Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Individualism in Modern China (eBook)

Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Individualism in Modern China explores Chinese intellectual life and cultural practices in the New Culture era of modern China by examining an influential newspaper supplement published in Beijing during 1918–1928, as well as other contemporary sources. Xu highlights a key intellectual-moral paradox in Chinese discourses between cosmopolitanism as an idealistic aspiration and nationalism as a practical imperative, both in complex relationship to individualism, and in constant negotiations between Chinese tradition and Western culture in the making of Chinese modernity. These issues remain vitally relevant today.

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Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Individualism in Modern China analyzes important aspects of Chinese intellectual life and cultural practices that formed and informed the historical phenomenon known as the New Culture era. Through examining an influential newspaper supplement published in Beijing during 19181928, along with other contemporary sources, the book explores the full dimensions and rich textures of the intellectual-literary discourses of the time period and contributes to a re-consideration and re-appreciation of the New Culture phenomenon in modern China. It highlights a key intellectual-moral paradox in Chinese discourses between cosmopolitanism as an idealistic aspiration and nationalism as a practical imperative, both in complex relationship to individualism, a paradox that ultimately speaks to the constant negotiations between Chinese tradition and Western culture in the making of Chinese modernity. These issues have remained vitally relevant to China and the world nearly a century later.