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Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies
ISSN 0577-9170; DOI 10.6503/THJCS

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“Don’t Belittle Our Southern Neighbor”: Chen Xujing’s View of Thailand

Vol. 50 No. 3  9/2020

 

Title

“Don’t Belittle Our Southern Neighbor”: Chen Xujing’s View of Thailand

Author

Chan Ying-kit

Genre

Article

Pages

511-550

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202009_50(3).0004

Download

PDF

Language

English

Key words

Chinese culture, nationalism, Pan-Asianism, Thailand, Westernization

Abstract

A major dilemma faced by Chinese intellectuals of the early twentieth century was how they could acquire Western learning without compromising national sovereignty. This article focuses on the attempt by Chen Xujing 陳序經 (1903-1967) to resolve this dilemma with his concept of “Wholesale Westernization,” which posited that non-Western nations must shed all their native or traditional elements and Westernize completely to become sovereign. By analyzing Chen Xujing’s Siam and China, the article suggests that his view of Thailand was an extension of his Wholesale Westernization concept. For Chen Xujing, Thailand, observed through the lens of this concept, was a progressive nation created by its kings and their Chinese subjects in the image of the West. For that reason alone, Chen Xujing argued, Thailand deserved the admiration and respect of Chinese intellectuals, who should no longer belittle the strength of their southern neighbor. In the milieu of nationalism and self-determination in wartime China, Siam and China might be regarded as a political commentary that critically examined Thailand’s pro-Japan policy and the oppression of the Thai Chinese, who were described as constituting the crucial means through which the highly Westernized country could modernize further.

 

Author: Chan Ying-kit
Genre: Article
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