interpretation.

Lin, Yutang.

Lin, Yutang, 1895-1976--Political and social views.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (282 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-12038-0

9786613120380

90-04-19214-X

OCLC:

727948440

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004192133.i-272 DOI