Specifications
| Publisher | State University Of New York Press |
| ISBN 13 | 9781438473062 |
| ISBN 10 | 1438473060 |
| Book Subtitle | Legends, Classics, And Historical Terms |
| Book Description | While current scholarship on Tokugawa Japan (1603-1868) tends to see China as either a model or the Other, Wai-ming Ng's pioneering and ambitious study offers a new perspective by suggesting that Chinese culture also functioned as a collection of cultural building blocks that were selectively introduced and then modified to fit into the Japanese tradition. Chinese terms and forms survived, but the substance and the spirit were made Japanese. This borrowing of Chinese terms and forms to express Japanese ideas and feelings could result in the same things having different meanings in China and Japan, and this process can be observed in the ways in which Tokugawa Japanese reinterpreted Chinese legends, Confucian classics, and historical terms. Ng breaks down the longstanding dichotomies between model and the other, civilization and barbarism, as well as center and periphery that have been used to define Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. He argues that Japanese culture was by no means merely an extended version of Chinese culture, and Japan's uses and interpretations of Chinese elements were not simply deviations from the original teachings. By replacing a Sinocentric perspective with a cross-cultural one, Ng's study represents a step forward in the study of Tokugawa intellectual history. |
| Editorial Review | What the author has done with great success is to break down the longstanding dichotomies that have been established in prior scholarship between center and margins, self and 'other, ' empire and tributary states, civilization and barbarism, and so forth, treating China and Japan on equal terms. An impressive achievement. -- Richard J. Smith, author of The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture |
| About the Author | Wai-ming Ng is Professor of Japanese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author of The I Ching in Tokugawa Thought and Culture. |
| Language | English |
| Author | Wai-Ming Ng |
| Publication Date | 02 January 2020 |
| Number of Pages | 288 |
Imagining China In Tokugawa Japan: Legends Classics And Historical Terms paperback english - 02 January 2020
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