| Summary: | 碩士 === 中國文化大學 === 史學系 === 101 === What was the nature of Sino-Western exchange in the early 20th century? Why is it that Chinese contributions to the West have only been chronicled up until the 20th century? The history of the West’s influence on China has been exhaustively debated. We use the term cultural “exchange” so often, but in the end we neglect China’s part in this exchange. The history of the peoples of China and the peoples of the West has been well researched over the years by both the Center (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China) and the Periphery (Non-Chinese and Huaqiao China researchers) of China Studies. However, while we have agreed that there has been a process of transculturation (e.g. Westernization) in the case of phenotypically Chinese peoples, we have failed to explore whether or not the reciprocal transcultural phenomenon (e.g. Sinicization/huahua) occurred. The overwhelming consensus on both sides has been to either flat out reject it based on ethnic nationalist arguments, novelize it as a facet of Orientalism, or to subsume it into the borderless world village host of multicultural identities. In this paper, we will explore the history and reasons behind why such a phenomenon has been neglected, misunderstood, or denied by China scholars in the Center and Periphery. I believe that scholars today need to re-examine our views on identity - especially in regard to Sino-Western cross cultural ones - and ask ourselves first: How can we recognize, describe, and accept difference without succumbing to essentialist biological categorization? Then, second, in overcoming this first challenge, how do we avoid the ensuing challenge of completely eradicating the use of “difference” from our analytical tools? By answering these questions, and providing a base of historical agents from which to begin such a study, I will show why the study of such a phenomenon is not only possible but also necessary to the formation of a more comprehensive understanding of this important part of Chinese, Western, and World History, as well as our shared future.
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