The Appropriation of Cultural Capital

China's May Fourth Project

Editor Milena Dolezelova-Velingerova

Editor Oldrich Kral

Editor Graham Sanders

    For much of the twentieth century, the May Fourth movement of 1919 was seen as the foundational moment of modernity in China. Recent examinations of literary and cultural modernity in China have, however, led to a questioning of this view. By approaching May Fourth from novel perspectives, the authors of the eight studies in this volume seek to contribute to the ongoing critique of the movement. The essays are centered on the intellectual and cultural/historical motivations and practices behind May Fourth discourse and highlight issues such as strategies of discourse formation, scholarly methodologies, rhetorical dispositions, the manipulation of historical sources, and the construction of modernity by means of the reification of China's literary past.
  • Cover: The Appropriation of Cultural Capital

Milena Dolezelova-Velingerova is Professor of Chinese Literature, Emerita, at the University of Toronto.

Oldrich Kral is Professor of Sinology and comparative Literature at Charles University, Prague.

Graham Sanders is Associate Professor in East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto.

Leo Ou-fan Lee is Professor Emeritus of Chinese Literature at Harvard University and Professor of Humanities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Stephen Owen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University with joint appointments in the Department of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Rudolph Wagner is Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Heidelberg.

David Der-wei Wang is Edward C. Henderson Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Harvard University.

Ellen Widmer is Professor of Chinese Literature at Wesleyan University.

Catherine Vance Yeh is a Research Associate at the Insitute of Chinese Studies, Heidelberg University.

Yiing-shih Yu is Professor of Chinese History at Princeton University.