Occidentalism A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China [Hardcover]

Xiaomei Chen offers an insightful account of the unremittingly favorable depiction of Western culture and its negative characterization of Chinese culture in post-Mao China from 1978-1988. Chen examines the cultural and political interrelations between the East and West from a vantage point more complex than that accommodated by most current theories of Western imperialism and colonialism. Going beyond Edward Said's construction inOrientalismof cross-cultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism, Chen argues that the appropriation of Western discourse--what she calls Occidentalism --can have a politically and ideologically liberating effect on contemporary non-Western culture. Using China as a focus of her analysis, Chen examines a variety of cultural media, from Shakesperian drama, to Western modernist poetry, to contemporary Chinese television. She thus places sinology in the general context of Western theoretical discourses, such as Eurocentrism, postcolonialism, nationalism, modernism, feminism, and literary hermeneutics, showing that it has a vital role to play in the study of Orient and Occident and their now unavoidable symbiotic relationship.Occidentalismpresents a new model of comparative literary and cultural studies that reenvisions cross-cultural appropriation.

An ambitious, revisionist challenge to Edward Said's concept of Orientalism....Chen's thesis is fundamentally sound, supportable, and intellectually challenging. --Kirkus Reviews

This is a very thought-provoking work. Chen draws upon a wide range of interesting Chinese material in a way that few non-Chinese scholars could hope to match, and provides interesting readings of this material with the commitment and sensibilities of the insider. --Arif Dirlik, University of Victoria

Occidentalismis a stunning and innovative book that will have a profound impact on the fields of Chinese studies and modern Chinese litel7