Cover of Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology
>> Go to Current Issue

Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology

Volume 19, Issue 1, 2022
Conceptual History: China, Asia, and the Global

Table of Contents

Already a subscriber? - Login here
Not yet a subscriber? - Subscribe here

Browse by:



Displaying: 1-12 of 12 documents


1. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Jiang Sun

view |  rights & permissions | cited by

2. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Gongzhong Li

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
As a traditional term used in ancient Chinese, shiehwui社會 mainly implied the gatherings and meetings related to folk festivals for the worship of and making offerings to shie社, the gods of soil. The manifestation of shiehwui frequently was the target of condescension or outright condemnation from the government or Confucian elites. During the early dissemination of the western concept of society into China, one factor that facilitated its entry was the Christian missionaries’ knowledge of traditional Chinese shie and hwui會, especially the secret societies, which they applied to their translations from English into Chinese. When the modern concept of shakai (written as 社會, the same Chinese characters), formulated in Japan, was imported into Chinese at the turn of the 20th century, it became blended with the old word of shiehwui, and found a connection to the daily life experience of the lower classes in traditional China. As a result, the new concept of shehui in modern China possesses two kinds of connotations. On the one hand, it points toward the new direction of historical changes. On the other hand, it still retains the associations of condescension, dissatisfaction and anxiety that inform the perspective of the ruling class toward this term.

3. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Dongmu Li

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The term guominxing (国民性, national character) is undoubtedly an important term in both the history of modern thought and the history of modern vocabulary. However, it seems that the term has never been specifically explored as an object of study in the field of lexical history whereas in the field of intellectual history, the emphasis has often been on the ideas represented by the term as opposed to the term itself, which is in fact marginalised. This article focuses on the Chinese word guominxing, examining both the process of its production and dissemination as well as its current usage, in order to reveal its significance for the history of modern intellectual exchanges between China and Japan and the history of modern Chinese thought.

4. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Liwei Chen

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This article first describes how the classical Chinese word diguo 帝国 was used in Japan as a translation of the Dutch language and thus into English, and then looks at the establishment and use of the term Diguo zhuyi (imperialism) in Japan. Finally, it describes how the Chinese language media in Japan, the Qingyi Bao, was quickly converted into a Chinese concept by translating the Japanese newspaper.

5. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Tianna Xu

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This paper aims to discuss the concept of class in the works of Liu Shipei, a Chinese revolutionary intellectual. When discussing the ethnic revolution of Manchuria, Liu first included class in the description of Chinese system, ethics and Chinese society. After he crossed to Japan and accepted the anarchist revolutionary ideas of hardliners, he used class as a broad synonym for hierarchical society and various inequalities. After understanding and recognizing the Marxist class struggle thought, Liu turned his attention to China. Liu started from the issue of Chinese people’s livelihood to find the subject and object of China’s anarchic class revolution. Class became the concept carrier of his narration of class revolution, and its semantic domain was further expanded. Through the analysis, we can see that Liu’s understanding and use of the concept of class is closely related to his revolutionary ideas, and changes accordingly.

6. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Longhu Cao

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The spread of “capitalism” from West to East not only brought knowledge of an economic model but also offered nations a new path for development. This expansion was met by the rise of the socialist revolutionary movement, which aimed to overthrow the capitalist political and economic system. This article examines the concept of “capitalism” in the context of the debate on socialism. By studying the elaborations of Ziben zhuyi (capitalism) by its proponents and opponents, as well as the debate-related expressions proposed by later scholars in different contexts, this study reflects on the politicization of “capitalism”, the complexity of its meaning, and the degree of political ideology in its implementation. Based on the analysis of relevant papers on the debate, it concludes that (1) as a highly politicized concept, “capitalism” reflects intellectuals’ assumptions regarding China’s future and the evolution of its political ideologies; (2) “capitalism” has a complicated conceptual connotation, and it is necessary to consider its many aspects to present the full picture of what people think about it; and (3) the degree of capitalist ideology varies in different periods and contexts.

7. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Hongjun Liu

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This paper focuses on how Chinese intellectuals discussed and researched rainbows in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Many of them considered the rainbow as a phenomenon that occurred under certain conditions of sunshine and raindrops, which could be described with terms related to qi (气) of yin/yang (阴/阳). Some of them had the knowledge of duplicating rainbows by “spraying water opposite to the sun”. There were also popular conceptions that rainbow was a sign of salaciousness and rainbow could siphon water, both of which had a long history in Chinese context. Scholars also discussed other phenomena similar to rainbow such as solar halo, lunar halo, parhelion and parselene. Those discussions were not held in wider society, yet they were the sign of how Chinese intellectuals rationalized their research into natural philosophy.

8. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Jianhua Wang

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
In October 1940, the government of the Shaanxi-Ganjiang-Ningxia Border Region used Yan’an County as the center for trying out the Latinxua Sin Wenz Movement for winter schools. It went through three stages: experimentation, promotion, and reformation. Faced with insurmountable difficulties, the Education Department quietly terminated the project in 1943. The foremost reason why the Communist Party promoted this project was to remove the obstacle posed by Chinese characters for eliminating illiteracy. Despite problems such as ignorance of the officials, uncultured teachers, resistance from intellectuals, subjective and unrealistic beliefs, the Latinxua Sin Wenz Movement in border regions of China could not be ignored since it brought out the tension between popular culture and nationalism.

9. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Haizhou Wang

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The proclamation Banbiantian (半边天 Half the Sky), which was proposed during the Mao era, is a vivid and straightforward appellation of women in new China that has gained popularity in national and folk discourses over the past seven decades. This article disassembles this term into three elements — quotation marks, Banbian (半边 Half), and tian (天 Sky) — to conduct a political phenomenological analysis. By exploring and sorting reports related to Banbiantian in Renmin ribao, this article reflects on changes in relation to status and role of women in the Mao era on the basis of three findings. Firstly, the quotation marks make Banbiantian a symbol of women’s actual experience and ideal image while playing a role in enhancement and guidance. Secondly, Banbian indicates the equal ratio of men and women and symbolizes the dynamic adjustment in determining equal rights, demonstrating equal capabilities, and improving equal status. Thirdly, tian is the scope of women’s liberation. Through women’s participation in public labor and political activities, coupled with balanced national and regional coordination, its scope continues to expand, extending from the family to society and the country.

10. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Guowei Shen

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
After entering the 20th century, great changes have taken place in the Chinese language, especially in terms of vocabulary. This change is not a simple increase in the number of words, but reflects a paradigm shift. The change involves not only nouns, but also a large number of verbs and adjectives, which this article calls “modern reconstruction of vocabulary system”. This article argues that the realization of scientific narration based on the consistency of words and texts is the fundamental motivation of language modernization; the reconstruction of Chinese vocabulary system can be basically completed in a short period of time, mainly due to the language contact within the cultural circle of Chinese characters in East Asia, which is also an important driving force for the rapid two character transformation of Chinese vocabulary. This paper gives a bird’s-eye view of the nature, new concepts and new forms of lexicalization, especially the interaction between Chinese and Japanese vocabulary.

11. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Xi Peng

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Eastern Learning (Dongxue 东学), which is an important part of modern new learning, refers to the Western natural science and socio-political thought that was assimilated by Japan from the end of 19th century to the beginning of 20th century. From the end of Ming Dynasty to the period before and after the revolution of 1911, China’s intake of new learning went through four stages. In the first three stages, a large number of Western books translated into Chinese were also introduced into Japan, which became the basic literature and language medium of Japanese Dutch studies, English Studies and later the whole foreign studies. At the beginning of the 20th century, exiles, students studying in Japan and Japanese teachers introduced Eastern Learning into China, which had a profound impact on China’s modernization process. Eastern Learning is a new learning system with East Asian characteristics constructed by China and Japan in the process of Western Learning (Xixue 西学) spreading to the East.

12. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 19 > Issue: 1
Fengyang Zhang

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The study of German Begriffsgeschichte (conceptual history) by scholars such as Koselleck focuses on historiography, but its basic hypotheses are highly philosophical. One of its tasks is to explore modernity from the perspective of language, hence can be understood as the “linguistic approach” in the study of modernity. As for the origin of the theory, the conceptual evolution of Verzeitlichung (temporalization), Demokratisierung (democratization), Politisierung (politicization), and Ideologisierbarkeit (ideologicalization) proposed by Koselleck was not only largely affected by Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Heidegger’s existential phenomenology but also deeply influenced by Carl Schmitt’s political philosophy. In Koselleck’s view, conceptual upheaval in the revolutionary era from 1750 to 1850 was, essentially, a semantic struggle in which old and new forces competed fiercely.