China Imagined : From European Fantasy to Spectacular Power

How did China become China? And where is it leading us? We talk as if it had always existed: eternal China with its 5,000 years of uninterrupted history. But the name 'China' was first used by sixteenth-century Europeans, and its Chinese equivalent, Zhongguo, only gained currency in the mid-1800s. China Imagined is a thoughtful exploration of the idea of China, from the naming and mapping of its territory and peoples to the creation and rise of the modern nation-state. China's early history describes a multilingual space, ruled by a homogeneous elite with its own minority culture--a far cry from Maoism's national mass culture, or Xi Jinping's state-controlled digital society today. Gregory Lee traces this complex, diverse entity's evolution since the Opium Wars into a China made in 'our' image. Today, it is a great power integral to the global system, whether it comes to climate change, security or inequality. Given this rapid convergence with the West, Xi's China holds up a mirror to our own nations. Trump's America, Putin's Russia and post-Brexit Europe all betray echoes of 'the Chinese Dream'. If China is a product of Westernization, is it now the West's turn to become China? Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Maps Chronology Prefatory Note Acknowledgments Part One: From China-Before-Chinato China the Nation Introduction 1. What and When is China? 2. Zhongguo and the Historic Vocabulary of Nationalism 3. China, its Authorities and the National Imaginary 4. Women in Nationalism’s Snare 5. Illiteracy and the Cultural Imaginary 6. Chinese Language? 7. The Making of a National Language 8. China-Before-China Revisited Part Two: China Becoming a Spectacular Power 9. Reading Chinese 10. Versailles 11. Western ‘Values’? 12. Modern, Modernity, Modernization: Equivalence, Totalization and Belonging 13. China and the Global Technologico-Economic System 14. Xi’s ‘China Dream’, the Technological Nightmare and ‘Hoodlum Diplomacy’ 15. Towards a Conclusion 16. Coda Notes Bibliography Index If 'china', As Lee Argues, Is A Product Of Westernisation, Then The West Is Itself In A Process Of Becoming China. How Did China Become China? And Where Is It Leading Us? We Talk As If It Had Always Existed: Eternal China With Its 5,000 Years Of Uninterrupted History. But The Name 'china' Was First Used By 16th-century Europeans, And Its Chinese Equivalent, Zhongguo, Only Gained Currency In The Mid-1800s. 'china Imagined' Is A Thoughtful Exploration Of The Idea Of China, From The Naming And Mapping Of Its Territory And Peoples To The Creation And Rise Of The Modern Nation-state. Gregory B. Lee. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 213-221) And Index.