Modern China

March 2010; 36 (2): pp139 – 238

From a Hierarchy in Time to a Hierarchy in Space: The Meanings of Sino-Babylonianism in Early Twentieth-Century China

Tze-ki Hon

State University of New York at Geneseo, Geneseo, NY, USA

Abstract：In 1892, Terrien de Lacouperie (1845—1894), professor of Chinese at University College in London, set out to prove that the Chinese migrated from Mesopotamia in prehistoric times. Despite mixed responses from his colleagues, Lacouperie’s “Sino-Babylonianism” found its way into China and captured the imagination of Chinese historians from the 1900s to 1930s. Whether they supported or opposed Lacouperie’s view, Chinese historians were intrigued by his boldness in linking early China to the global network of trade and cultural exchange. This article examines how Chinese historians adopted, transformed, and appropriated Sino-Babylonianism in their discourse on the nation. It argues that the rise and fall of Sino-Babylonianism coincided with the Chinese perceptions of the world system of nation-states. Sino-Babylonianism was warmly received when the Chinese perceived the world system of nation-states as a hierarchy in temporality, prescribing a process of evolution that all human communities must follow. Sino-Babylonianism was fiercely rejected when the Chinese saw the world system of nation-states as a hierarchy in space, characterized by incessant territorial expansion of imperialist powers. In both instances, Sino-Babylonianism was no longer what Lacouperie had proposed in the late nineteenth century. Rather, it was an important benchmark for the Chinese understanding of the modern global order.

Literary Liberation of the Tibetan Past: The Alternative Voice in Alai’s Red Poppies

Nimrod Baranovitch

University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Abstract

In 2000, the novel Red Poppies, by the Chinese-Tibetan writer Alai, won the Mao Dun Prize, China’s most prestigious literary award. Yet, to date, few have paid serious attention to the sociopolitical implications of the book, and those who have are unanimously critical, suggesting that it repeats the standard Han Chinese narrative about “Old Tibet.” This article offers a new reading of Alai’s novel, arguing that notwithstanding its many obvious overlaps with the Han Chinese narrative, the novel also contains a subtext with an alternative narrative. Identifying several references to Tibet and its history that challenge the hegemonic Han Chinese narrative, the author proposes that the main agenda in Red Poppies is to undo the hellish stigma that the Chinese government and the Han majority have attached to “Old Tibet” and the concomitant narrative about the “liberation” of Tibet by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The author also analyzes the reasons for the multiplicity of narratives in the novel and the implications of its publication in China.

Women’s Contributions to the Household Economy in Pre-1949 China: Evidence from the Lower Yangzi Region

James Kai-sing Kung

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Daniel Yiu-fai Lee

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract

The economic role of women in pre-1949 China has been the subject of an ongoing debate. Farm surveys conducted in the highly commercialized region of the Lower Yangzi in the early to mid-twentieth century show that the value of women’s overall economic contribution was very similar to men’s. In particular, while a gendered division of labor existed, it was likely more notable within sericulture rather than between sericulture (in which women were supposed to specialize) and farming (predominantly a man’s job). Moreover, although men were overrepresented in local wage employment both on and off the farm, the comparatively low economic returns to these activities suggest that economic considerations rather than cultural preferences were the primary reason behind this gendered specialization. Equally important, although outnumbered by men, women were able to migrate and, conditional on employment in this better remunerated sector, they contributed equally to remittance income.