Title: A Few Thoughts on the Origin of Chinese Civilization
Lecturer: Sun Lung-kee (Chair Professor at National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan)
Chairperson: LIU Qing (Professor, Department of Politics, East China Normal University)
Date: 3 pm, June 19th, 2014 (Thursday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
There are 4 Icons in the search for the origin of Chinese Civilization: (1) enthrallment with the Victorian notion of social evolutionism, e.g. from matriarchy to patriarchy; (2) the reverse course on the Critique of Ancient History of the Republican period, to the effect of reinstating the Three Dynasty or even the Yellow Emperor; (3) to use the current national boundary as the vessel for ancient China, resulting in the de-emphasis of the linkage with the outside world; (4) to posit the center of ancient China in the “central plain” (zhongyuan) in the north, which is symptomatic of the bias toward Centrism. Guo Jingyun’s recent work Xia-Shang-Zhou, From Myth to History smashes most of these Icons, with the exception of the notion of “zhongyuan,” which she retains but relocates to the Yangtze Valley. My talk also delves into the problems she creates with her revolutionary interpretation.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer：
Professor Sun Lung-kee is a famous overseas Chinese historian and a leading scholar in comparative cultural studies. His early book The Deep Structure of Chinese Culture had received enormous attention since the mid-1980s. He left a full professorship at the University of Memphis in 2005, and has held a chair professorship at National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. Besides his English publication such as The Chinese National Character: From Nationhood to Individuality, his several new Chinese publications have recently received great response in Chinese-language academia.