Global conjectures: China in transnational perspective

This issue deals with the integration of modern China into processes of global exchange and cross-border interaction. The articles explore the broader theme in different ways and in different subfields, ranging from the history of political ideas to the history of institutions, from global migration of people to the transmigration of academic discourses. Focusing on modern as well as contemporary periods, the studies demonstrate that China in the course of the twentieth century became an ever more important nodal point in a complex set of worldwide networks and engagements. The integration into global networks, together with the global consciousness that corresponded with it, made possible significant connections transcending national borders. The essays also show that the effects could be homogenizing (or globalizing), but at the same time the growing interactions also produced opposition and fragmentation. Frau Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Mechthild Leutner ist Professorin für Sinologie an der Freien Universität Berlin.