Word-Images: Politics and Visual Cultures in China

Maurizio Marinelli
2013 PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies  
In China, word-images have always played a crucial role in the construction of a claimed reality in the socio-political arena. According to the Confucian doctrine, a precise relationship exists between the idea of 'correctness' (zheng 正), as expressed in the paradigm of 'rectification of names' (zhengming 正名), and the art of governing the state (zheng 政) (Confucius 1960: 13.3). Confucian philosophers argued that names and language embodied norms and had a performative function. By simply
more » ... g or writing the words, an action, a title, a ritual, or an object was meant to become a reality. Thus language set the standards for how ruler and subject should act. In Confucius's words: 'To govern means to rectify names. If you lead the people by being rectified yourself, who will not be rectified?' (Confucius 1960: 12.17). A ruler able to 'rectify names' could set a clear example for his subjects to follow. When the ruler's behaviour was in line with the standards defined by his words, the ruler was thought to literally embody codes of proper social and political behavior. Conversely, when the behaviour of either ruler or ruled was out of line with the idealized standards ascribed to their social position, the prerogatives that normally attended that position no longer held. A king whose rule strayed from the idealized standards was no longer a proper 'king,' and could be legitimately overthrown and replaced. Confucian epistemology propounded a vertically structured social and ethical hierarchy, and the 'rectification of names' played a crucial role in mediating the correlation between written ideal and orthodox social practice.
doi:10.5130/portal.v9i3.3099 fatcat:3ivebzbc6bgaxjvfl7tsuefami