Book Review: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Individualism in Modern China: The Chenbao Fukan and the New Culture Era, 1918-1929, by Xiaoqun Xu

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Individualism in Modern China: The Chenbao Fukan and Culture Era, 1918-1929. Xiaoqun Xu. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2014. 254 pp. $23.70 pbk.In this book, Xiaoqun Xu explores complicated interactions between and nationalism in Chinese intellectual life by examining history of journalism in early 20th-century China. It is a thought-provoking addition to rapidly expanding body of literature on history of modern Chinese mass media, cultural globalization, and discourse on nature of Chinese nationalism/internationalism. To explain current trends in intellectual discourse among Chinese media and intelligentsia, author focuses his research in turbulent 1920s, which he claims are essential to understanding Chinese history and culture.Xiaoqun Xu is a professor of history at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. He specializes in history of Chinese modernization and intellectual discourse. In work under review, Xu addresses three important questions: Which materials were published in The Chenbao Fukan? What was role played by this newspaper supplement in growing Chinese print media, in forming and informing the and public opinion? And what does all this say about historical significance of cultural era in China?The six chapters of monograph discuss various aspects of what author calls New Cultural Era spanning 1918 to 1928, post-World War I years that saw consolidation of China as a republic and an emerging modern nation-state (the Chinese Empire was abolished in 1911). The issue of media and cultural globalization in China has of course been quite intensively researched by both Western and Chinese scholars (Doug Guthrie 2006, Huike Wen 2013, etc.). Yet, Xiaoqun Xu believes he can offer a fresh look at political and cultural discourses through analysis of a single, but very influential media outlet: The Chenbao Fukan, literary supplement to Morning Post newspaper published in Beijing. He argues that importance of The Fukan derives from the growing role of newspaper supplements in shaping men and women's reading habits and engaging their political, intellectual and literary interest. In turn, emerging media contributed significantly to influencing opinion on various issues, such as rising nationalism and what he terms cosmopolitanism and individualism throughout new cultural era.The book conceptualizes dynamics of political and intellectual history, and specifically history of Chinese journalism, by utilizing content analysis and case studies of The Chenbao Fukan. The first chapter deals with background of cultural debates in China in general and its capital Beijing in particular, and role of Chinese media in these debates. In addition, Xu looks at editorial policy of newspaper, attempting to explain how and why The Chenbao Fukan became so popular and influential. Chapter 2 assesses emergence of three important topics in newspaper: cosmopolitanism, nationalism, and what author calls Colonial hierarchy. …