The Concept of “Educational Transformation” and its Relationship to Civilizing Missions in Early China

Bibliographic Data

ID21877993
AuthorsErica Fox Brindley (0000-0002-5555-6458, Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume5
Issue1
Pages1-21
Publication date2021-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Chinese History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2059-1632 • E-ISSN: 2059-1640
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/jch.2020.41
OpenAlexW3117900857
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

This article examines the early history and evolution of the concept of jiaohua (教化 “educational transformation”) as a reference to civilizing missions in China. It explores Ru (Confucian) concepts advocating the widespread education of the masses, showing how such concepts were linked to notions of ethnicity and moral attainment. Then it contextualizes the first uses of educational transformation in writings concerning statecraft. Xunzi emerges as a pivotal figure who helped adapt the statecraft rhetoric on educational transformation to the largely Ru goal of spreading a morally superior Huaxia culture among the masses and to peoples of other cultures. I then move beyond this conceptual history to examine a few civilizing missions in the Han era. My purpose is to link large-scale, civilizing missions in Chinese history with the early philosophical rhetoric and show how history was shaped by these underlying conceptual orientations

China · Conceptual history · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Transformation (genetics) · Anthropology · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy

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