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Problems with the Humanities in Mainland China: A Translational Perspective

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The Humanities in Contemporary Chinese Contexts

Part of the book series: The Humanities in Asia ((HIA,volume 2))

Abstract

In contemporary mainland China, the humanities, if defined in Western terms as those branches of knowledge, such as philosophy, literature, and art, that are concerned with human thought and culture (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.), are undoubtedly in deep crisis. In comparison with what has been happening in America in “Who Ruined the Humanities,” in which Siegel (2013) lays the blame for the decline and fall of the humanities mainly on the poor and outdated curricular and pedagogical practices at educational institutions, the humanities in China are at least triple-cursed—for lack of a better expression.

The original version of this chapter was revised: Biographies of author’s were removed. The erratum to this chapter is available at DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2267-8_10

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2267-8_10

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘The West’ in this article refers to traditional centers of power, particularly in Northern Europe and North America.

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Guo, Y., Su, L. (2016). Problems with the Humanities in Mainland China: A Translational Perspective. In: Chan, E., O'Sullivan, M. (eds) The Humanities in Contemporary Chinese Contexts. The Humanities in Asia, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2267-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2267-8_6

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