Showing papers on "Westernization published in 1980"

Postmodernism and China

Abstract: Few countries have been so transformed in recent decades as China. With a dynamically growing economy and a rapidly changing social structure, China challenges the West to understand the nature of its modernization. Using postmodernism as both a global frame of periodization and a way to break free from the rigid ideology of westernization as modernity, this volume’s diverse group of contributors argues that the Chinese experience is crucial for understanding postmodernism. Collectively, these essays question the implications of specific phenomena, like literature, architecture, rock music, and film, in a postsocialist society. Some essays address China’s complicity in—as well as its resistance to—the culture of global capitalism. Others evaluate the impact of efforts to redefine national culture in terms of enhanced freedoms and expressions of the imagination in everyday life. Still others discuss the general relaxation of political society in post-Mao China, the emergence of the market and its consumer mass culture, and the fashion and discourse of nostalgia. The contributors make a clear case for both the historical uniqueness of Chinese postmodernism and the need to understand its specificity in order to fully grasp the condition of postmodernity worldwide. Although the focus is on mainland China, the volume also includes important observations on social and cultural realities in Hong Kong and Taiwan, whose postmodernity has so far been confined—in both Chinese and English-speaking worlds—to their economic and consumer activities instead of their political and cultural dynamism. First published as a special issue of boundary 2 , Postmodernism and China includes seven new essays. By juxtaposing postmodernism with postsocialism and by analyzing China as a producer and not merely a consumer of the culture of the postmodern, it will contribute to critical discourses on globalism, modernity, and political economics, as well as to cultural and Asian studies. Contributors . Evans Chan, Arif Dirlik, Dai Jinhua, Liu Kang, Anthony D. King, Jeroen de Kloet, Abidin Kusno, Wendy Larson, Chaoyang Liao, Ping-hui Liao, Sebastian Hsien-hao Liao, Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu, Wang Ning, Xiaobing Tang, Xiaoying Wang, Chen Xiaoming, Xiaobin Yang, Zhang Yiwu, Xudong Zhang

Changing Chinese views of Western relations, 1840–95

Abstract: Chinese views of Western relations kept changing during the 1840-95 period, with a quickened tempo after 1860. Generally, foreign policy views changed from a 'closed door' policy in the forties to the 'good faith' policy based on the Confucian principle of sincerity during the sixties. Modern diplomatic skills, especially the idea of international law, were stressed during the ensuing two decades. Power politics, particularly the concepts of balance of power and alliance with strong countries, prevailed during the eighties and nineties. In spite of all these changes, the power of conservatism remained strong. Success in the introduction of things Western into China depended in large measure on the extent to which they were compatible with this tradition. China's inertia can also be seen in the views held by some political leaders towards the West. In addition to the conservatives, many literati-officials who championed Western learning were at the same time anti-Christian. Modernization in some senses meant Westernization.

The University and the Technical Revolution in Japan: A Model for Developing Countries?.

Abstract: This article discusses the role of the university in Japan's technological and industrial development. In the first part the historical development of the university in terms of technological and industrial development is treated in four sections, as follows: In the second part of the article some of the problems observed in the above historical treatment are discussed under the following headings: Westernization of a non-Western society, coordination between education and industry, the government and freedom of the university, and nationalism and internationalism. Throughout the whole period of development, the university in Japan has played a crucial role in introducing Western science and technology into Japan and in training the personnel necessary for technological and industrial progress. While the university has to be given credit for this important contribution it has to be noted that the state itself made an equally important contribution by ensuring that industry was coordinated with the university. Such initiatives on the part of the state did, however, raise questions about the academic freedom of the university. The Japanese university thus played an important part in terms of the development of the national interest; it has, however, been criticised recently for being less ready to develop that spirit of internationalism which the modern world requires.

The Iranian settlement in Egypt as seen through the pages of the community paper — Chihrinima (1904–1966)

Abstract: Chihrinima, an illustrated Persian language weekly edited by Mirza Abd al-Muhammad Mu'addab al-Sultan Isfahani Irani was founded in 1904 in Alexandria but relocated to Cairo the following year. Mu'addab al-Sultan was born in Isfahan in 1289 A.H. (1872 A.D.) and grew up under the tyrannical rule of Zill al-Sultan (the son of Nasir al-Din Shah and governor of Isfahan). Mu'addab al-Sultan's early education was in a girl's maktab.' In 1310 A.H. (1892 A.D.), he left Isfahan on business ventures to Shiraz, Bushehr, India, then back to Iran and on to Russia. In 1320 A.H. (1902 A.D.) he decided to go to the U.S., but upon passing through Egypt, he changed his plans and decided to stay. Chihrinima was designed to be of interest to the general public and this may account for its long life, a span of sixty-two years (1904-1966). Like many other Iranian emigrant papers, Chihrinima was prohibited in Iran during the reign of Muhammad Ali Shah (1907-1909), a period referred to as the period of 'Minor Despotism'. Subsequently this ban was lifted and, as the letters from readers and correspondents indicate, it was popular all over Iran and in Iranian communities in India, Iraq, Turkey, and other countries. Under the direction of its founder and first editor, Chihrinima tried to play a political and social role. Its impact was negligible. It remained, for the most part, a community paper. The editorials advocated unity of the Islamic world to ward off aggressive foreign elements, economic sanctions such as boycotts against foreign aggressors, a sound educational system, and jobs for the workers to prevent 'bloody revolutions'. Its second editor, Manuchihr Mu'addab-zada, emphasised sound education and the psychology of child rearing. Chihrinima provided a platform for those Iranians who wished to voice their thoughts, grievances and complaints. Reading their letters in Chihrinima provides clues to the educational and cultural actilities of Iranians abroad. One of the most important contributions of Chihrinima is that its pages marked, step by step, the history of the Iranian community in Egypt fromf 1904-1966. The information gathered from this community paper is very valuable in that it reflects the characters and activities of the members of that community and offers a clear picture of a typical Iranian emigrant settlement in action. Before exploring the origin of the Iranian community in Egypt, a few facts should be mentioned about the conditions existing in Egypt at the turn of the century. First this study will examine the factors that attracted the Iranians, and foreigners in general, to that country. The time of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1803-1849) is referred to as the period of modern Egypt because attempts at Westernization in that country began

Sadat's Egypt and Teng's China: Revolution Versus Modernization

Abstract: When President Qadhafi of Libya challenged the West in a recent press interview to "keep your technology, your problems, and your evils," he was perhaps unwittingly echoing what Matthew Arnold had termed "this strange disease of modern life."' But his message could not have been clearer: modernization, that is, westernization, far from remedying the flaws of nonWestern societies, has on the contrary aggravated them to the point that the West and its evils have been rejected in favor of restorative revolutions. When the young, enthusiastic, and fanatic leader of the Libyan junta announced his takeover of power from the Sanussi King in 1969, he was indeed intent on such a restorative revolution, not merely a revolt against monarchy. The memorable dialogue between Louis XVI and the Duke de la Rochefoucauld comes to mind: "It is a revolt?" asked the French monarch; "no Sir," retorted the duke, "This is a revolution."2 Disraeli was probably right when he said that revolution cannot be evaded; the same can perhaps be said of modernization, the antithesis of revolution, in spite of the paradox involved. Hence there is a continuous strain between revolution and modernization and an almost inevitable cycle of succession between the two, at least in non-Western societies. In such a social setting, revolution signifies a popular impulse for change, restorative or innovative that washes away