The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism

The West's perception of China as a historical entity has evolved over the centuries. China has gone from a country of miracles and marvels in the medieval world and a refined and erudite culture in early modern Europe, to become a nation without history or progress since the Enlightenment of t...

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Main Author: David Martínez-Robles
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 2008-05-01
Series:Digithum
Subjects:
Online Access:http://digithum.uoc.edu/10/dt/eng/martinez.pdf
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spelling doaj-7b6810bc8b6a4234a90b94419c55e26a2020-11-24T22:38:15ZcatUniversitat Oberta de CatalunyaDigithum1575-22752008-05-0110The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical CriticismDavid Martínez-RoblesThe West's perception of China as a historical entity has evolved over the centuries. China has gone from a country of miracles and marvels in the medieval world and a refined and erudite culture in early modern Europe, to become a nation without history or progress since the Enlightenment of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first historians of China were, in fact, representatives of the great Western empires at the end of the 19th century and their work perceives China from epistemological positions that clearly form part of the Orientalist and colonial thought that was characteristic of the period. History written throughout the 20th century, despite the efforts made to overcome the prejudices of the past, was unable to distance itself completely from some of the resources used in representation or the stereotypes that the Western world had come to accept about China and East Asia since the Enlightenment. Only in recent decades has a critical historiography appeared to denounce the problems inherent in the discourse produced on China, and even this has failed to address them fully.http://digithum.uoc.edu/10/dt/eng/martinez.pdfChinaOrientalismhistoriographyparadigmrepresentation
collection DOAJ
language Catalan
format Article
sources DOAJ
author David Martínez-Robles
spellingShingle David Martínez-Robles
The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
Digithum
China
Orientalism
historiography
paradigm
representation
author_facet David Martínez-Robles
author_sort David Martínez-Robles
title The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
title_short The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
title_full The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
title_fullStr The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
title_full_unstemmed The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism
title_sort western representation of modern china: orientalism, culturalism and historiographical criticism
publisher Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
series Digithum
issn 1575-2275
publishDate 2008-05-01
description The West's perception of China as a historical entity has evolved over the centuries. China has gone from a country of miracles and marvels in the medieval world and a refined and erudite culture in early modern Europe, to become a nation without history or progress since the Enlightenment of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first historians of China were, in fact, representatives of the great Western empires at the end of the 19th century and their work perceives China from epistemological positions that clearly form part of the Orientalist and colonial thought that was characteristic of the period. History written throughout the 20th century, despite the efforts made to overcome the prejudices of the past, was unable to distance itself completely from some of the resources used in representation or the stereotypes that the Western world had come to accept about China and East Asia since the Enlightenment. Only in recent decades has a critical historiography appeared to denounce the problems inherent in the discourse produced on China, and even this has failed to address them fully.
topic China
Orientalism
historiography
paradigm
representation
url http://digithum.uoc.edu/10/dt/eng/martinez.pdf
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