Between The Gentry And Intellectuals

By means of the case study pertaining to Fei Xiaotong,this dissertation aims to inquire the history of Chinese anthropology.As a founder of Chinese social science, Fei is one of key persons for us to understand our academic tradition.By reflective study of Fei's anthropological thoughts,I explore the dilemma of Chinese anthropology and inquire the causes of it,thus try to make some suggestions benefit for our future studies.Fei began his academic research around 1930s which lasted to the year 2003 when he was ill.In a huge number of his works covering various subjects,this dissertation just focuses on those works relating to anthropology.My study builds on insights from the precedent studies on Fei,especially the two biographies written by David Arkush and Zhang Guansheng respectively.These two biographies are quite different to each other.In Arkush's description,Fei was a new intellectual with the western science training;while according to Zhang Guansheng's book,Fei was a good officer.However,Fei didn't agree with each of them.He said Arkush ignored his another role- he was also a gentleman in the transitional era.Fei himself addressed that his works as a whole was an autobiography.To my understanding,Fei is both a gentleman and an intellectual,and we should interpret his thoughts as a whole.I use the concept of "heart" to describe Fei's thoughts.In the ancient time, Chinese thinkers believed that they were thinking with their "heart" instead of their "brain".And the "heart" has its own history,that is called "心史" in Chinese.In Ming dynasty,Chinese gentry use these words to refer to the faith in holding their cultural spirit.In my opinion,the history of heart actually contains a historical spirit. Fei grew up in the knowledge tradition of Chinese gentry,and as a result,he inherited their history of heart as well.Benefitted by Clifford Geertz's methodology in his Works and Lives,I mainly analyze Fei's texts basing on my understanding to his life history.In his works,Fei described the world in his eyes and his heart.His world map could be interpreted by Wang Mingming's theory of "three zones in the studies of Chinese anthropology". That was:the core zone in which Han people live,the intermediaries in which ethnic groups live,and the overseas in which non-Chinese live.It is also the map in Chinese gentry's vision called "Tian Xia"(天下).In his works on the core zone,such as Peasant life in China,Earthbound China, Chinese Gentry and so on,Fei concentrated on village industry and the new gentry. He emphasized the leading role of gentry in order to realize the modernization. Besides that,the village industry was the institutional foundation of this transform, whereas the peasants' earthbound consciousness was the social ethic.Actually,he kept thinking of Max Webberian question about institution and ethic of capitalism. At that time,Fei was greatly influenced by Max Webber and Karl Mannheim's theory,and also inherited the "Culture" concept with a shade of German idealism from his advisor Wu Wenzao,who learned from Franz Boas.In his works on the intermediary zone,Fei noticed the continuance of Empire history.Unlike the earthbound Han people,the ethnic groups nomadize in mountains and grasslands.In Fei's imagination,earthbound is the goal of Empire's civilization in history,and after that stage,local industrialization is to be achieved.Thus,he suggested developing agriculture in intermediaries.In his works on the zone of overseas,Fei found several different types of modernization,and especially took those types in England and America as the examples.He praised the modernization in the West,but at the same time he criticized the lack of the intimate relationships in Western society which was typical in Chinese villages.From Fei,we could understand the mentality of Chinese gentry.To Chinese gentry,the transition from an Empire to a Nation-State is a realistic broken-up in history which also led to a reversion on their world outlook.And the biggest change in which was the West became the nearest instead of the farthest in their former version. However,it was hard for them to accept the Western thoughts totally,because of their insistence in the history of heart.Fei reflected his life and works in his later years.By re-reading his advisors' works,such as B.Malinowski,Park,Shirovkoff,and the famous Chinese historians Qian Mu,Chen Yin'que etc.,Fei tried to find out the roots of his thoughts in the tradition of Chinese culture.In his words,he wanted to obtain a "cultural self consciousness"(文化自觉).He realized that it was necessary for intellects to interpret our culture and history.Here comes my conclusion.In his works,Fei not only described the scenes of the broken-up history in reality but also the continual history in his heart.And this was the dilemma he always faced.Because of his insistence in this heart,Fei could not accomplish the transformation of Chinese society.It is also the dilemma Chinese social science faces.We paid no attention to his heart,that is why we could not understand Fei thoroughly.However,Fei's understanding of the history of heart was limited and he only discussed the practical part of it.Therefore,he thought it was gentry who should shoulder the responsibilities of whole society.However,for the gentry,that was too much a burden to set them free.At last,I reflect on Geertz's study about the history of anthropology.In my eyes, ethnographies are not just the communication between anthropologists and texts,as Geertz says,but the interaction among anthropologists,texts and natives.Furthermore, the natives even enlighten the anthropologists.Fei is an anthropologist as well as a native,that means when anthropologists think,natives think,too.That just as Fei said, every country has its native thinkers.It is helpful for us to embrace the cultural diversity of the world.