Mapping Meanings is essentially a broad-ranged introduction to China’s intellectual entry into the family of nations. Written by a fine selection of experts, it guides the reader into the terrain of China's (late Qing) encounter with Western knowledge and modern sciences, and at the same time connects convincingly to the broader question of the mobility of knowledge.
The late Qing literati's pursue of New Learning was a transnational practice inseparable from the local context. Mapping Meanings therefore attempts to highlight what the encountered global knowledge could have meant to specific social actors in the specific historical situation. Subjects included are the transformation of the examination system, the establishment of academic disciplines, and new social actors and questions of new terminologies.
Both an introduction and a reference work on the subject.