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2016/2017 School of Chinese Research Students Seminar

 

 

Date and Time: April 28 2017 (Friday), 5:30-6:45pm

Venue: Room 730, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

Language: Putonghua

 

本講以近代重要知識人梁啟超為案例，探討其身體觀念方面的論述，以此管窺清末民初這一歷史轉型期中國現代身體觀念的生成和轉變。總地來說，維新時期以來，梁氏對於國民身體的改造就基本沿襲了「強身而強國」的思路，此「國家化」的身體觀集中體現在他「新民說」時期的論述中。但深入細部，其相關論述則按照時間的前後呈現出截然不同的兩極：一是網羅古今中外「俠義」、「武士道」等話語資源，涉及尚武、捨生觀念的思考，在此可歸之為「殺身」之觀念；另一種則沿襲了傳統儒家士大夫之「修身」的身體教育思路。本講立足梁啟超相關文本，旨在探討其「殺身」和「修身」中的矛盾抑或深層統一之處，進而一探身體話語背後的知識轉型與文化塑形。

 

This talk focuses on Liang Qichao’s thinking on the issue of “body”, making a tentative exploration on the making and transformation of body discourse in China during late Qing and early Republic years. It argues that Liang aimed to build a kind of “nationalized body” since the age of Reform Movement, by the logic of “making a strong nation through building a strong human body”. Many of his articles concerned were composed during his “Discourse on the New Citizen” period. Yet a close examination shows there are two different ideas within his body thoughts—One is derived from the ideas of “self-sacrifice” (shashen), which involves a cult of martial prowess and various resources such as the spirit of chivalry (xiayi) from traditional Chinese culture and the bushidō (way of the warrior) discourse from Japan, and the other inherits the traditional Confucian “self-cultivation” (xiushen) thoughts as the antithesis. Based on Liang’s relevant works, this talk aims to analyze the differences and similarities between the two views of Liang, and to explore the knowledge transformation and culture reconstruction behind the body discourse.