The Chinese Chameleon Revisited

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The Chinese Chameleon Revisited is written by Zheng Yangwen 鄭揚文 and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1443866725 (ISBN 10) and 9781443866729 (ISBN 13).

By examining how the Middle Kingdom has been portrayed by foreigners and the Chinese themselves, this volume advances a new perspective in our reading and interpretation of the Chinese past by placing these “producers” and “presenters” of China in the spotlight. The chapters probe how these figures produced or presented the country, cross-examining their backgrounds and circumstances. Their gaze upon the Middle Kingdom was dictated by religious and political conviction, but also particularly by the consumers of that gaze. Like invisible hands, “producers” and “consumers” of China continue to constrain representations of the country, looming larger than the literary, artistic or journalistic works they produce. This volume also addresses scholars of Europe and America who have overlooked what Western writers on China reveal about their own contexts – which is indeed often more than they reveal about their ostensible subject. As such, the Middle Kingdom serves as a convenient mirror to reflect European and American anxieties and ambitions.