Abstract

Legal Orientalism has two histories. One is the Orientalist statements that we find scattered through-out Western modernity, which involve imaginations of Chinese legal consciousness in particular. The other is the history of the concept of legal Orientalism itself: how this concept is understood, used, and commented upon. Taking Hegel's philosophy as its entry and exit point to legal Orientalism, this article works out the importance of reflecting on both of these histories. Such reflection contributes to avoiding that the histories of legal Orientalism hinder cross-cultural communication between "Orient" and "Occident" and to enabling comparative legal learning. Against this backcloth, the article suggests that thinking about legal Orientalism should be complemented by the concepts of dialogue and Oriental legalism.