Kai-wing Chow

When did China make the decisive turn from tradition to modernity? For decades, the received wisdom would have pointed to the May Fourth movement, with its titanic battles between the champions of iconoclasm and the traditionalists and its shift to more populist forms of politics. A growing body of recent research, however, has called into question how decisive the turn was, when it happened, and what relation the resulting modernity bore to the agendas of people who participated. Having thus explicitly or implicitly "decentered" the May Fourth, such research (augmented by contributions in the present volume) leaves us with the task of accounting for the shape Chinese modernity took, as the product of dialogues and debates between, and the interplay of, a variety of actors and trends, both within and without the May Fourth camp. Book jacket.

In Search of Chinese Modernity

Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm

On-cho Ng

John B. Henderson

Explores the shifting terrain of Confucianism in Chinese history.

Changing Confucian Doctrines, Texts, and Hermeneutics

Imagining Boundaries

Tze-ki Hon

Hung-yok Ip

Don C. Price

Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm explores various dimensions of modern Chinese culture, ranging from literature, thought, and music to scientific research, business, and everyday life. By heeding how the May Fourth and non-May Fourth groups depended on each other and joined forces in creating Chinese modernity, this anthology points to the significant directions that Chinese historical actors chose as they competed but also collaborated in modernizing themselves, their culture, and the nation.

Poshek Fu

Kevin Michael Doak

A cutting-edge collection exploring identity-making in East Asia This is an interdisciplinary study of the cultural politics of nationalism and national identities in modern East Asia. Combining theoretical insights with empirical research, it explores the cultural dimensions of nationhood and identity-making in China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The essays address issues ranging from the complex relations between popular culture and national consciousness to the representation of ethnic/racial identity and gendered discourse on nationalism. The cutting-edge research on the diverse forms of cultural preacceptance and the various ways in which this participates in the construction and projection of national and ethnic identities in East Asia illuminates several understudied issues in Asian studies, including the ambiguity of Hong Kong identity during World War II and the intricate politics of the post-war Taiwanese trial of collaboration. Addressing a wide range of theoretical and historical issues regarding cultural dimensions of nationalism and national identities all over East Asia, these essays draw insights from such recent theories as cultural studies, postcolonial theories, and archival-researched cultural anthropology. The book will be important reading for students of Asian studies as well as for serious readers interested in issues of nationalism and culture. Kai-wing Chow is Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures. Kevin Doak is Associate Professor of History. Poshek Fu is Associate Professor of History and Cinema Studies. All three teach at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Kai-wing Chow

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