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.
Author(s): Peter D. Hershock, Roger T. Ames
Series: SUNY Series in Asian Studies Development
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 258
Confucian Cultures of Authority......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Introduction:Confucian Cultures of Authority......Page 8
Two Loci of Authority:Autonomous Individuals and Related Persons1......Page 20
Intimate Authority: The Rule of Ritualin Classical Confucian Political Discourse......Page 40
The Wei (Positioning)-Ming(Naming)-Lianmian (Face)-Guanxi(Relationship)-Renqing(Humanized Feelings) Complex in Contemporary Chinese Culture......Page 68
Creeping Absolutism: Parental Authority as Seen in Early MedievalTales of Filial Offspring......Page 84
Virtue (de), Talent (cai),and Beauty (se): Authoring a Full-fledged Womanhood inLienüzhuan (Biographies of Women)......Page 112
Aspects of Authority in Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West......Page 136
Establishing Authority through Scholarship: Ruan Yuan and the Xuehaitang Academy......Page 170
Intellectual and Political Controversiesover Authority in China: 1898–1922......Page 190
Ought We Throw the Confucian BabyOut with the Authoritarian Bathwater?:A Critical Inquiry into Lu Xun’sAnti-Confucian Identity......Page 234
Contributors......Page 266
C......Page 270
G......Page 271
J......Page 272
L......Page 273
Q......Page 274
S......Page 275
W......Page 276
Z......Page 277
