Christ S (2018)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Translation
Publication year: 2018
Original Authors: Yu Jingdong
Edited Volumes: Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology
Book Volume: 15
Pages Range: 73-95
Journal Issue: 2
Open Access Link: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/plg/cultura/2018/00000015/00000002/art00005
There are two frequent misunderstandings in the scholarship on modern
China’s territorial transformation. First, the concept of lingtu 领土 (“territory”) is
often seen as only developing after the 1911 Revolution, in opposition to the earlier
concept of jiangyu diguo 疆域帝国 (“imperial frontier”). Second, jiangyu and lingtu are
often confused and seen as basically the same concept at different historical stages.
This essay takes the translation and dissemination of “territory” before the 1911
Revolution as a starting point to examine how the basic concept of lingtu developed
from a translated term to describe spatial relations into an important semantic
resource of a political movement. On one hand, in the negotiations leading to the
Treaty of Nerchinsk and in the modern treaty system, the translation of “territory”
formed a new conceptual space, centred on lingtu, which differed from the idea of the
(imperial) “frontier” (jiangyu). The turn from jiangyu to lingtu was not a complete one;
rather, part of the old concept was integrated into the new framework. On the other
hand, the concept of lingtu also provided a semantic battlefield, and the battle was
already opened before the revolution: the earlier ideas, diplomatic relations and
national narrative already formed the basic concepts dominating discourses after the
revolution.
APA:
Yu Jingdong (2018). The Concept of “Territory” in Modern China: 1689-1910. (Christ, S., Trans.).
MLA:
Christ, Stefan, translator. The Concept of “Territory” in Modern China: 1689-1910. By Yu Jingdong, 2018.
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