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Article ID: CBB079283075

The Evolution of Social Darwinism in China, 1895–1930 (2022)

Comparative Studies in Society and History
Volume: 64
Issue: 3
Pages: 690-721

URI: http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/evolution-of-social-darwinism-in-china-18951930/D8986EED17C7D4EE3AFB4DF942ADEE87

DOI: 10.1017/S0010417522000214

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Imperialism Capitalism Science and politics Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence Social Darwinism 20th century, early 19th century China

This paper investigates the development of social Darwinism in China from the mid-1890s to 1930 vis-à-vis its ties with social Darwinism in the West, employing a comparative analysis of Spencer, Huxley, and Yan Fu. A form of evolutionism that envisioned a cosmological order based upon strength was transformed into a component of power politics in Republican China, despite unsuccessful political endeavors that illustrated both the triumphs and social malfunctions of evolutionary ideas. From the late 1910s, a new variety of social Darwinism arose alongside the scientific one, reflecting the influence of Kropotkin and de Vries, as Chinese thinkers incorporated non-Anglophone texts. The theories that emerged made sense of the changing Chinese adaptations of evolutionary thinking by contextualizing and modifying them within the intellectual and political dynamics inside China and also in China’s evolving relationship with capitalism and imperialism.

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