What is Bie-modern & Bie-modernism?
Bie-modern (Bie xian dai in pinyin) is an original academic term which means a doubtful or (false) modernity. The relevant search about Bie-modern on Baidu (the largest Chinese search engine) has amounted to 64,200,000 hits.
The Bie-modern includes a theory about particular social forms and modernity. It holds that there is another phase in the context of globalization that is different from the traditional Western development model. This is a hybrid social form or a simultaneous intertwining of the modern, pre-modern and post-modern. Although it has modern, pre-modern and post-modern factors, it does not belong to solely the modern, pre-modern, or post-modern realities. With the Chinese character “Bie” borrowed from oracle bone script (see the image below), this mixed social form is called Bie-modern. Bie-modernity is the manifestation of an insufficient modernity a stage before modernization is realized. Often, pre-modern thoughts and institutions will disguise themselves in the name of modernity, forming a doubtful (false) modernity. Bie-modernism advocates distinguishing between true and false modernity and establishing a real modernity within a hybrid social form, so as to realize modernization.
Bie-modern Theory was first published in the journal “Exploration and Free Views” in 2014 by Professor Wang Jianjiang from the School of Humanities at Shanghai Normal University in China. It immediately received a strong response at home and internationally. The Center for Chinese Bie-modern Studies (CCBMS) at Georgia Southwestern State University in the United States and the Center for Bie-modern Studies (CBMS) at the University of Primorska in Slovenia were established in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Bie-modern Theory being developed by a Chinese scholar has added a new dimension to contemporary critical discourse concerning social development and specifically offers a new non-western perspective.
Current research in Bie-modern theory can be found in the fields of philosophy, aesthetics, literature, art, tourism, law, psychology, and pedagogy just to name a few. This theory has attracted the attention of contemporary artists who are consciously engaged in producing Bie-modernist art. At present, there have been multiple international Bie-modern art exhibitions and academic conferences. A series of Bie-modernism-related works in Chinese and English have been published including: Bie-modern: Space Encounters and Times Spans (by Wang Jianjiang), Bie-modern: Discourse Innovation and International Academic Dialogue (by Wang Jianjiang and Ales Erjavec), and Bie-modern: Works and Commentary (by Wang Jianjiang and Keaton Wynn). This text discusses works of art from a Bie-modernist perspective.
Creator
Brief Introduction of Wang Jianjiang
Dr. Wang Jianjiang is a professor and PhD supervisor in the College of Humanities at Shanghai Normal University. He is also the Director of the Institute of Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education of SHNU a Committee member of Chinese Society for Aesthetics and Chinese Society for Literary and Artistic Theories, and a member of the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA). He was previously the President of the Association for Aesthetics in Gansu province (2005-2012).
The Bie-modern Theory as proposed by Dr. Wang has been met with interest among European and American philosophers and artists. This has resulted in the establishiment of the Center for Chinese Bie-modern Studies (CCBMS) at Georgia Southwestern State University in the United States and the Center for Bie-modern Studies (CBMS) at the University of Primorska in Slovenia. These centers were developed to promote research and discussion of Bie-modern Theory.
