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China's Prosperous Age (Shengshi 盛世)In the late 1980s, as a decade of China's Reform and Open Door Policies proffered a transformation of the country, anxieties over social change, economic inequalities, environmental degradation, weakness on the global stage and a sclerotic political system generated a national 'crisis consciousness' (youhuan yishi 忧患意识). To use Gloria Davies' expression, 'worrying about China' was widespread. As events would prove, people had good reason to be worried, and they still do. From even before the 2008 Beijing Olympics a new wave of 'China worry' has been swelling in the People's Republic. At the same time, and despite its awareness of the multiple problems besetting the country, the party-state has advertised the state of the nation as being one reflective of a 'Prosperous Age' (shengshi 盛世), or 'Harmonious Prosperity' (hexie shengshi 和谐盛世).  Fig.1 'Harmonious Prosperity' (hexie shengshi 和谐盛世) Shengshi is an ancient expression and it has been applied to a precious few periods in Chinese history. Such 'golden ages' have varied in length and content, but it is commonly recognized that during the Han 漢, Tang 唐 and Qing 清 dynasties there were remarkable periods of social grace, political rectitude and cultural flourishing. The self-proclaimed Prosperous Age of today's People's Republic has been nearly a century in the making; its achievement is far more contentious. During a state visit to the United Kingdom in June 2011, the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was welcomed in Stratford-upon-Avon where he lauded its most famous native, William Shakespeare (known in China since the late-nineteenth century as Sha weng 莎翁), as 'the greatest writer who ever lived'. Boris Johnson, the oftimes laddish mayor of London, observed that: 'Yup', Shakespeare 'was the greatest writer of all time, but he also knew how to cope with censorship, the secret police and the absence of anything that we would now call pluralist democracy. Which is why, I venture to say, it is very safe and correct to admire him in Beijing.' (See: 'Shakespeare, torchbearer for the Chinese way of doing things', 26 June 2011.) In this issue of China Heritage Quarterly we feature the views of a number of prominent historians who, in late March 2011, gathered in Hawai'i for a roundtable at The Asian Studies Association annual conference to discuss China's Prosperous Age, its histories and significance. In Features we also include 'New Words of Warning in a Prosperous Age', which discusses the Children of Yan'an whose sense of China's impending political and social crisis have led them to formulate an appeal to the Chinese Communist Party's next congress, scheduled for late 2012. We also offer selections related to the Prosperous Age from our new CIW-Danwei Online Archive. T'ien Hsia offers readers a recent interview with the Sinologist Pierre Ryckmans, by Daniel Sanderson; it reports on a workshop devoted to 'Tianxia' 天下; provides material from a new Penang Hokkien dictionary, and reproduces Leigh Jenco's review of a problematic book on non-liberal East Asia and the invented Confucian tradition. In Articles Nadia Sartoretti discusses a TV series devoted to the Prosperous Age of the Tang, Michael Churchman takes issue with the slow silencing of linguistic difference in the Chinese world, while Linda Jaivin discusses another kind of translingual strangulation. For my own part, I advance a view on the 'exit' of China's most troublesome artist. In New Scholarship we are delighted to publish a review of a major exhibition of the work of Felice Beato by the New York-based photographer Lois Conner, a colleague whose own work has often featured in these pages; two conference reports, one on research into Chinese gardens and the other on 'representing China'; and, a charming translation by Duncan Campbell of the Song-dynasty writer Su Shi's essay 'Master Li's Mountain Hut Book Collection'. This issue of China Heritage Quarterly has benefitted from the suggestions and contributions of Sang Ye, Linda Jaivin, Jeremy Goldkorn and Guo Jian. As ever, I am grateful to Daniel Sanderson for his tireless work, and his tolerance of creeping deadlines.—Geremie R. Barmé, Editor |
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