Aoki Masaru’s View Of China From The Perspective Of The Other

In examining the Chinese perceptions of modern Japanese,it is common to draw on Nishihara Daisuke’s book Orientalism and Tanizaki Junichiro: Fantasies of Taisho Japan to achieve a grasp of their Chinese perceptions through Orientalism.In this practical process,however,the applicability of Orientalism in Japan was not considered.As a result,while formally simple and effective,the errors of Orientalism are repeated in the actual research process,for example,the presentation remains bound to the framework of the Orient-Occident dichotomy,and so on.There is therefore a need for methodological innovation.When examining the modern Japanese view of China,three subjects are inevitably encountered,namely Japan,the Occident and China.During the period before the modern era,when Japan was situated in a Chinese-centric Sino-centric sphere of order,it also began to awaken its consciousness based on the national subject,which led it to actively embrace the Occident outside the Sino-centric sphere of order,which offered a new possibility for Japan.This was the main theme of the modern Japanese view of China,based on the modernity of the Occident,the subjectivity of Japan and the understanding of China under the influence of traditional Sinology.In concrete practice,the ’other’,as a consistent element in breaking through the framework of the Orient-Occident dichotomy,can clarify the relationship between Japan and the Occident,Japan and China,and Japan and China based on Occidental influence.In examining Aoki Masaru’s perception of China,it is necessary to restore it to its specific context.On the one hand,since the Meiji Restoration and after the RussoJapanese War,Japan’s view of China has changed from admiration to equality to contempt,and his perception of China is based on a change in the relationship between China and Japan and in the wider world context.It is impossible for Aoki Masaru to express his view of China outside of its wider context.On the other hand,the material on which the study is based focuses on his travelogues,the first-hand nature of which can clearly show his feelings about the reality of China,and the intertextuality of travelogue literature also proves the indispensability of context from another perspective.From Japan’s overall understanding of China to Aoki Masaru’s specific expressions,the context to which he relies will ultimately rest on the Kyoto school to which he belongs.Japan is represented by the Occident as the Occidental Other.And Japan repeats this process when it confronts China.That is,China as Japan’s Other is articulated by Japan.Aoki Masaru’s view of China remains,in fact,a Japanese view of China based on a Occidental framework in order to manifest his Japanese subjectivity.On the one hand,he was influenced by traditional Sinology and longed for classical China;when he encountered the reality of China,he turned to classical China despite his sympathy for it,and this constituted the general theory of the view of China at the time.Through the perspective of the Other,the universality of the so-called generalism is also reflected in its Japanese subjectivity,where China is no longer valued,but only exists objectively as a foreign literature,and its final point of departure is inevitably back to Japan.