Chen Hon Fai's Books

Chinese Sociology

State-Building and the Institutionalization of Globally Circulated Knowledge

By: Hon Fai Chen

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Chinese Sociology

State-Building and the Institutionalization of Globally Circulated Knowledge

By: Hon Fai Chen

This book examines the institutional development of Chinese sociology from the 1890s to the present. It plots the discipline’s twisting path in the Chinese context, from early Western influences; through the institutionalization of the discipline in the 1930s-40s; its problematic relationship with socialism and interruptions under Marxist orthodoxy and the Cultural Revolution; its revival during the 1980s-90s; to the twin trends of globalization and indigenization in current Chinese sociological scholarship. Chen argues that in spite of the state-building agenda and persistent efforts to indigenize the discipline, the Western model remains pervasively influential, due in large part to the influence of American missionaries, foundations and scholars in the formation and transformation of the Chinese sociological tradition. The history of Chinese sociology is shown to be a contingent process in which globally circulated knowledge, above all the American sociological tradition, has been adapted to the changing contexts of China. This engaging work contributes an important country study to the history of sociology and will appeal to scholars of Chinese history and disciplinary historiography, in addition to social scientists.

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Page Count

156

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

1137582200

ISBN 13

9781137582201

Civilizing the Chinese, Competing with the West

Study Societies in Late Qing China

By: Chen Hon Fai

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Civilizing the Chinese, Competing with the West

Study Societies in Late Qing China

By: Chen Hon Fai

This book explores the development of late 19th century study societies in China against the context of the decline of the imperial Qing government and its control on ideological production, widespread social unrest, and intrusions by Western imperialist states. The author uncovers the history of civil society activism in China by examining the study societies in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hunan, which were organized around the goal of promoting and defending the Confucian religion. Illustrating a facet of the civil society that emerged in China as a reaction to the influences of Christianity, the modernization of Confucianism, and nationalist state formation, this study extends understanding of the unique and complex processes of Chinese political and cultural modernization in ways that differed from that of Western societies.

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Page Count

316

Publisher

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

9629966344

ISBN 13

9789629966348

Catholics and Everyday Life in Macau

Changing Meanings of Religiosity, Morality and Civility

By: Chen Hon-Fai

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Catholics and Everyday Life in Macau

Changing Meanings of Religiosity, Morality and Civility

By: Chen Hon-Fai

Catholicism has had an important place in Macau since the earliest days of Portuguese colonization in the sixteenth century. This book, based on extensive original research including in-depth interviews, examines in detail the everyday life of Catholics in Macau at present. It outlines the tremendous societal pressures which Macau is currently undergoing – sovereignty handover and its consequences, the growth of casinos and tourism and the transformation of a serene and somewhat obscure colony into a vibrantly developing city. It shows how, although the formal structures of Catholicism no longer share in rule by the colonial power, and although formal religious observance is declining, nevertheless the personal piety and ethical religious outlook of individual Catholics continue to be strong, and have a huge, and possibly increasing, impact on public life through the application of personal religious ethics to issues of human rights and social justice and in the fields of education and social services.

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