---

This collection discusses China´s contemporary national and international identity as evidenced in its geopolitical impact on the countries in its direct periphery and its functioning in organizations of global governance. This contemporary identity is assessed against the background of the country´s Confucian and nationalist history.

---

Introduction; Bart Dessein PART I: HISTORICAL CONCIOUSNESS 1. Chinese Nationalists under Manchu Emperors: The Origins of Chinese Nationalism in the 19th and Early 20th Century; Julia Schneider 2. Radical Confucianism: The Critique of Imperial Orthodoxy in Guocui xuebao (1905-1911); Tze-ki Hon 3. History and Historical Consciousness in Contemporary China: Political Confucianism, Spiritual Confucianism, and the Politics of Spirit; Ady Van den Stock 4. All-under-Heaven and the Chinese Nation-state; Bart Dessein PART II: CHINA AND HER PERIPHERY 5. Subjective Knowledge Foundation of the Cross-Straits International Peace Discourse; Hung-jen Wang 6. Universal and Asian Values in East Asian Regionalism. Japan´s ´New Asianism´ after the Cold War; Kristof Elsen 7. Diversifying Narratives: Perceptions of a Weak Japan Facing a Rising China; Tine Walravens 8. Hiding Behind the Tribute: Status, Symbol, and Power in Sino-Southeast Asian Relations, Past and Present; Bruno Hellendorff 9. The Indo-Pacific: The New Great Game between China and the United States; Tanguy Struye de Swielande 10. Nationalism, Historical Consciousness and Regional Stability: Rising China as a Regional Power and Its New Assertiveness in the South China Sea; Emile Kok Kheng Yeoh 11. China´s Rise in Central Asia: The Dragon enters the Heart of Eurasia; Thierry Kellner PART III: CHINA AND THE WORLD AT LARGE 12. The Rise of China Within Global Governance; Niall Duggan 13. China´s Rise as a Geopolitical Identity of the European Union; Frank Gaenssmantel 14. Is China on the Verge of a Weltpolitik? A Comparison of the Current Shift in the Balance of Power between China and the West and the Shift between Great Britain ad Wilhelmine Germany; Jean-Christophe Defraigne Epilogue; Bart Dessein

---

Jean-Christophe Defraigne, Saint-Louis University, Belgium and Zhejiang University, China Niall Duggan, University of Göttingen, Germany Kristof Elsen, Ghent University, Belgium Frank Gaenssmantel, University of Groningen, the Netherlands Bruno Hellendorff, Group for Research and Information on Peace and Security (GRIP), Belgium Tze-ki Hon is Professor History at the State University of New York at Geneseo, USA Thierry Kellner, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Julia Schneider, University of Göttingen, Germany Tanguy Struye de Swielande, University of Louvain, Belgium Ady Van den Stock, Ghent University, Belgium Tine Walravens, Ghent University, Belgium Hung-jen Wang, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

---