Title

The “China” in the Age of Globalized Discursive Production

Author

Yiu-wai Chu

Genre

Article  

Pages

233-260

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Language

Chinese

Key words

Post-ism, globalization, discursive power, symbolic capital, Chineseness(es), Boundary 2, New Literary History, Social Text, Public Culture

Abstract

      Cultural studies and theoretical discourse have recently been the dominant trend in the Humanities in Western academia. In the midst of this critical wave, Chinese cultural studies have undergone a significant trans formation in the last decade or so. The convoluted relationship between “post-ism” and Chinese cultural studies, among others, is one of the important issues that has stirred up vigorous discussions.

      This paper focuses on several seminal special issues on “China” and post-ism published by leading American academic journals in the field of Humanities, trying to investigate situation of “China” in the new order of global discursive production. The contributors of these special issues include scholars from the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, the Chinese diaspora as well as Western Sinologists. The articulations of “China” in their discourses have exposed different kinds of cultural politics pertinent to Chinese cultural and critical discourse. Through the analysis of their viewpoints, this paper aims at shedding light on the signification of “China” in the age of global economy. Such analysis will also bring forth the problem of “Chineseness(es)” which is of paramount importance in the development of Chinese cultural discourse.