A Comparative Cultural Study of the "Body" in Chinese and Western Scholarship

• Main Authors: Guo, Wei, Zhuang, Peina
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: body; Merleau-Ponty; Yang Rubin; Confucianism; Mencius
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss38/18; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1921/viewcontent/KK_2038_2C_202022_2018_20Forum_20Kritika_20on_20Theorizing_20Corporeality_20in_20the_20Climate_20Change_20Era_20__20Guo_20and_20Zhuang.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The body has become a research hotspot, attracting the attention of scholars in the fields of anthropology, literature, philosophy, sociology, and aesthetics. During this process, traditional Chinese and Western views on the body changed in varying degrees, and new corporeal theories came to the forefront. This article, based on the analytical overview of the comparative cultural studies of the body in Chinese scholarship, points out that problems are still abound and there is much room left for body studies in the future, as testified by the deficiencies in the status quo, such as the repeated usage of keywords in research, a lack of the synchronic comparison, and the blind and rigid application of concepts about the “Other.” The paper argues that only by solving these problems can comparative studies about the body reveal the cultural differences between Chinese and Western corporeal theory and thereby achieve real mutual elaboration.