內容簡介
內容簡介 中國的概念：充滿爭議的歷史你以為的中國，其實只是其中一種版本 歷史學家徐國琦以兩個看似簡單卻極具爭議的問題為起點——「什麼是中國？誰是中國人？」——展開一場橫跨歷史與文化的深度追問。當代中國在全球化中崛起為資本主義強權，卻同時轉向內部，強化民族認同與文化凝聚。然而，這種看似穩固的「中國性」，其實充滿張力與矛盾。本書指出：「中國」從來不是固定不變的實體，而是一個在歷史中不斷被建構與重塑的概念。透過與周邊國家、世界強權，以及香港、台灣與海外華人社群的互動，「中國」的意義在衝突與對話中持續轉變。即便如儒家思想這樣被視為核心的文化，也曾在東亞他國轉譯後再回流中國。在這部視野宏大的歷史書寫中，徐國琦揭示：中國的本質，不在於疆界或血統，而在於一段被共同書寫、反覆辯證的歷史。An acclaimed historian’s bold response to two simple, yet vexed, questions: What counts as China, and who counts as Chinese?China became a capitalist superpower by investing in globalization. Now that it has established its credentials―and emerged as a major US competitor―its leaders are looking within, focused on suppressing dissent and fostering cohesion. The result has been an increasingly nationalist cultural agenda, celebrating a Chinese identity steeped in the mystique of the Middle Kingdom and nostalgia for heroic twentieth-century resistance. Yet Chinese nationalism, like nationalism everywhere, is fraught. Few Westerners, and even fewer Chinese, recognize that the very idea of China is up for grabs.In this sweeping history, Xu Guoqi explores the transnational construction of Chineseness. The Idea of China describes an identity constantly under renovation. Through dialogue and confrontation with neighbors, more distant outsiders, and Chinese speakers and writers within the state, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the diaspora, the idea of China has been reshaped repeatedly across time. Even bedrock cultural formations like Confucianism have been reimported to China after their translation in Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere. The idea of China has always been and remains a continuing process, invented, subverted, and reinvented to serve the shifting needs of kings and bureaucrats, industrialists and intellectuals, allies and adversaries.Xu’s chronicle is as provocative as it is rigorous, and his conclusion could hardly be starker: China, fundamentally, is constituted by a shared history. To accept this is to begin moving past the heated great-power rivalries that threaten international peace and stability today.
