The Journal of Nietzsche Studies

I. Introduction

As it is generally known (specifically to readers of this journal), Friedrich Nietzsche has thoroughly "haunted" the history of twentieth-century Western philosophy, and he continues to do so into the beginning of the twenty-first. It is less known, however, that this has not only been the case in the "West," that is, in Europe and America, but also in Asia, and particularly in China.

Although the immense intellectual influence exerted by Nietzsche (or rather: by what was perceived to be his philosophy) in China has been academically documented in the West, this has been done only relatively recently, and mainly in the field of Chinese Studies.¹ Philosophers, even those with an interest in "Nietzsche and Chinese thought," concentrate more on comparative issues than on historical ones—which is, of course, partly due to the fact that the Chinese reception of Nietzsche can only be thoroughly studied by looking into materials that are often inaccessible to Western scholars. This essay tries to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the Sinological research on the Chinese reception of Nietzsche focused on intellectual history and, on the other hand, philosophical reflections primarily concerned with Nietzschean and Chinese "ideas." I will trace the winding road of philosophical Nietzsche interpretations by an eminent Chinese Nietzsche scholar—Chen Guying (b. 1935), who is also one of the foremost living Daoist thinkers² —and then briefly compare his "Sino-Nietzscheanism" with some Western types of "Sino-Nietzscheanism," which also discover affinities between Nietzschean and Daoist thought. In this way I hope to show how some Chinese philosophers obviously turn to Nietzsche with the intention to "westernize" their philosophical heritage (and particularly the Daoist one), while some Westerns, quite contrarily, turn to Daoism with the intention to "easternize" their philosophical heritage (and particularly the Nietzschean one). Although Nietzsche and Daoism seem to match quite well for both Western and Chinese philosophers, they match in quite different ways and for different purposes. [End Page 57]

II. A Chinese "Sino-Nietzschean"

Chen Guying was born on the Chinese mainland in southeastern Fujian province. In the course of the separation of China, he moved to Chiang Kai-shek's Taiwan. In the early 1970s, he became increasingly suspicious to the authoritarian Nationalist government and critical of the ruling Guomindang party. Continuous political conflicts led him finally to abandon his position as a philosophy professor at the University of Taiwan in Taibei and made him return to the Communist mainland in 1984. There he became a visiting professor at Peking University [Beida]. From time to time he also taught at the University of California at Berkeley. In the meantime he became more and more active in Taiwan again.

Chen's first philosophical publication was a concise study on Nietzsche entitled Nietzsche: The Tragedy-Philosopher [Beiju zhexuejia Nicai]. The book was prepared at the University of Taiwan under the supervision of the renowned Chinese philosopher Fang Dongmei and first published privately by the author. Only in 1966 was it accepted by a professional publisher, Shangwu in Taibei. To this day the book is quite popular and numerous editions have been published since 1966, not only in Taiwan but also in the People's Republic.³ In the 1970s and 1980s, Chen Guying continued to publish on Nietzsche. The most important of his articles was "A Comparative Study on the Philosophies of Nietzsche and Zhuangzi" [Nicai zhexue yu Zhuangzi zhexue de bijiao yanjiu].⁴ I will address this article in detail below.

Chen Guying became a well-known philosopher in China for his work on Nietzsche, but he probably became even more famous for his writings on Daoism in contemporary China. He published new translations, including extensive philological and philosophical commentaries, of the Laozi (Daodejing)⁵ and the Zhuangzi⁶ into modern Chinese (the Laozi edition was later translated into English by Roger T. Ames and R. Y. W. Young,)⁷ and also a variety of articles and books on ancient Daoist thought. In...