Whose China Model Is It? The Debate between Universality and Particularity

• Main Authors: Mei-ling Li, 李梅玲
• Other Authors: Chih-yu Shih
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57807737078249693919

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 政治學研究所 === 101 === The rise of China is an indisputable fact. It has led to broad-ranging debates about whether a “China model” exists, and, if so, whether it is restricted to China or can be spread to other countries. This thesis aims to explore Chinese and Western scholars’ arguments based on analysis of the current literature related to China model. The research methods applied in this thesis are content analysis and comparative method. The literature can be categorized into three types: first, the China model does exist but is restricted to China because of its uniqueness; second, the China model not only exists but is able to spread to other developing countries; third, the China model actually doesn’t exist. I develop a panoramic framework to evaluate similarities and differences of these so-called China model. This thesis finds that what caused the diversities of opinions are the differences in emotion and presupposition between Chinese and Western academia. In other words, the discussion over the China model is a recurrence of earlier debates over Chinese identity, and whether China should adopt “Western” concepts and practices or resist such trends. More than that, it involves two definitions of universal civilization: one is that the idea of universal civilization implies “Western” civilization; the other is that it means the overlap of civilizations. Accordingly, the different interpretations between Chinese and Western scholars result in a great variety of the so-called China model.