New Changes of Confucianism during the Late Qing Dynasty and the New Novel's Imagination of the Nation

Abstract

Abstract: New Novel's imagination of the nation in the 20th century marked the beginning of modern Chinese novel as well as the narrative of a modern nation state. It was related both to the introduction of western modernity and new changes of Confucianism during the late Qing Dynasty. The convergence of the evolution theory in Gongyang studies and that in the West changed the traditional temporal and spatial structure in Chinese novels, which consequently resulted in the shift from traditional utopians to the imagination of the future "New China". While Chinese writers were introducing western political ideas by writing political novels, they in fact reconstructed the sign system of the nation state based on ideal civilization and ethics. The mutual stimulation between the narrative of "distinction between the Han nationality and ethnic groups" and the awareness of a nation state in the New Novel played a key role in constructing the national identity. From the perspective of a nation, the New Novel reconstructed the popular national discourse by relying on the thought of Great Harmony, and drew a picture for the perfect world — a civilized, universal, and ethical human society. The oriental imagination of the nation embodied by the New Novel was a reflection on modernity, which was also what Confucianism contributed to human civilization.

Key words: New Novel, imagination of the nation, neo-Confucianism, modernity

Zhu Jun, Sun Xun. New Changes of Confucianism during the Late Qing Dynasty and the New Novel's Imagination of the Nation[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2017, 37(2): 19-28.

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New Changes of Confucianism during the Late Qing Dynasty and the New Novel's Imagination of the Nation

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