Contested Sinicization in the Tianxia All-Under-Heaven

Civilization Envy in Vietnam's "Principal Graduates of the Two Kingdoms" Literary Trope, the 15th Century to the Present

Bibliographic Data

ID3758902
AuthorsYufen Chang (0000-0002-8441-642X, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume68
Issue3
Pages290-304
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642221134841
OpenAlexW4308974944
LanguageEN
References cited15

A rising China has upended the academia in many fronts. One of the challenges has been the reinvented ideal of Tianxia All-Under-Heaven, which first appeared in the eighth century BCE and has been offered by China as the alternative to the Westphalia system of nation-states on the basis that it will bring peace and harmony to the war-ridden international world. Nevertheless, ongoing international controversies regarding the "forced Sinicization" of the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, and the Mongols under its rule has given rise to the questions of the nature of both Tianxia and Sinicization. Analyzing a famous Vietnamese literary trope of the "principal graduates of the two kingdoms" that emerged no later than the 15th century, this essay proposes a concept of civilization envy to discuss the nuances of Sinicization. Civilization envy is a competitive mentality that desires to prove one's civilizational parity with or even superiority over China, the center of Tianxia. This mentality of civilization envy continues to modern era, and the "principal graduates of the two kingdoms" have been promoted to national heroes to show that Vietnam is a "Domain of Literature." The evolution of the trope shows that China and Vietnam had different understanding of civilizing missions. For China, it involved transforming mores and customs of the peoples under its direct control. For Vietnam, when dealing with China, it involved acquiring literary competence, especially the skills in mastering Sinitic script and poetry composition

Archaeology · Art · China · Civilization · Heaven · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sinicization · Sociology · Trope (literature) · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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