Chen Hengzhe

A Life between Orthodoxies

Nonfiction, History, Asian, China, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&, Political Science, International
Cover of the book Chen Hengzhe by Denise Gimpel, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Denise Gimpel ISBN: 9781498506939
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: March 11, 2015
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: Denise Gimpel
ISBN: 9781498506939
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: March 11, 2015
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

This book takes as its starting point the life, activities, and writings of Chen Hengzhe (1890-1976) in order to investigate the effects of transnational experience and in particular the manner in which different, foreign and Chinese, narratives of life were interwoven into activities and attitudes as well as literary and scholarly output at a time “between orthodoxies” (Jerome Grieder) and of eclectic borrowings in search of change in most areas of national life in China.

Chen Hengzhe has been celebrated as China’s first female professor, first professor of Western history, and first person to publish a history of the West that was not a translation into Chinese. She is moreover celebrated as one of the first to write fiction and poetry in the vernacular and to have been the first to write children’s literature. In 1914 she was among the first group of women to gain a Boxer Indemnity grant to study in America. The reiteration of these many “firsts” has led to a rather stereotypical portrait of Chen Hengzhe in Chinese sources and, as a result, in most Western references to her. To date we have no critical study of her work or activities in Chinese or any other language. Chen Hengzhe’s life and textual production, however, deserve and reward closer scholarly attention. They are not only pertinent to analysis of developments in early twentieth-century China; they speak to important questions in China today.

This study, then, is not a biography of a person; it is an attempt to understand the way in which foreign influences (narratives of being, organizing, thinking, writing) seep into a person’s life and work and meld with the “home” influences (narratives of being, organizing, thinking, writing) to produce a mix that cannot be predicted by any overarching “isms” or theories.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book takes as its starting point the life, activities, and writings of Chen Hengzhe (1890-1976) in order to investigate the effects of transnational experience and in particular the manner in which different, foreign and Chinese, narratives of life were interwoven into activities and attitudes as well as literary and scholarly output at a time “between orthodoxies” (Jerome Grieder) and of eclectic borrowings in search of change in most areas of national life in China.

Chen Hengzhe has been celebrated as China’s first female professor, first professor of Western history, and first person to publish a history of the West that was not a translation into Chinese. She is moreover celebrated as one of the first to write fiction and poetry in the vernacular and to have been the first to write children’s literature. In 1914 she was among the first group of women to gain a Boxer Indemnity grant to study in America. The reiteration of these many “firsts” has led to a rather stereotypical portrait of Chen Hengzhe in Chinese sources and, as a result, in most Western references to her. To date we have no critical study of her work or activities in Chinese or any other language. Chen Hengzhe’s life and textual production, however, deserve and reward closer scholarly attention. They are not only pertinent to analysis of developments in early twentieth-century China; they speak to important questions in China today.

This study, then, is not a biography of a person; it is an attempt to understand the way in which foreign influences (narratives of being, organizing, thinking, writing) seep into a person’s life and work and meld with the “home” influences (narratives of being, organizing, thinking, writing) to produce a mix that cannot be predicted by any overarching “isms” or theories.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book Screaming for Change by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book The Fluid Boundaries of Suffrage and Jim Crow by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Confronting Urban Legacy by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Cultural Imperialism and the Decline of the Liberal Order by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Beyond the Classroom Walls by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book When the Levees Break by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Jonathan Swift and Philosophy by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Pathways, Potholes, and the Persistence of Women in Science by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Knowledge and Self-Knowledge in Plato's Theaetetus by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Explorations in Ecocriticism by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Cuba’s Gay Revolution by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book The Poetic Character of Human Activity by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Rome and the Spirit of Caesar by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book Urban Reform and Sexual Vice in Progressive-Era Philadelphia by Denise Gimpel
Cover of the book The YMCA at War by Denise Gimpel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy