1st Edition

The Chinese National Character: From Nationhood to Individuality From Nationhood to Individuality

By Warren Sun Copyright 2002
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    This unique survey of the evolution of the modern Chinese national character incorporates a rich blend of history and theory as well as nation, gender, and film studies. It begins with the dawn of the concept of "nation" in China at the end of the Imperial period, and follows its development from early Republican China to the present People's Republic, drawing on themes of national identity, "Orientalness," racial evolution and purity, cultural and gender roles, regional animosities, historical impediments, and more. The book also takes up the changing American perceptions of Chinese personality development and gender, using materials from American popular culture.

    Incorporating recent findings by leading Southwest scholars as well as original research, this book takes a fresh new look at the history of Spanish missions in northern Mexico/the American Southwest during the 17th and 18th centuries. Far from a record of heroic missionaries, steadfast soldiers, and colonial administrators, it examines the experiences of the natives brought to live on the missions, and the ways in which the mission program attempted tc change just about every aspect of indigenous life. Emphasizing the effect of the missions on native populations, demographic patterns, economics, and socio-cultural change, this path-breaking work filis a major gap in the history of the Southwest.

    Biography

    Lung-kee Sun was born in China but grew up in Hong Kong. He spent his college years in Taiwan and went on to advanced studies in the United States, first getting a masters degree in Russian history from the University of Minnesota and then his Ph.D. in East Asian history from Stanford University. Dr. Sun has taught at the University of Kansas, Washington University (St. Louis), the University of Alberta, and the University of Memphis. Among his numerous publications, the most influential one was The “Deep Structure” of Chinese Culture, excerpts of which have been translated into English; a complete German translation, Des Ummauerte Ich: Die Tiefenstruktur der chinesischen Mentalitat, was published in 1994.