Comparing the philosophical traditions of
ancient Greece & early China
I have worked on comparative studies of the ancient Greek and early Chinese traditions for the past 14 years. In particular, I am interested in how ancient philosophers from these traditions approached fundamental questions relating to human nature, moral education, and the good life.
Publications
New monograph published by Oxford University Press, 2024
Despite recent developments in the history of emotions and in comparative studies, sustained cross-cultural comparative studies of the emotions remain few and far between. Jingyi Jenny Zhao has produced the first major work that takes two philosophers from the ancient Greek and early Chinese traditions to stimulate discussion of an interdisciplinary nature on the rich and complex topic of the emotions—in particular, of shame. It features comparative analysis of Greek and Chinese texts while bringing the ancient materials to bear on modern controversies such as the role of shame in moral education and social cohesion.
Ancient Greece and China Compared， Cambridge University Press, 2018
Ancient Greece and China Compared is a pioneering, methodologically sophisticated set of studies, bringing together scholars who all share the conviction that the sustained critical comparison and contrast between ancient societies can bring to light significant aspects of each that would be missed by focusing on just one of them. The topics tackled include key issues in philosophy and religion, in art and literature, in mathematics and the life sciences (including gender studies), in agriculture, city planning and institutions. The volume also analyses how to go about the task of comparing, including finding viable comparanda and avoiding the trap of interpreting one culture in terms appropriate only to another. The book is set to provide a model for future collaborative and interdisciplinary work exploring what is common between ancient civilisations, what is distinctive of particular ones, and what may help to account for the latter.
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Articles
Please email me if you would like to read any of the articles below.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (forthcoming, in press) “Humility: Ancient Greek and Chinese Perspectives.” In Humility, edited by Justin Steinberg. Oxford Philosophical Concepts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (forthcoming, in press) “‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ Approaches in the History of Emotions: The Case of Greece and China.” In Illuminating Mediterranean Antiquity Through Comparative History: Theorising ‘Soft’ Approaches, edited by Stephen Harrison and Dylan James. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2023). “Conceptions of Childhood in Premodern China.” Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies, edited by Heather Montgomery. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2022). “Representations of Infancy and Childhood in Laozi and Heraclitus.” In After Wisdom: Sapiential Traditions and Ancient Scholarship in Comparative Perspective (Philological Encounters Monographs), edited by Glenn W. Most and Michael Puett, 77-99. Leiden: Brill.
王淼、赵静一 (2020) “李约瑟与竺可桢往来书信（1950-1951）”。《广西民族大学学报（哲学社会科学版）》，第26卷第1期， 24-29页。
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2020). Review of Receptions of Greek and Roman Antiquity in East Asia, edited by Almut-Barbara Renger and Xin Fan. Classical Review 70: 1, 258-60.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2019). Review of Mourning Rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China by Xiaoqun Wu, Reading Religion, American Academy of Religion. http://readingreligion.org/books/mourning-rituals-archaic-classical-greece-and-pre-qin-china
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2019). “From Aristotle to Xunzi.” ARGO, A Hellenic Review 10: 7-10.
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2018). “Shame and Moral Education in Aristotle and Xunzi.” In Ancient Greece and China Compared, edited by G. E. R. Lloyd and Jingyi Jenny Zhao, 110-130. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
王忠孝、赵静一、刘津渝 (2016) “国际古典学新动态”。《全球史评论》，第10期，265-284页。
Zhao, Jingyi Jenny. (2013). Review of How Should One Live? Comparing Ethics in China and Greco-Roman Antiquity, edited by R. A. H King and Dennis Schilling, Journal of Hellenic Studies 133, 300-302.
董桥声、赵静一 (2013) “‘比较古代世界——希腊与中国’学术研讨会述要”。《中国科技史杂志》，第34卷第2期，271-272页。