The Ultimate Gesture of Deference and Debasement
Kowtowing in China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4868038 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James L Hevia (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 203 |
| Issue | Supplement 4 |
| Pages | 212-234 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Past & Present (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pastj/gtp010 |
| OpenAlex | W2143423900 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
The kowtow, kotow, or ketou 2 —the act of kneeling and bowing the head to the ground—has long stood, for British and American diplomats and scholars, at the very centre of the controversy about relations between China and the West. For much of the nineteenth century scandalized diplomats and observers from afar gestured to the act as what separated the semi-civilized China empire from the high civilization of independently sovereign European nation-states. The former American president and diplomat John Quincy Adams, after carefully studying the record, concluded that the first Opium War was not about opium at all, but the ketou. 3 Before Adams’ assessment of the act, Lord Macartney, the first British ambassador to China, referred to ceremonial actions of Chinese officials as ‘tricks of behaviour’. 4 Anglo-American historians have used the term ‘calisthenics’ 5 to refer to the ketou, giving the impression that it at least resides in...
Ancient history · China · Civilization · Deference · Economic history · Opium · Parade · Political science · Politics · Sovereignty · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,36 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |