Page 9 - 《近代史研究》2022第二期

Modern Chinese History Studies

No. 2 , 2022

Some Thoughts on Environmental History Studies in Modern China …………… Wang Lihua ( 4 )

Environmental History: A New Paradigm in Modern Chinese History Studies
. Mei Xueqin ( 10 )

Population-Land Relations during the Late Qing ………………………………… Jiang Tao (14)

Famine and Social Upheavals in Modern China ……………………………………… Zhu Hu (19)

Environmental Disasters and Ecological Restoration in the Huai Region of Modern China
. Ma Junya(24)

Rivers , Changes in the Low-Iying Paddy Field System and the Growth of Modern Civilization in
the Yangtze River Delta …………………………………………………… Wang Jian 'ge (27 )

Revisiting the Impeachment Case of Kang Y ouwei for His Xinxue weijing kao in 1898
. Wu Yangxiang( 32)

From "The Peach Blossom Spring" to " Utopia" : Datong shu and Transformation of the Chinese
Imaginations of the Ideal Society …………………………………………… Wang Dongjie( 47)
Chinese imaginations of the ideal society during the pre-modern era were replete with the tendencies of inaction ,
laissez-faire and respecting "nature" . A typical example of such Chinese imaginations , "The Peach Blossom Spring" was
inherently different from the "Utopian" tradition dominant in the West. As far as its writing style is concerned , Dαtong shu
(The Great Harmony) by Kang Y ouwei was the first book that systemically discussed "Utopia" in the intellectual history of
China. According to Kang , a world of "great harmony" is based on sophisticated and fine-tuned planning and governance
solutions. Based on the assumption that administrators can gain sufficient information on the reality, Kang believed that
"the great harmony" could only be possible with rational planning and calculations. In Kang's view , "the great harmony" is
essentially man-made as opposed to "natural". Kang's view is a testament to the fundamental changes of the trajectory of
modern Chinese intellectual history.

With an Eye to the Southernmost: Evolution of the Chinese Perception on New Zealand During
the Late Qing Period ………………………………………………………… Qiu Zhihong ( 60 )
As a young island country of the southwestern Pacific , New Zealand is extremely faraway from China. Due to limited
geographic knowledge and the lack of navigation technologies and vessels during the ancient era , there was very few , if
any, exchanges between Eurasian and South Pacific civilizations. The Chinese started to have some geographic knowledge
about New Zealand during the reign of Emperor Kangxi , thanks to the efforts of Jesuits who introduced the latest geographic
knowledge during the Age of Exploration into China. In Kunyu quantu (A Complete Map of the World) , Ferdinand
Verbiest ga ve N ew Zealand its original Chinese name "xin se lαn di ya. " After the Opium 明rar ， Chinese writings about New
Zealand stmted to cover a wider range of topics: apart from geography, they also introduced the politics , history, economy
and culture of the colonial society of New Zealand. In keeping with this trend , the Chinese further enriched their knowledge
about the five continents. They had much deeper understanding of the changes in the world and tried hard to seek a new
identity for China. The Chinese evolving perceptions on the colonial culture and nationalism in New Zealand undoubtedly
enriched the understanding of the Chinese on the diversity of the world. At the turn of the 20 th Century , the Qing
Government even discussed the possibility of establishing a consulate in New Zealand , demonstrating that the Chinese
started to develop some out-of-the-box geopolitical thinking with the increase of geographic knowledge. It turned out that the
Chinese perceptions on New Zealand and China-New Zealand relations in the modern era were more colourful than we think.
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