From Provincializing Tianxia to Constructing National Imperialism The Place of Nanyang in the Imaginations of New World Order in Late Qing
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article examines the transformation of China’s global positioning from the late-Qing dynasty through a “Global South” perspective, focusing on its evolving relationship with the Nanyang (South Seas) region. It challenges dominant narratives of China’s modern history as a linear transition from Tianxia (All Under Heaven) to the nation-state, revealing instead a shift from “Provincializing Tianxia”to “Constructing National Imperialism.” The study critically enganges with intellectual discourses from key figures such as Wei Yuan, Liang Qichao, Yang Yunshi, and Yi Benxi, illustrating how early-Qing thinkers sought to integrate Nanyang into a strategic anti-colonial alliance, while later reformists and revolutionaries conceptualized it as China’s “natural colony.” By analyzing these shifting imaginaries, this article highlights the paradoxical coexistence of anti-colonialism and imperial aspirations in modern Chinese thought, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of China’s role in Global history.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Bernards, Brian. Writing the South Seas: Imagining the Nanyang in Chinese and Southeast Asian Postcolonial Literature. NUS Press, 2015.
Cheak Pheng and Caroline S.Hau. Siting Postcoloniality Critical Perspectives from the East Asian Sinosphere. Duke U P, 2022.
Chang,Hao, Liang Ch’i-Ch’ao and Intellectual Transition in China, 1890-1907, Cambridge, Harvard U P, 1971.
Duara, Prasenjit. “Nationalists among Transnationals: Overseas Chinese and the Idea of China, 1900–1911.” In Aihwa Ong and Donald Nonini eds., Ungrounded Empires: The Cultural Politics of Modern Chinese Transnationalism. Routledge, 1997, pp.39-60.
——. Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1995.
Jin Guantao 金觀濤 and Liu Qingfeng 劉青峰. Guannian shi yanjiu: zhongguo xiandai zhongyao zhengzhi shuyu de xingcheng 觀念史研究：中國現代重要政治術語的形成 (“A Study of the History of Ideas: The Formation of Important Political Terms in Modern China”). Falü chubanshe, 2009.
Karl, Rebecca. Staging the World: Chinese Nationalism at the turn of the twentieth Century. Duke University Press, 2002.
Leonard, Jane Kate, Wei Yuan and China’s Rediscovery of the Maritime World. Cambridge, Harvard U P, 1984.
Levander, Caroline and Walter Mignolo. “Introduction: The Global South and World Dis/Order.” The Global South, vol. 5, no. 1, Spring 2011, pp.1-11.
Liang Qichao 梁啓超. “Lun minzu jingzheng zhi dashi 论民族竞争之大势 (“On the General Trend of National Competition”).” In Liang Qichao 梁启超, Yinbingshi heji (di er ce)-Wenji (10-19) 飲冰室合集（第二冊）：文集（10-19）(“Collected Writings from the Ice-Drinker’s Studio”), no. 2: Collected Essays, vol. 10-19, vol. 10, Shanghai shuju, [1902], 1994a, pp. 10-34.
——. “Zhang Bowang ban dingyuan hezhuan 張博望班定遠合傳（“The Joint Biography of Zhang Bowang and Dingyuan”）.” In Liang Qichao 梁啓超, Yinbingshi heji (di liu ce) zhuanji (1-21) 飲冰室合集（第六冊）：專集 1-2 (“Collected Writings from the Ice-Drinker’s Studio”), no. 6: Collected Works, vol. 1-21)), vol. 5, Shanghai Shujü, [1902], 1994b, pp.1-18.
——. “Zhongguo zhimin bada weiren zhuan 中國殖民八大偉人傳 (“Biographies of China’s Eight Great Colonial Heroes:).” In Yinbingshi heji (di liu ce) zhuanji (1-21) 飲冰室合集（第六冊）：專集（1-21）(“Collected Writings from the Ice-Drinker’s Studio), no. 6: Collected Works, vol. 1-21, vol. 8, Shanghai shujü,[1904], 1994c, pp. 1-5.
——. “Zuguo dahanghaijia zhenghe 祖國大航海家鄭和 (“The Great Navigator of Our Homeland, Zheng He”).” In Yinbingshi heji (di liu ce) zhuanji(1-21) 飲冰室合集（第六冊）：專集（1-21）(Collected Writings from the Ice- Drinker’s Studio), no. 6: Collected Works, vol. 1-21, vol. 9, Shanghai shujü, [1905], 1994d, pp. 1-12.
Liu Xihong 刘锡鸿. “Yu Bosi fanwang lun qiangruo 與波斯藩王論强弱 （“Discussing Strengths and Weaknesses with a Persian seignior”）.” In Yingyao siji 英軺私記 (“Private Diary of Diplomatic Mission to Britain”), edited by Zhong Shuhe 鈡叔河, annotated by Zhu Chun 朱純 and Yang Jian 楊堅. Yuelu shushe, 1986, pp. 140-142.
Luo Zhitian 罗志田. “Cong “tianxia” dao “shijie”: Qingmo shiren guanyu renlei shehui renzhi de zhuanbian” 从“天下”到世界：清末士人关于人类社会认
知的转变 (“From ‘Tianxia’ to ‘the World’: Changes in Late Qing Intellectuals’ Conceptions of Human Society”). Social Sciences in China, vol. 29, no. 2, May 2008, pp. 93-105.
Pan, Kuang-Che 潘光哲. “‘Zhimindi’ de gainian shi: cong ‘xin mingci’ dao ‘guanjian ci’” ”殖民地”的概念史：從“新名”到“關鍵詞”(“The Conceptual History of ‘Colony’ in Modern China: From ‘New Term’ to ‘Keyword’). Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History Academic Sinica, No. 82, Dec 2013, pp. 55- 92.
Rojas, Carlos and Lisa Rofel. “Introduction: Contact, Communication, Imagination, and Strategies of Worldmaking.” in New World Orderings: China and the Global South, edited by Lisa Rofel and Carlos Rojas. Duke U P, 2022, pp.1-18. Schneider, Nina. “Between Promise and Skepticism: The Global South and Our Role as Engaged Intellectuals.” The Global South, vol. 11, no. 2, Fall 2017, pp.18-38.
Schwartz, Benjamin. In search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West. Harvard U P, 1964.
Shih, Shu-mei. “Against Diaspora: The Sinophone as Places of Cultural Production. In Shih Shu-mei, Tsai Chien-hsin and Bernards Brian, eds., Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 25-42
———. “Race and Relation: The Global Sixties in the South of the South.”
Comparative Literature, vol. 62, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 141-154
———. “Theory, Asia and the Sinophone.” Postcolonial Studies, vol. 13, no. 4,
Nov. 2010, pp. 465-484.
Tsu, Jing. Failure, Nationalism, and Literature: The Making of Modern Chinese Identity, 1895-1937. Stanford U P, 2005.
Wang Tao 王韜. Manyou suilu 漫游隨錄（“Casual Notes on a Journey”). Changsha: Hunan Renmin Chubanshe, 1982.
Wei Yuan 魏源. “Xianluo Guo 暹羅國.” Haiguo tuzhi 海國圖志（”Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms”), vol.8. Ping Cheng: unknown, 1852a, pp.1-6.
———. “Xu Dongnanyang 敘東南洋 (“A Brief introduction of the Southeast
Seas”).” In Wei Yuan 魏源, Haiguo tuzhi 海國圖志（Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms）, vol. 5. Ping Cheng: unknown, 1852b, pp.1-3.
———. “Yuenan Yi 越南一.” Haiguo tuzhi 海國圖志（“Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms”),vol. 5. Ping Cheng: unknown, 1852c, pp.3-21.
Xihuang Zhengyin 羲皇正胤. “Nanyang huaqiao shilüe 南洋華僑史略(“A Short History of the South Seas Chinese”).” Minbao 民报 (Citizen’s News), no. 25, 1910a, pp.1-35.
———. “Nanyang huaqiao shilüe: chengqian 南洋華僑史略：承前(“A Short
History of the South Seas Chinese: sequel”).” Minbao 民報 (“Citizen’s News”),
no. 26, 1910b, pp. 1-40.
Yang Yunshi 楊雲史. “Ai nanming 哀南溟 (“Lament of the South Seas”).” In Yang Yunshi 楊雲史, Jiangshan wanlilou shichao 江山萬里樓詩鈔（“Collected Poems from the Library of Vast Mountains and Rivers”), annotated by Ma Weizhong 馬衛中and Pan Hong 潘虹. Shanghai guji chubanshe, [1910], 2003, pp.67-70.
Zarrow, Peter. After Empire: The Conceptual Transformation of the Chinese State,
-1924. Stanford U P, 2012.