China Learned to Love the Classics
2 days ago
- #China-Greece Relations
- #Classical Studies
- #Academic Politics
- Tim Whitmarsh, a Greek professor, attended the World Conference of Classics in Beijing, which turned out to be a geopolitical event rather than an intellectual one.
- Chinese officials, including propaganda chief Li Shulei, emphasized cultural exchange between ancient Greece and China, announcing the establishment of a Chinese School of Classical Studies in Athens.
- Whitmarsh challenged traditional views of classical studies, arguing that ancient texts should not be treated as timeless cultural artifacts.
- China's interest in Western classics is driven by both political strategy and academic enthusiasm, with universities hiring Greco-Roman classicists and establishing new classics departments.
- Liu Xiaofeng, a prominent translator of ancient Greek thought, has influenced Chinese intellectual and political circles with his Straussian ideas about rebuilding Chinese traditional civilization through Western classics.
- The study of classics in the West is undergoing a crisis, with departments closing or merging, while China's revival of the field is met with mixed reactions from Western scholars.
- Chinese scholars like Yanxiao are navigating the tension between traditional Chinese academic approaches and the more interdisciplinary, post-classicist trends in the West.
- Yanxiao's research bridges Eastern and Western classical studies, focusing on interactions between the Roman Empire and East Asia, and challenging elitist narratives in classical scholarship.
- The World Conference of Classics highlighted China's investment in classical studies, offering opportunities for scholars but also raising concerns about the field's politicization.
- Yanxiao and other Chinese classicists are working to make Chinese classics more globally relevant by incorporating diverse perspectives and avoiding the ideological pitfalls seen in the West.