Race

Frank Dikötter

Jump to Content

Chapter 7 Race

In: The Making of the Human Sciences in China

Author:

Frank Dikötter

Frank Dikötter
Search for other papers by Frank Dikötter in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 145–161

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004397620_009

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

This chapter looks at how, when and why racial theories became so widespread in China. After the Qing empire’s devastating defeat against Japan in 1895, leading reformers like Yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei turned away from the Confucian classics to seek enlightenment abroad, hoping to find the keys to wealth and power on the distant shores of Europe instead. They discovered the notion of “race,” and used new evolutionary theories from Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer to present a universe red in tooth and claw in which “yellows” competed with “whites” in a deadly struggle for survival. After the fall of the empire in 1911, prominent politicians and writers continued to measure, classify and rank people according to their supposed biological features, all in the name of science. Racial thinking remains popular to this day, as serologists, geneticists and anthropometrists continue to interpret human variation around the world in terms of “race.” But most of all, racial theories are used to represent the various peoples living inside the People’s Republic of China, from Tibetans to Uighurs, as the minor components of one organically unified “nationality.”

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/edcoll/9789004397620/BP000018.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

The Making of the Human Sciences in China

Historical and Conceptual Foundations

Series: China Studies, Volume: 40

Cover The Making of the Human Sciences in China

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004397620

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 02 Apr 2019

Subjects
- Asian Studies
  - China
- History

Front Matter

Back Matter

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	536	168	29
Full Text Views	18	1	0
PDF Views & Downloads	30	3	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 7 Race

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

The Making of the Human Sciences in China

Historical and Conceptual Foundations

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics