Prof. dr. Axel Schneider
E-Mail: axel.schneider@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Introduction
Welcome to my homepage. I studied Sinology, Chinese History, Japanology, Political Science and East Asian Politics at Erlangen University, National Taiwan Cheng-chi University, and Bochum University. After finishing my M.A. on political theory in the 1920s and 30s in the summer of 1989, I started working as Assistant Professor at the then newly established chair for Modern China Studies at Heidelberg University. I completed my Ph.D. in 1994 on modern Chinese historiography. In July 2000 I received a call to Leiden University while still working on my habilitation thesis on modern Chinese conservatism. In my research I focus on modern Chinese history and politics covering the period from the late Ch'ing dynasty to the present.
The following pages provide an overview of my approach to Modern China Studies and my areas of research, of my current projects, curriculum vitae, publications, the courses I have been teaching, and of WWW projects I am working on.
Approach to Modern China Studies and areas of research
What does it actually mean to study (modern) "China"? To give a very short answer, to me it means studying Chinese individuals and their ideas about "China".
Trained as an intellectual historian, I see the challenge of Modern China Studies in trying to come to grips with modern Chinese history, politics etc. I understand "modern Chinese history, politics etc." as "ideas about and perceptions of history, politics etc. as brought forward by Chinese people" and the interplay of these ideas and perceptions with what is called "reality" (I prefer the Dutch "werkelijkheid" or German "Wirklichkeit").
It is through actual human beings, be it leading politicians and intellectuals or so-called Mrs./Mr. Average, that we encounter "China" -- that is a multitude of different visions of "China". Hence even in those areas of research where we deal with the concrete outcomes of historical, political etc. processes, I always pay close attention to how the people actually involved understood and related to their environment.
My research covers the following areas:
- History of Chinese historiography (i.e. the writing of history and historical thinking), especially during the modern period,
- Modern Chinese intellectual history, especially Chinese nationalism and conservatism since the late 19th century up to the present,
- Modern Chinese history and politics, especially the Republican period and KMT party history,
- Taiwanese history and politics of the post-1986 era, and recently also
- Intellectual trends of the 1990s in China.
Current Projects
At present I am working on several projects:
- A monograph on modern Chinese conservatism, especially of the post May Fourth period, covering the philosophical (philosophy of history, culture and language), political and literary thought of intellectuals belonging to the Hsüeh-heng group (Wu Mi, Mei Kuang-ti, Liu Po-ming, Liu I-cheng, Hu Hsien-su etc.) as well as Chang Shih-chao, Ch'en Yin-ch'üeh, Wang Kuo-wei, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, and Chang T'ai-yen.
- A web site on Chinese historiography and historical thinking starting as the conference website for the workshop on "Modern Chinese historiography and historical thinking", later to be expanded into a web site for information and discussion on Chinese historiography.
- A web site on China Taiwan Relations providing a collection of commented links covering information related to the political, economic, and military aspects of China Taiwan relations in recent times.
- VICI-grant on the topic "Historical Consciousness and the Future of Modern China and Japan: Conservatism, Revisionism, and National Identity" (starting July 1, 2003).
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