Telos 214 (Spring 2026): China Keywords II

Edited by Eric Hendriks and David Pan

Telos 214 advances the China Keywords project by examining terms central to shaping contemporary Chinese thought: empire (帝国), tianxia (天下), shun (顺), dujing (读经), and non-domination (非宰制). The essays in this issue trace how China’s intellectual and theological traditions are being reinterpreted to address questions of authority, legitimacy, and global order.

Alongside these conceptual studies, a central debate confronts the character of China’s regime, and asks whether existing frameworks can adequately account for its capacity to sustain intellectual life. China Keywords II presents Chinese political thought as a set of serious arguments entering into contention on the world stage.

Introduction
Eric Hendriks and David Pan

Empire (帝国): Tracing Its Historical Conceptualization in Modern Northeast Asia
Tony Spanakos

The New Tianxia (新天下): Thinking Empire without Religion
William Xing

Shun (順): Active Allegiance and Passive Governance in Confucianism
Pei Yu

Dujing (读经): A Radical Grassroots Confucianism
Yukun Zeng

Non-Domination (非宰制): Republican Liberty and Democratic Memory in Taiwan
Chunlin Liu

Debating the Character of China's Regime

Authoritarianism, Democracy, Legitimacy—and the Capacity of Regimes to Support Intellectual Production
Salvatore Babones

Chinese Political Thought Is a Worthy Interlocutor: A Response to Salvatore Babones
Eric Hendriks

Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism in China: Reply to Salvatore Babones and Eric Hendriks
David Pan

In Memoriam

Ideas in History: Remembering David Gross
Timothy W. Luke