China Keywords

= workshop conferences held in NYC by the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute

Description

“China Keywords” explores key terms in contemporary Chinese political thought and tests their resources for the theorization of Chinese and Western politics and society.

What critical potential do concepts like

tianxia, wangdao, daobi, nei-wai, and tianren heyi 

carry — in both China and the West? What are their implicit assumptions? Where do they challenge ideological dogmas? Where do they ground them? How do they challenge or disrupt bureaucratized power? Likewise, how do Chinese and Western political traditions speak to each other? How do Chinese thinkers interpret both Western liberalism and thinkers critical of liberalism such as Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt? How can an intellectual encounter between Chinese and Western thought help advance democratic political development? And how can TPPI foster an encounter between Chinese and Western political thinking similar to that which the Telos circle advanced during the 1970s and 1980s, when we helped bring Marxism and phenomenology into conversation?"

Program

Excerpt from the 2025 conference:

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era

Moderator: OWNBY, David . University of Montreal

COMMUNITY OF COMMON DESTINY: “On the Community of Common Destiny”

1. HSU, Chiahao . National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan
2. DAOBI: “Daobi and Its Use on the Chinese Path to Modernization”
3. ZHAO, Sikong . Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

THE NEW HARMONY: “The ‘New Harmony’: The Revival of Confucian-Legalist Legal Ethos in Xi’s ‘New Era’” WANG, Peter . SUNY Buffalo School of Law

Bridges: Chinese Views of Western Thought

Moderator: JIN, Huimin . Sichuan University

• SCHMITT IN CHINA: “Intellectual ‘Schmitt Fever’ or Ideological Instrumentalization of Schmitt

by Ideological and Political Elites” BENDERSKY, Joseph W. . Virginia Commonwealth University

• CHINESE LIBERALISM: “Contemporary Chinese Liberal Intellectuals: Their Perceptions of the West

and the Failed Fight” ZHENG, Qi . East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai

• STRAUSS IN CHINA: “An Intellectual Biography of a Chinese Straussian: Liu Xiaofeng”

DEAN, Matthew . Tulane University

• CIVILIZATION: “Chinese Perspectives on the American Culture War”

LEVINE, Nathan . Danube Institute

Ancient Thought in Contemporary Politics

Moderator: ZHENG, Qi . East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai

NEI-WAI: “Citizenship: A Confucian Nei-Wai Approach” ANGLE, Stephen . Wesleyan University

NEW CONFUCIANISM: “On New Confucianism” JIANG, Dongxian . Fordham University

DUJING: “What’s Radical about Grassroots Confucianism?” ZENG, Yukun . University of Michigan

MORALIZED POWER: “Reasons Beyond Maintaining Despotism: Why Does Confucianism Consider Obedience a Moral Virtue” PEI, Yu . Peking University

Ancient Thought in Contemporary Politics

Moderator: SPANAKOS, Tony . Montclair State University

HEAVEN-HUMAN HARMONY: “Heaven-Human Harmony in China’s Environmental Ideologies” ZHU, Kefu . University of Pittsburgh

COSMOPOLITANISM: “Zhang Junmai’s Cosmopolitan Ideal and His Nationalism” WANG, Shengshuang . Johns Hopkins University

GUOXUE: “The Rise of Country and Region Studies in China” ZHOU, Min . The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Technocracy

Moderator: BIELEK, Julius . University of Potsdam

DEPOLITICIZATION: “On Depoliticization 去政治化” CONROY, Peter . Tsinghua University

SOEs: “State-Owned Enterprises and the Trades-Offs of the Party State” SCHNEIDER, Henrique . Independent Scholar

China-World Connectivity

Moderator: PABST, Adrian . University of Kent

BELT AND ROAD: “How to Walk on the New Silk Road: History, Context, and Dilemma of Sino-European Relations” SÁNDOR, Lénárd . Mathias Corvinus Collegium

THE NEW ERA: “The Sovereigntist Zeitgeist that Binds Beijing, Budapest, and America First” HENDRIKS, Eric . Danube Institute

DISCURSIVE PARADIGMS: “On Discursive Paradigms in Chinese Literature and Culture” YI, Xiaoming . Capital Normal University

Civilizational

Moderator: HENDRIKS, Eric . Danube Institute

ACADEMIC FREEDOM: “Academic Freedom 学术自由 in China and the United States” PAN, David . University of California, Irvine

CIVILIZATIONAL STATE: “Beyond Socialism and Capitalism? China’s Civilizational State-Market” PABST, Adrian . University of Kent

CIVILIZATIONAL CHALLENGE: “Why China Matters as a Civilizational and Cultural Challenge” SKINNER, Kiron . Hoover Institution and Pepperdine University

EMPIRE: “Can East Asian ‘Empires’ Clarify What Empires Are?” SPANAKOS, Tony . Montclair State University