Relevance of Saids Orientalism to the Chinese Cultural Studies - Coursework Example

IS SАID'S ОRIЕNTАLISM STILL RЕLЕVАNT TО THЕ STUDIЕS ОF СHINЕSЕ СULTURЕ TОDАY? DISСUSS By (Author) Name of the Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) Name of the School (University) City Date Introduction Basically orientalism is a term used by Eurocentric scholars, historians and artists in differentiating the Middle East, East Asian and Northern African cultures to that of the west. They coined this term to their denigrating approach towards the East whose cultures were seen as exotic, underdeveloped, backward, dark and generally dangerous. This is in comparison to the Western cultures that according to them were coherent, flexible, developed as well as better-quality. According to their view, “Orient” which means East is in sharp contrast to the “Occident” that refers to the West (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). This could be depicted on the pieces of art work such as poems, painting and songs that were designed in a manner likely to portray them as “ghosts” that needed to evolve to be considered as more human beings. Discussion The Oriental society believed that whatever impact, change or development that occurs in the East is utterly in the manifest of orientalism. They are seen as static and can never do anything on their own unless they are helped to do so. This is in agreement with Edward’s definition of Orientalism as the approval in the West of “the essential dissimilarity between the East and West as the starting point to sophisticated theories, novels, political accounts concerning the Orient, customs, social imagery, mindset among other things in life” (Chu,2008, pp.183-206). Orientalism can be dated way back to the time of European colonization and Enlightenment of Africans and the Arab World; this idea justified their move to colonize, impose their Western ideas, civilize as they claimed as well as to exploit their natural resources for their economic and political gains. Said’s Orientalism is not relevant to the study of Chinese culture any more. In the first place, China has ever since been considered one of the oldest civilized nations in East Asia as well as the whole world. It is a country with knowledgeable and better in political, economic, hypothetical, artistic and scientific technology that enabled it to be a strong distinctive identity to the rest of the world, even to those Westerners that viewed themselves better. The last century has seen china struggle to gain its identity by redefining its cultural values in the modern world. This goal of restoring its glory that ever existed before the coming of the west has made its leaders too ambitious to attain power and wealth once more. In the history of the world’s civilization, china had consolidated the global power and dominance compared to the rest of countries. It was the major source of the world’s steel that enabled her to gain more wealth and invest in other productive economic activities. It is considered to be the earliest world’s leading in innovations that gave the whole world its backbone in industrial development, an example is the textile manufacturing industries that were seven centuries older than those that were invented in Britain (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). In deed this is contrary to the Eurocentric view over her, because probably they might have borrowed a lot from china to enhance their manufacturing industries. Putting the Orientalism theory into question, China had herself developed even before the Western countries with a hovering capital, it was the leading nation in trade that earned it more wealth. It engaged in the long distance trade with other countries in the various continents such as Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Southern Asia. With the contact to the rest of the world’s nations, China borrowed more ideas that were utilized effectively thereby making her agricultural and industrial revolution move much steps ahead; it engaged in the production of writing materials that ensured proper records were kept for more production activities. This further earned her the opportunity to be the world superpower that exported her goods across all nations by the use of her commercial ships. It is China’s prosperity that set a blaze to other nations more especially the British and the Europeans that had sleepless nights in the bid to interact with her, so that they can be able to borrow more from their technological advancement (Chu,2008, pp.183-206). The British imperialism therefore challenged china’s superiority and the dominant global position in the world market. Therefore, the British and the Western engaged on an imperial conquest of the East that was instigated by the material gain in order to prosper in their economies and to ensure they do not allow china to dominate any longer as a superpower. This was not an easy task for them; as a result they were unable to overhaul Chinese market just through economic competition. Around 16th century under the Ming dynasty, it was China that still led the whole world with a complicated and the most productive economy, probably it was the best place to be with the better living standards on earth. For that reason, British led and mobilized its armed forces to succeed in exporting to China and also forced unfair treaties in a bid to lower tariffs (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). With no option but to accept, China was full of dubious goods from British. The Western infiltration to the China’s market ensured that there was a new class, this saw China descend from being the world superpower economically to a semi-colonial nation with a large impoverished population. This defenseless condition continued up to around mid-20th century when China adopted a communist revolution that made it re-united independent state. Her economy was rebuilt breaking all the barriers that were imposed by the Orientalists. The government so far engaged on the construction of infrastructure, education, military and their basic industries that in the meantime allowed China to stand on its feet again. It sustained its economic growth once more by investing her high profits in technological innovations in the foreign nations, she has been able to prosper on the basis of her firm guidelines of non-interference with the internal dealings of her trading partners, this in turn has enable her attract and retain more partners as compared with the other capitalist competitors. China has become a fashion in the whole globe; it has gone as far as top even the Eurocentric nations that viewed her as static, underdeveloped and need to be civilized (Zhang, 2013, pp.1407-1425). Her links have become part and parcel of the continued growth of the third world countries, she has offered support to these countries and in return it has gained economically. Today it has become a world power and it is outstandingly stronger than it used to be even before the western invasion. And they have vowed never to be intimidated economically by her rivals, considering the fact that it is even contributing vastly in their economic development and that of the whole world. The knowledge of economy has greatly helped the cities of China to effectively utilize their scarce resources that has ensured a correlation with its socio-economic and political development. It has employed the use of professional urban planners who have made it possible for the success of attaining the set objectives. They have been able to evaluate, analyze, form hypotheses and eventually implement strategies to enhance development thereby increasing the living standards of the city dwellers. Social amenities have been established to be able to accommodate every member; this has helped to avoid much pressure on the social amenities and prevented diseases. Social Welfare and Change programs have been initiated to provide medical and health care facilities, child care, among other facilities (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). These organizations are referred to as danwei or work units. There is no big difference in the early time even before the coming of the Westerners, as Chinese lived and shared work among them as communism was the order of the day and the prosperity of the community was paramount to all. Orientalism ideology could only serve as a stumbling block to their socio-economical and political developments. China embraced communism as opposed to their competitors’ capitalist mode of production, this would do no good than only to disintegrate them by instilling bad blood of individualism (Zhang,2013, pp.1407-1425). Moreover, Chinese have for a long time been in the forefront in their scientific undertakings; most of the technologies and invention that were discovered and accredited to the Western scientists were first made in China. Having in mind that China is prone to earthquake, they had long time invented the seism-scope in 132 C.E, around (1088) and early in the 11th century they had invented a mechanical clock and a compass (Chu, 2008, pp.183-206). Before the use of guns, a Chinese alchemist in his research by chance discovered the gunpowder that led to more research to be carried in the West to be able to come up with a better one; all these were in the early 11th century even before the Western invasion to the East. In the very first century B.C.E, paper had been invented in China that was used for writing, woodblock printing at around 8th century C.E, and yet a movable one come late in the eleventh century (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). It should be considered that all these come into being long ago before the” Orientalism” idea in China; who therefore is telling the truth? Their view was that these countries in the East were backward and could never be left alone to get civilized. But this idea is possess more questions than answers; China has had over a long time its own system of governance to ensure that there is peace and justice to all regardless of social back ground. It had legal system which was a composite mixture of tradition and statute. This system has since then been undergoing developmental changes to be able to enhance efficiency in governance. For instance, an elementary civil code has been in effect since 1987 and new legal codes since 1980 (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). The country continues to make efforts to get better its laws in the civil, managerial, unlawful, and commercial areas. The uppermost court is the Supreme People's Court, which oversees lower courts, hears appeals, and interprets national laws to its entire citizen without biasness. Public humiliation is a common punishment for crimes such as petty theft. Prisons often put inmates to work in farming or manufacturing. The death penalty is assigned not only for violent crimes but also for acts such as bribery and corruption. Generally, there is rule of justice to all, and therefore the notion that Orientalism serves the best in the development of China should be put aside and let her continue to shine and be able to prosper like it was even before the saw light that they claim. Health sector was not left behind in terms of development, traditional medicine was widely practiced. They used a complex system that put more weight on the entire body rather than just particular ailments. They were guided by a belief that all living organisms are made up of both female and male forces, and so health problems were considered a manifestation of an imbalance of these forces (Chu,2008, pp.183-206). Thus the right remedy for these imbalances was a combination of different herbs that miraculously worked well. In is true that Western medicine and other related facilities were introduced, however, those who cannot access them goes for the alternative one which is probably the herbs or a combination of both to get healed. Then where is the justification of the Western Orientalism to the East who already had their civilization growing at a rapid rate? All along the strident call of China has been basically centered on poverty reduction, inclusion of those that were extricated from the factors and means of production, employment and for everyone to benefit from the economic development. This has been ensured in China through strategic setting up and project accomplishment (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). Urban planners have been successful in the relocation and expansions, designing and locating business facilities such as industries, housing rehabilitation and other related investment opportunities. Framework for developments based on short term and long term planning have been made successful. With their manageable population, most people are self-employed while others are engaged in income generating activities; hence high standards of living and at the same time harmonizing the ecological and socio-economic needs. Basing on the knowledge of its past civilization and science and technology of the modern society, China has been able adopt and use machinery. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) has fostered socio-economic developments’ improved levels of education and training, as well as addresses gender issues within the city (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). Gender discrimination has been dealt with appropriately through the introduction of new innovations, people across all sexes are now to work in various sector just through a press of a button as opposed to the early stages when it was survival for the fittest. It has enhanced education system at the university and other tertiary levels, graduates have been able to generate new ideas, new business models, and new ways of selling goods and services. This is done with the vast knowledge that entrepreneurship is crucial for economic development. Wireless technology and ICT infrastructure development has been vital for entrepreneurship and small business development. Business men and women have been able to do their dealings through mobile payment systems; hence reduce the cost of financial transactions and more time to engage on other business oriented activities geared towards the development of the city. Conclusion In a nutshell, China has maintained her status quo by being in front in terms of development like it used to be before, it has been able to prosper and will continue to do well socio-economically, culturally and politically in terms of development despite the Orientalism ideology and the dogmatic belief or Eurocentric scholars and colonizers. Therefore it does not depend on the ideas of the other political rivalries; her prosperity has been gradual and will continue to be. References Said,Edward(1985【1978】）Orientalism, Harmondsworth:Penguin,pp.1-28 Chu,Yiu-Wai(2008):'The Importance of Being Chinese; Orientalism Reconfigured in the Age of Global Modernity'Boundary Vol:35,issue:2 pp.183-206 Zhang,Yongjin(2013)"China Anxiety": Discourse and Intellectual Challenges',Development and Change,vol.44,no.6,pp.1407-1425 Read More

It is considered to be the earliest world’s leading in innovations that gave the whole world its backbone in industrial development, an example is the textile manufacturing industries that were seven centuries older than those that were invented in Britain (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). In deed this is contrary to the Eurocentric view over her, because probably they might have borrowed a lot from china to enhance their manufacturing industries. Putting the Orientalism theory into question, China had herself developed even before the Western countries with a hovering capital, it was the leading nation in trade that earned it more wealth.

It engaged in the long distance trade with other countries in the various continents such as Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Southern Asia. With the contact to the rest of the world’s nations, China borrowed more ideas that were utilized effectively thereby making her agricultural and industrial revolution move much steps ahead; it engaged in the production of writing materials that ensured proper records were kept for more production activities. This further earned her the opportunity to be the world superpower that exported her goods across all nations by the use of her commercial ships.

It is China’s prosperity that set a blaze to other nations more especially the British and the Europeans that had sleepless nights in the bid to interact with her, so that they can be able to borrow more from their technological advancement (Chu,2008, pp.183-206). The British imperialism therefore challenged china’s superiority and the dominant global position in the world market. Therefore, the British and the Western engaged on an imperial conquest of the East that was instigated by the material gain in order to prosper in their economies and to ensure they do not allow china to dominate any longer as a superpower.

This was not an easy task for them; as a result they were unable to overhaul Chinese market just through economic competition. Around 16th century under the Ming dynasty, it was China that still led the whole world with a complicated and the most productive economy, probably it was the best place to be with the better living standards on earth. For that reason, British led and mobilized its armed forces to succeed in exporting to China and also forced unfair treaties in a bid to lower tariffs (Said, 1985, pp.1-28). With no option but to accept, China was full of dubious goods from British.

The Western infiltration to the China’s market ensured that there was a new class, this saw China descend from being the world superpower economically to a semi-colonial nation with a large impoverished population. This defenseless condition continued up to around mid-20th century when China adopted a communist revolution that made it re-united independent state. Her economy was rebuilt breaking all the barriers that were imposed by the Orientalists. The government so far engaged on the construction of infrastructure, education, military and their basic industries that in the meantime allowed China to stand on its feet again.

It sustained its economic growth once more by investing her high profits in technological innovations in the foreign nations, she has been able to prosper on the basis of her firm guidelines of non-interference with the internal dealings of her trading partners, this in turn has enable her attract and retain more partners as compared with the other capitalist competitors. China has become a fashion in the whole globe; it has gone as far as top even the Eurocentric nations that viewed her as static, underdeveloped and need to be civilized (Zhang, 2013, pp.1407-1425).

Her links have become part and parcel of the continued growth of the third world countries, she has offered support to these countries and in return it has gained economically. Today it has become a world power and it is outstandingly stronger than it used to be even before the western invasion. And they have vowed never to be intimidated economically by her rivals, considering the fact that it is even contributing vastly in their economic development and that of the whole world.

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