A Dialogue on the"Chinese Issues in Western Theory"
The Chinese issues in Western theory has troubled the intellectual circles of both China and the West for hundreds of years.Western scholars,starting from Adam Smith's theory of the"stagnation of Chinese civilization",Hegel's assertion that"China has no history",to John King Fairbank's"Western impact-Chinese response"and Paul Cohen's"discovering history in China"have all grappled with this issue.Similarly,China's own intellectual trajectory,from debates on"instruments versus principles",the Reform Movement of 1898,the May Fourth Movement,to the"cultural fever"and the"reconstruction of Chinese literary discourse"has centered around this theme.In recent years,scholars from Europe,America,and China have revisited the"Chinese Issues in Western Theory"within a new historical context,attracting widespread attention from academia.However,some core issues within this topic still require urgent discussion and further clarification,such as defining what constitutes a"theory",what is a"Chinese theory",what is a"Chinese issue",and how to understand the relationship between"China and the West".