Why did generations of intellectuals and political elites produce a discourse on a Chinese backwardness? How do and did people in China try to conciliate alternative visions of Chineseness or of socialism with the notion of catching-up with the west? What discursive resources do the Chinese have to escape this west-centered perception of modernity? These typically postcolonial questions are asked by many scholars today, but surprisingly few have turned towards postcolonialism in order to understand socio-cultural changes in China.

The thematic issue “Postcolonialism and China” tries to do exactly this: Building on existing works in anglo-american and Chinese scholarship, the authors ask how “postcolonial concerns” can be articulated in and about China. They look at new ways to make sense of China’s encounter with the global system of coloniality and Chinese attempts to escape from the structures of colonial modernity.

The authors claim that “Postcolonialism” does not imply an application of anglo-indian postcolonial studies. Rather, they show the need to develop new perspectives revolving around postcolonial concerns from China. These concerns focus on issues such as colonial history and colonial memories in China, the regime of asymmetric knowledge production in China and, most importantly, the question of “modernity”, both as a discourse and an aspiration for China.

The articles of the new InterDisciplines issue Postcolonialism and China can be found here:
www.inter-disciplines.org/index.php/indi/issue/view/22