Das Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Veranstaltungen

Donnerstag, 24.06.2021, 11:00 Uhr
Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Am Wingertsberg 4, 61348 Bad Homburg

Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften der Goethe-Universität
Fellow Kolloquium

Zhiyi Yang (Goethe-Fellow)
»Idealist Confucianism, Democratic Centralism, and Wartime Collaboration: The Paradox of Wang Jingwei (1883–1944)«

Abstract
Taking chance of this colloquium, I will present a section concerning democracy in my monographic project that investigates the complex of poetry, history, and memory through the case of Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), a poet, politician, and one of the most controversial figures in modern Chinese history. As Sun Yat-sen’s political heir, rival of Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Nationalist Party (GMD), and leader of the GMD Left, Wang is now primarily remembered as the chief Chinese collaborator with Japan during WWII. In this talk, I will investigate the Confucian conviction of Wang Jingwei that underlay his ideal of democratic centralism. Late Qing and early Republican Chinese thinkers, as scholars note, in general tended to share an over-optimistic view of democracy. It was above all instrumentalized as a means and not necessarily treated as an end. Following the philosophy of Wang Yangming (1472–1529), which believes in the world-changing power of a fully cultivated moral subjectivity, Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei pronounced the GMD to be a vanguard party that commits to realizing democracy in China through the altruistic self-sacrifice of its members. This elitist and fundamentally paradoxical vision of democracy helped them envision a tripartite program of nation-building, namely, from military rule, through political tutelage, to constitutional democracy. Wang Yangming’s philosophy of moral knowledge, measured not by external standards but by internal reflection alone, further served as an intellectual source of confidence for Wang Jingwei. His political philosophy of altruism and authenticity not only explained his staying power in Republican politics but also, arguably, partly contributed to his fateful decision to collaborate with Japan.

Die Referentin
Zhiyi Yang ist seit 2012 Professorin für Sinologie an der Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt. Nach dem Studium der chinesischen Literatur, Geschichte und Philosophie an der Peking University hat sie 2012 am Institut für Ostasienstudien der Princeton University promoviert. 2019/20 war sie Fellow am Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In ihren jüngsten Forschungen und Publikationen hat sie sich mit der chinesischen Dichtung und Kunst des Mittelalters, insbesondere mit dem Werk von Su Shi, beschäftigt sowie mit dem Leben und Werk von Wang Jingwei, einem politisch aktiven Dichter des angehenden 20. Jahrhunderts.
2021–2025 Zhiyi Yang ist Goethe-Fellow am Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften.

Teilnahme und Anmeldung
Geschlossene Online-Veranstaltung.Teilnahme nach vorheriger Anmeldung bei Beate Sutterlüty (b.sutterluety@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de)