Book Review: Zhang, Datong lijiao: Kang Youwei zhengzhi sixiang yanjiu

Federico Brusadelli (University of Naples “L’Orientale”) reviews Zhang Xiang, Datong lijiao: Kang Youwei zhengzhi sixiang yanjiu (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2023) here. Read on for an excerpt from the review:

“…a fresh contribution to the Chinese scholarship on Kang comes from Zhang Xiang, professor at Capital Normal University (首都师范大学), author of dozens of articles and essays dealing with the intellectual history of China from the 16th century onwards and a specialist in the political thought of Kang Youwei. Zhang has a direct and deep knowledge of Kang’s biography and textual production, and in this important book aims to “revisit” Kang’s thought by placing it in its historical (global and local) circumstances and examining its contribution to our “new understanding” of the Chinese intellectual development of the last century. He identifies Kang’s contribution to the reconceptualization of “religion” and its relation to the newborn political sphere (as separated from family, education, and culture) as a privileged viewpoint to assess the relevance of his intellectual experience.”

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