Czech Perceptions of China: Between Matter-of-Factness and Imagination, Between Orientalism and Occidentalism

Abstract

There is a relatively short tradition of Chinese studies in Czechoslovakia,
besides which such studies were seriously politicised during the communist
era. In addition to political pressures, Czech perceptions of contemporary
Chinese affairs were coloured by a continental, mostly German, influence,
resulting in an avoidance of Western Orientalism. After World War II, an
insu"cient knowledge of Chinese realities led most Czech observers to
uncritically accept Chinese political ideas in terms of contemporary Chinese
nationalism, to which some aspects of the anti-western Occidentalism could
be traced. Since the restoration of democracy in 1989, the Czech view of
China still shows signs of stereotyping and a matter-of-fact deficit. Czech
scholars fail to depict China's realities to the same degree as contemporary
western sinology, and China's public image mostly amounts to the
emotional issue of human rights and unrealistic ideas of the Chinese
"economic miracle". This essay explores the unrealistic Czech perceptions of
Chinese politics by dividing them into three categories: fascination,
romanticism, and the extreme left.