The Idea of Chineseness and Ethnic Thought of Wang Fuzhi

This chapter explores Wang Fuzhi’s ethnic thought from new perspectives. ¹ First, I will analyze three connotations of Chineseness – geographical, cultural, ethnic – upheld in the history of Chinese ethnic thought. Second, Wang’s major contributions to the development of Chinese ethnic thought is outlined, such as presenting new concepts concerning the nature of the Chinese and the ‘barbarians’, and the new ethics that regards the protection of the Chinese interest as the ultimate good and the supreme natural law. Finally, I will compare Wang’s ethnocentric ideas to the idea of ‘Chinese nation’ advocated by Liang Qichao at the turn of the twentieth century, and examine the impact of Wang’s ethnocentric works on the intellectuals in late nineteenth-century China.