Journal of Shanghai University (Social Science Edition)

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Transformation of Knowledge, Media and Culture in the Context of Crisis
——An Investigation into Knowledge Production in the Late Qing Dynasty in China

  

  • Received:2012-09-12 Online:2013-07-15 Published:2013-07-15

Abstract:  The crisis of colonization by the imperial forces in China in the Late Qing Dynasty triggered among the knowledge workers various responses and caused noticeable changes in knowledge production. The abolition of the imperial examination system means that the traditional knowledge production system that centered on the examination system was no longer legitimate in organizing and synthesizing the existing knowledge and hence intervening in the historical progress. The "Chinese Classics", the repository of the traditional elite culture, could hardly survive as a vital cultural force in a time when Chinese culture declined and Western culture became dominant. While the sudden rise of translation created opportunities for new knowledge production, it also exposed the country to onesided cultural import from the master nations. Amidst these difficulties, the printing and publishing businesses played a pivotal role in knowledge production and thus helped to restructure the responsive relationship between knowledge, culture and society.    

Key words: the Late Qing Dynasty in China , Transformation of Knowledge,and , Knowledge Production , Media
Culture