Chih-yu Shih – författare

As China Studies has grown as a discipline, it has also tended to be dominated by the major international powers, particularly China itself, and the USA. It is important to remember, however, that there is a rich and diverse history of China Studies elsewhere, especially in Southeast Asia. The Philippines is one such country. China studies experts from the Philippines encompass a broad spectrum of individuals, including activists and social workers, as well as university experts, think tank analysts, diplomats and journalists, and thus contribute a valuable new perspective.

This book seeks to therefore provide a deeper understanding of the Philippine approach to China, revealing the unique and complex connections between China Studies, ethnic studies, and policy studies. It highlights that the Philippines, as an epistemological site, complicates China as a category and Sinology as an academic agenda. Thus, the community can embrace nuances in research, as well as in life, to enable reconsideration and reconciliation of binaries. Furthermore, demonstrating how scholarship is a practice of life, and not merely a neutral process of observation and presentation, it challenges Sinologists elsewhere to see that understanding Sinologists is key to comprehending both their scholarship and China itself. As such, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Southeast Asian Studies and Chinese Studies, as well as anthropology and sociology more generally.

As China Studies has grown as a discipline, it has also tended to be dominated by the major international powers, particularly China itself, and the USA. It is important to remember, however, that there is a rich and diverse history of China Studies elsewhere, especially in Southeast Asia. The Philippines is one such country. China studies experts from the Philippines encompass a broad spectrum of individuals, including activists and social workers, as well as university experts, think tank analysts, diplomats and journalists, and thus contribute a valuable new perspective.

This book seeks to therefore provide a deeper understanding of the Philippine approach to China, revealing the unique and complex connections between China Studies, ethnic studies, and policy studies. It highlights that the Philippines, as an epistemological site, complicates China as a category and Sinology as an academic agenda. Thus, the community can embrace nuances in research, as well as in life, to enable reconsideration and reconciliation of binaries. Furthermore, demonstrating how scholarship is a practice of life, and not merely a neutral process of observation and presentation, it challenges Sinologists elsewhere to see that understanding Sinologists is key to comprehending both their scholarship and China itself. As such, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Southeast Asian Studies and Chinese Studies, as well as anthropology and sociology more generally.

This challenging study brings together anthropology and political science to examine how ethnic minorities are constructed by the state, and how they respond to such constructions.Disclosing endless mini negotiations between those acting in the name of the Chinese state and those carrying the images of ethnic minority, this book provides an image of the framing of ethnicity by modern state building processes. It will be of vital interest to scholars of political science, anthropology and sociology, and is essential reading to those engaged in studying Chinese society.

This book explores the crisis of cultural identity which has assaulted Asian countries since Western countries began to have a profound impact on Asia in the nineteenth century. Confronted by Western ''civilization'' and by ''modernity'', Asian countries have been compelled to rethink their identity, and to consider how they should relate to Western ''civilization'' and ''modernity''. The result, the author argues, has been a redefining by Asian countries of their own character as nations, and an adaptation of ''civilization'' and ''modernity'' to their own special conditions. Asian nations, the author contends, have thereby engaged with the West and with modernity, but on their own terms, occasionally, and in various inconsistent ways in which they could assert a sense of difference, forcing changes in the Western concept of civilization. Drawing on postmodern theory, the Kyoto School, Confucian and other traditional Asian thought, and the actual experiences of Asian countries, especially China and Japan, the author demonstrates that Asian countries’ redefining of the concept of civilization in the course of their quest for an appropriate postmodern national identity is every bit as key a part of ''the rise of Asia'' as economic growth or greater international political activity.

This book explores the crisis of cultural identity which has assaulted Asian countries since Western countries began to have a profound impact on Asia in the nineteenth century. Confronted by Western ''civilization'' and by ''modernity'', Asian countries have been compelled to rethink their identity, and to consider how they should relate to Western ''civilization'' and ''modernity''. The result, the author argues, has been a redefining by Asian countries of their own character as nations, and an adaptation of ''civilization'' and ''modernity'' to their own special conditions. Asian nations, the author contends, have thereby engaged with the West and with modernity, but on their own terms, occasionally, and in various inconsistent ways in which they could assert a sense of difference, forcing changes in the Western concept of civilization. Drawing on postmodern theory, the Kyoto School, Confucian and other traditional Asian thought, and the actual experiences of Asian countries, especially China and Japan, the author demonstrates that Asian countries’ redefining of the concept of civilization in the course of their quest for an appropriate postmodern national identity is every bit as key a part of ''the rise of Asia'' as economic growth or greater international political activity.