[lit-ideas] Re: The myth of the "American Century," or Calling Americans back to greatness
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 02:35:52 -0700 (PDT)
--- John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> What was actually most peculiar to someone who lives
> in Asia was the
> notion that the Chinese might have "bought into the
> myth of the
> American century." China has long seen itself as the
> "Middle Kingdom"
> and the 19th and 20th centuries can easily be
> construed as one of
> those unfortunate interregnums when the barbarians
> briefly triumphed
> before the natural Sinocentric order of things was
> restored.
*It might and it does. But nations can be ambivalent
about things. Certainly many Chinese profess to
believe in the great value, if not actual superiority,
of their civilization. But many, and often the same
people, also have great (in my opinion exaggerated)
admiration for the US and the West. The attitudes
toward Japan are similarly ambivalent. One reason that
it's difficult to interpret the period of Western
domination as just another barbarian inter-regnum is
that the West seems to have demonstrated economic and
technological, not just military superiority. China is
now obliged to proceed to a great extent by emulating
others, whereas when it was conquered by the Mongols
or the Manchus they were obliged to adopt the Chinese
civilization. So, the challenge posed by the West to
the traditional Sino-centric order of things runs a
bit deeper.
O.K.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts: