The West as the other : a genealogy of Chinese Occidentalism / Mingming Wang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wang, Mingming, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intercultural communication--China.

Intercultural communication.

East and West--History.

East and West.

China--Relations--Western countries.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hong Kong [China] : The Chinese University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Long before the Europeans reached the east, the ancient Chinese had advanced their perspectives of the west. In this groundbreaking book, Wang explores a fascinating perspective of the Other. He locates the Other in the alternating directionologies of classical and imperial China, leading the reader into a long history of Chinese geo-cosmologies and world-scapes. In his analysis, Wang also delves into the historical records of Chinese "world activities," or the journeys from being the Central Kingdom to reaching to the "outer regions," separating the construction of illusory from realistic geographies while drawing attention to their interconnected natures. Wang challenges an extensive number of critical studies of Orientalist narratives (chiefly including Edward Said's Orientalism), and reframes such studies from the directionological perspectives of an "Oriental" civilization. He challenges the assumption that the Other must be understood in the sense that has been explained in general anthropology, crucially underlining the European foundations that have shaped its traditional interpretations.

Contents:

List of figures

Preface

Acknowledgements

Notes on transliteration and bibliography

Introduction : rethinking "the West"

King Mu (Mu Tianzi) and the journey to the West

"illusionary" and "realistic" geographies

Easternizing the West, Westernizing the East

Chaos and the West

"Western Territories" (Xiyu), India, and "South Sea" (Nanhai)

Beyond the seas : other kingdoms and other materials

Islands, intermediaries, and "Europeanization"

Conclusion : towards other perspectives of the other

Postscript

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789629968748

9629968746

OCLC:

881318873