The Interaction between the

Title

The Interaction between the

Author

Chun-Chieh HUANG

Page

85-105

DOI

Abstract

This paper is an attempt at identifying the types of tension in the interactions between the "self" and the "others" in East Asia as a "contact zone" in the period between seventeenth and twentieth century. Special attention is devoted to the political and cultural aspects in the clashes between the "self" and the "others" in modern China and Japan.
Four types of tensions between the "self" and the "others" in East Asia can be observed, namely, (a). the tension between "political self" and "cultural self" as manifested in Yamazaki Ansai (1618-1682); (b). the tension between "cultural self" and "cultural others" as seen in Itō Jinsai (1627-1705) and Oyū Sorai (1666-1728); (c). the tension between "political self" and "political others" as seen in Li Chunseng (1834-1924) in the early years of Japanese colonization in Taiwan (1895-1945) and (d). the tension between "cultural others" and "political others" as revealed in the Japanese sinologists Naitō Konan (1866-1934) and Uno Tetsuto(1875-1974).
It can readily be observed that China stands out as the "inevitable other" in the cultural and political interactions among East Asian countries in modern times. However, many East Asian intellectuals fail in distinguishing clearly the "China" as an imagined community from the "China" as reality. It is also observed that in the complex interactive processes in cross-cultural context, the "cultural self" was of primal important and played the most fundamental role.

Keyword

Self, Others, East Asia, China, Japan, Political Self, Cultural Self, Political Others, Cultural Others

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