The Politics of Historical Production in Late Qing and Republican China, 2007
This chapter argues that Luo Zhenyu’s tussles with contemporary intellectuals over the proper div... more This chapter argues that Luo Zhenyu’s tussles with contemporary intellectuals over the proper dividing line between private and public ownership of the past helped define Qing Dynasty historical materials and shiliao more generally: documents defined by proximity to state power and often made public (or not) through the grace of state power, and yet materials whose ultimate ownership, in the sense of their usefulness to the private intellectual as well as to the realm of governmentality, remains somewhere in-between. It seeks to trace the path whereby Luo Zhenyu’s private collection both undermined and promoted the goals of what would emerge as modern Chinese historical archives. As historians commenting on China’s turbulent 20th-century, we must be particularly cautious in how we judge Republican Period intellectuals and their pro- or nonnationalist choices. We may dislike nationalism when it gives rise to violence or provides an ideological cover for authoritarianism. Keywords: China’s turbulent 20th-century; governmentality; historical materials; Luo Zhenyu; modern Chinese historical archives; nationalism; Qing Dynasty; Republican Period; shiliao
The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up th... more The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up the staff of Harry Truman's White House by writing crucial
Over the last decade, broad scholarly interest in antiquarianism has steadily increased. The open... more Over the last decade, broad scholarly interest in antiquarianism has steadily increased. The opening salvos of this academic surge included several large projects related to antiquarianism in China. In 2004, Peter N. Miller and François Louis of Bard College organized a symposium, "The Age of Antiquaries in Europe and China," and edited selected papers into a scholarly volume entitled Antiquarianism and Intellectual Life in Europe and China, 1500-1800.1 A year later, the Princeton University Art Museum held the exhibition "Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines,'" accompanied by a six-hundred-plus-page exhibition catalog.2 In the following year, Wu Hung of the University of Chicago organized the symposium "Reinventing the Past: Archaism and Antiquarianism in Chinese Art and Visual Culture," whose selected proceedings were published in an edited volume with the same title in 2010.3 In the same year, a symposium that was organized by the Fondation maison des sciences de l'homme of France and the Getty Research Institute, I would like to thank Matthew Flannery for his editorial assistance in the preparation of this review.
The Politics of Historical Production in Late Qing and Republican China, 2007
This chapter argues that Luo Zhenyu’s tussles with contemporary intellectuals over the proper div... more This chapter argues that Luo Zhenyu’s tussles with contemporary intellectuals over the proper dividing line between private and public ownership of the past helped define Qing Dynasty historical materials and shiliao more generally: documents defined by proximity to state power and often made public (or not) through the grace of state power, and yet materials whose ultimate ownership, in the sense of their usefulness to the private intellectual as well as to the realm of governmentality, remains somewhere in-between. It seeks to trace the path whereby Luo Zhenyu’s private collection both undermined and promoted the goals of what would emerge as modern Chinese historical archives. As historians commenting on China’s turbulent 20th-century, we must be particularly cautious in how we judge Republican Period intellectuals and their pro- or nonnationalist choices. We may dislike nationalism when it gives rise to violence or provides an ideological cover for authoritarianism. Keywords: China’s turbulent 20th-century; governmentality; historical materials; Luo Zhenyu; modern Chinese historical archives; nationalism; Qing Dynasty; Republican Period; shiliao
The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up th... more The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up the staff of Harry Truman's White House by writing crucial
Over the last decade, broad scholarly interest in antiquarianism has steadily increased. The open... more Over the last decade, broad scholarly interest in antiquarianism has steadily increased. The opening salvos of this academic surge included several large projects related to antiquarianism in China. In 2004, Peter N. Miller and François Louis of Bard College organized a symposium, "The Age of Antiquaries in Europe and China," and edited selected papers into a scholarly volume entitled Antiquarianism and Intellectual Life in Europe and China, 1500-1800.1 A year later, the Princeton University Art Museum held the exhibition "Recarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines,'" accompanied by a six-hundred-plus-page exhibition catalog.2 In the following year, Wu Hung of the University of Chicago organized the symposium "Reinventing the Past: Archaism and Antiquarianism in Chinese Art and Visual Culture," whose selected proceedings were published in an edited volume with the same title in 2010.3 In the same year, a symposium that was organized by the Fondation maison des sciences de l'homme of France and the Getty Research Institute, I would like to thank Matthew Flannery for his editorial assistance in the preparation of this review.
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