21세기 ‘중국’론과 제국성 ― 왕후이(汪暉)의 ‘제국-민족국가’론을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper analyzes the nature and meaning of the new tide of “Chinese turn” in Chinese intellectual circles that has become more pronounced since the 21st century. The new intellectual tide of the “Chinese turn” cannot be clearly summarized into a single characteristic due to the diversity of positions taken by different theorists. Therefore, through the theoretical work of Wang Hui, who represents such a tide of thought, this paper will analyze the theoretical position and intellectual foundation of the Chinese turn, as well as the implications and problems of such a research trend. Wang Hui believes that the world's current perception of China stems from the West’s dualistic view of empire versus nation-state during the Enlightenment, which established the non-Western world, especially Asia, as a negative other. Europe built its modern identity around the nation-state, and by characterizing the governance systems of Asia, including China, as imperial despotisms, it simultaneously denigrated both Asia and empire as negative opponents. Although China transitioned from a Qing Empire to a republic in the early 20th century, it did not dismantle the empire into various ethno-state units, but rather established a nation-state that reinforced the identification of the various ethnic groups within the empire. As a result, critics of China, including in the West, still believe that China’s core problem is its imperial character. Wang Hui believes that the imperial character of modern China is not negative, but rather has a historical rationality, stemming from China’s historical conditions (seeking national and ethnic independence from Western imperialist oppression) and the trend of the times during China’s modern transition. Wang Hui also believes that the Western dualism of empire and nation-state is the core logic of Western modernity, and that in order to criticize Western perceptions of modern China, it is necessary to break away from a Western-centered and modern historical perspective. To this end, Wang Hui argues that China’s modernity was not a linear process of development, but rather a process of solving new problems as the times changed, and that China’s unique characteristics led to the formation of a different modernity from the West. In other words, China’s modernity has a dual character of accepting Western modernity and critically overcoming it (modernization through criticism of modernity) under the unique circumstances of China’s time, and Chinese imperialism is the new ideology of modern China that was formed as a result. This paper analyzes Wang Hui’s theoretical attempt to reconstruct a modern China based on imperiality, and examines its implications and problems.