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278

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English

Ebooks

2012

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Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791481561

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

This volume examines the values that have historically guided the negotiation of identity, both practical and ideal, in Chinese Confucian culture, considers how these values play into the conception and exercise of authority, and assesses their contemporary relevance in a rapidly globalizing world. Included are essays that explore the rule of ritual in classical Confucian political discourse; parental authority in early medieval tales; authority in writings on women; authority in the great and long-beloved folk novel of China Journey to the West; and the anti-Confucianism of Lu Xun, the twentieth-century writer and reformer. By examining authority in cultural context, these essays shed considerable light on the continuities and contentions underlying the vibrancy of Chinese culture.

While of interest to individual scholars and students, the book also exemplifies the merits of a thematic (rather than geographic or area studies) approach to incorporating Asian content throughout the curriculum. This approach provides increased opportunities for cross-cultural comparison and a forum for encouraging values-centered conversation in the classroom.

Introduction: Confucian Cultures of Authority
Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames

1. Two Loci of Authority: Autonomous Individuals and Related Persons
Henry Rosemont Jr.

2. Intimate Authority: The Rule of Ritual in Classical Confucian Political Discourse
Tao Jiang

3. The Wei (Positioning)-Ming (Naming)- Lianmian (Face)-Guanxi (Relationship)-Renqing (Humanized Feelings) Complex in Contemporary Chinese Culture
Wenshan Jia

4. Creeping Absolutism: Parental Authority as Seen in Early Medieval Tales of Filial Offspring
Keith N. Knapp

5. Virtue (de), Talent (cai), and Beauty (se): Authoring a Full-fledged Womanhood in Lienuzhuan (Biographies of Women)
Robin R. Wang

6. Aspects of Authority in Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West
Roberta E. Adams

7. Establishing Authority through Scholarship: Ruan Yuan and the Xuehaitang Academy
Steven B. Miles

8. Intellectual and Political Controversies over Authority in China: 1898–1922
Lawrence R. Sullivan

9. Ought We Throw the Confucian Baby Out with the Authoritarian Bathwater?: A Critical Inquiry into Lu Xun's Anti-Confucian Identity
Virginia Suddath

List of Contributors
Index

Voir

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791481561

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

Confucian Cultures ofAuthority

Edited by Peter D. Hershock andRoger T. Ames

Confucian Cultures of Authority

SUNY series in Asian Studies Development Roger T. Ames and Peter D. Hershock, editors

Confucian Cultures of Authority

E D I T E D B Y

Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Confucian cultures of authority : edited by Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames. p. cm.—(SUNY series in Asian studies development) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6797-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7914-6797-X (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6798-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7914-6798-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, Confucian. 2. Confucianism. I. Hershock, Peter D. II. Ames, Roger T., 1947– . III. Series. B127.C65C625 2006 181`.112—dc22 2005023942

Contents

Introduction: Confucian Cultures of Authority Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames

Two Loci of Authority: Autonomous Individuals and Related Persons Henry Rosemont Jr.

Intimate Authority: The Rule of Ritual in Classical Confucian Political Discourse Tao Jiang

TheWei(Positioning)-Ming(Naming)-Lianmian(Face)-Guanxi(Relationship)-Renqing(Humanized Feelings) Complex in Contemporary Chinese Culture Wenshan Jia

Creeping Absolutism: Parental Authority as Seen in Early Medieval Tales of Filial Offspring Keith N. Knapp

Virtue֣(de), TalentҌ(cai), and Beauty೤(se): Authoring a Full-ﬂedged Womanhood inLienüzhuanਙ୯ẖ (Biographies of Women) Robin R. Wang

Aspects of Authority in Wu Cheng’en’sJourney to the West Roberta E. Adams

Establishing Authority through Scholarship: Ruan Yuan and the Xuehaitang Academy Steven B. Miles

Intellectual and Political Controversies over Authority in China: 1898–1922 Lawrence R. Sullivan

vii

117

151

171

Contents

Ought We Throw the Confucian Baby Out with the Authoritarian Bathwater?: A Critical Inquiry into Lu Xun’s Anti-Confucian Identity Virginia Suddath

List of Contributors

Index

215

247

251

Introduction: Confucian Culturesof Authority

Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames

It hasoften beensaid that change isthe only constant. So often, in fact, hasclaim been made recently that it ha the son the taken softly tarnished patina of a cliché. Yet, there is perhaps nothingsostrikingly characteristic of the present postmodern, postindustrial, and (according tosome) even posthistorical era than itsrefusal to assume any ﬁxed form or identity. The pace andscale of change taking place in virtually all sectorsall of societies isif not obviou arguably, sly, without precedent. Equally unprecedented isthe unpredictability of the directionsin which change is taking place. For good reason, the language of paradigm shifts—once reserved for rare, epochal events—has also become a commonplace. Undersuch circumstancesironically of sustained inconstancy, the foundational valuesandstrategiesby meansof which any givensociety negotiatesthe complementary needsfor both continuity and change are inevitably brought under criticalscrutiny. When, asispresently the case, the conditions giving rise to deep, rapid, and multidimensional change are overwhelmingly global in nature, it is likewise inevitable not only that asociety’svalue foundational s andstrategies are called into ques-tion, but itscritical tool chest aswell. The nature of authority itself—the capacity and right to author and to authorize—is opened tosweeping, categorical contest. This has become astaple of commentatorsthe political, eco- on nomic,social, and cultural effectsof a globalizing processthat isevidently far fromsmooth and trouble-free. Contemporary patternsof globaliza-tion place considerablestress on already existing local, national, and regional communitieseven asit haschallenged them to enter into new kindsof relationship. To take but asingle example, the disparate beneﬁtsreaped by nationsof the “North” and those of the “South” have made it clear that inspite of the rhetoric of “free” trade, globalization has

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Peter D. Hershock and Roger T. Ames

not been egalitarian in effect. The result hasbeen a complex pattern of cultural and national polarizationshave led that some tospeak—with varying degreesof perspicuity—of an oncoming “clash of civilizations” (Huntington: 1998), of tensionsbetween globalism and tribalism (Barber: 1996), and of epochalshiftsauthoritative capital (Friedman: 1999). in What isclear isthat by placing conﬂictingsystemsof valuesinto increas-ingly dense proximity, the processof globalization hasprecipitated wide-spread crisesof identity, the intense foregrounding of ethnic and religiousdifferences, and hassigniﬁcantly raised the volume of communal dissonance. With the rapidspread of telecommunicationstechnologies, thistran-sition hasbecome increasinglyself-reﬂective. To a perhapsunique degree, authority can no longer be taken for granted, and along with this“fact” of the present era have come powerful incentivesfor assessing prevalent cultural axiomsand for improvising or evolving new formsof community. Thishas, in turn, placed new and very considerable demandson educa-tors—particularly those responsible for crafting and delivering the undergraduate core curriculum that establishes ashared generational ground for responsibly taking up active and critically aware roles in working through the local and global challengesof deep and unpredict-ablesocial, economic, political, and cultural change. The present volume emerged out of an effort to addressthe needsof educatorsfaced with these demandsand with the corollary challenge of furthering commitmentsglobal literacy through infu to sing Asian content into the undergraduate curriculum. With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Asian StudiesDevelopment Program—a joint project of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaìi—held a two-yearseriesof workshopsand a culminating on-line conference onCultures of Authority in Asian Practice: A Seminar Series for Undergraduate Educators. The aim of this project was: to examine critically the valuesthat have historically guided the negotiation of iden-tity, both practical and ideal, in different Asian contexts; to consider how these valuesplay into the conception and exercise of authority; to assesstheir contemporary relevance in a rapidly globalizing world; and to develop resourcesfor using the theme of culturesof authority in infusing Asian content throughout the undergraduate humanitiescurriculum. Beginning with the premise that cultures are continuously impro-vised patterns of value and conduct, thisproject explored, in two-year pedagogically relevant detail, the waysin which Asian culturesof author-ity establish the conditionscommunal continuity. In particular, the of four workshopsin comparative examination of how different engaged culturesof authority in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia both

Introduction

canonize and challenge apparent constantsin the ongoing play of valuesand conduct that compose a given culture. A primary aim of theseriesof workshopswasto highlight the diversity of Asian culturesof authority aswell asthe waysin whichstudying the dynamicsof authority in each of Asia’smajor culturalspherescanshed incisive, critical light on both their intrinsic complexity and their unique approachesto accommodat-ing often contending indigenousimpulsesand exogenousinﬂuences. Not infrequently, authority isassociated with authoritarianism and hence with uncritical, often coerced, compliance with “elite” dogmas. But the exercise of authority can also beseen in thesensitively appropriate translation of an existing constellation of valuesand customsinto novel and changing contexts—a personalization of tradition uniquelysuited to prevailing circumstances. Authority in thissense isallied with authoring and hence with initiative, openness, and creativity. Indeed, it isprecisely the ambiguitiessurrounding authority that make itso appropriate as a thematic focusforstudying the waysdifferent Asiansocietieshave nego-tiated the contrary demandsof change and constancy. Because the role of authority isequally pronounced in Westernsocieties, thistheme opensfertile ground for comparativestudies of culture within the frame of existing undergraduate courses. The four workshops took complementary approachesthe orga- to nizing theme of authority, with each workshop focusing on differentsetsof academic disciplines in the humanities andsocialsciences and con-tributing to an overall understanding of the place of authority in Asian cultural contexts. The ﬁrst two workshopsA examined sian cultures of authority in terms of the construction and representation of authority, focusing on the relationship between authority and order, between the authoritative and the heroic, and between authorship and the pragmaticsof contribut-ing to communal ﬂourishing and endurance. What doesit mean to be an authoritative person? How does gender affect the acquisition or claim of authority? What isthe relationship between personal formsof author-ity and those evident in thespheresof nature,society, and thespiritual or divine? How isauthority transmitted—be it religious, artistic,social, or political? What makes a particular artistic work authoritative? By what meansare artistsand their worksable to challenge authority, both artistic and otherwise? The third and fourth workshops investigated authority through comparative discussion of the institutional frameworks associated with leadership and governance, and through the wayswhich culture in s of authority implicate thesubaltern, invite their own revision, and both create room for and proceduresfor responding to dissent. What are the

Voir