The Evolution of “Sinicisation”

Bibliographic Data

ID12558342
AuthorsFangyi Cheng (Sun Yat-sen University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume31
Issue2
Pages321-342
Publication date2021-01-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-1863 • E-ISSN: 1474-0591
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1356186320000681
OpenAlexW3121375425
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited14

This paper traces the history and usage of the theory of Sinicisation in western and Chinese scholarship, and discusses the intellectual trends underlying the different discourses in which the theory has been adopted. Since early 20 th Century, the theory of “Sinicisation” has evolved and was adopted into three distinct historiographical discourses to construct different arguments. The first discourse is about the historical acculturation of border peoples and assimilation of domestic peoples to Chinese language, culture and economic life; the second one argues an inherent superiority in Chinese culture specifically produced cultural change across eastern Eurasia to promote nationalism; the third discourse emphasizes the diversity and mixture of the people living inside historical and contemporary China to construct and stabilise the polity. Every discourse rooted in its own intellectual trend, and also faces different criticism. Followed with examining criticisms of Sinicisation since the 1950s, this paper concludes by discussing the relationships of the three discourses of Sinicisation

Acculturation · China · Construct (python library · Criticism · Diversity (politics · Ethnic group · Historiography · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Polity · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Law

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