Mainland Chinese Historiography in Search of New National and Global Narratives

Author(s)

Sebestyén Hompot, Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik

Abstract

The present article is a discourse analysis of recent (2000-) mainland Chinese historiography on the Sinocentric tributary system of East Asian interstate relations during China’s Ming (1368-1644 CE) and Qing (1644-1912 CE) dynasties. The article focuses on various strands of Chinese nationalism in the discourse, classified as “rigid”/exclusionist, “soft”/cultural, and liberal. The article discusses the various roles played by these strands of nationalism in the discourse, and the possible future influences of tributary system historiography on China’s evolving self-perception as a nation-state, as well as a regional and global actor. The article argues that “soft”/cultural nationalism dominates the discourse with many authors emphasizing China’s supposed pre-modern culture of pacifist great power politics, implicitly or explicitly advocating the reference value of the topic for China’s present and future international relations.

Organisation(s)

Department of East Asian Studies

Journal

Comparativ: Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und Vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung

Volume

31

Pages

249-266

ISSN

0940-3566

Publication date

11-2020

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

602045 Sinology, 601023 Global history

Keywords

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/3aec1e19-082c-457a-9fc8-653e0fd66ab6