East Asia: From Chinese Predominance to the Rise of the Pacific Rim

by Arthur Cotterell

In recent decades, there has been a dramatic transformation around the Pacific Rim. Japan has become an economic superpower and Korea and the People's Republic of China are close behind, flooding the world market with computers, automobiles, and electronic components. It is even predicted that by the next century East Asia will be the workshop of the world. No longer the Far East - that exotic, mysterious land at the distant fringe of western consciousness - East Asia today commands the attention of the world. In East Asia, Arthur Cotterell condenses into a short, highly readable book an immense amount of historical knowledge, placing this remarkable economic boom in its proper perspective - an Asian one. To do this, Cotterell ranges from the dawn of Chinese civilization, to the rise of the Mongols and the Manchus, to Japan's emergence as the first East Asian nation to develop an industrial economy. And he brings his history up to the present, examining America's setbacks in the Korean and Vietnam War, Japan's rise as an economic superpower, and the recent histories of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, reunited Vietnam, socialist Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Cotterell not only provides insight into the past of this burgeoning region, but he offers a provocative view of the future as well. He suggests for instance that Japan, the present leader of the Pacific Rim, will eventually be overtaken by its neighbors, now engaged in a hectic pace of development (seen especially in the People's Republic of China, which has only just begun to compete as an exporter). He concludes that the relations between the Chinese and the Japanese will determine the future of EastAsia. By providing an in-depth historical perspective on the most dramatic transformations taking place in the world today, Cotterell performs an invaluable service for all those who need to have a deeper understanding of our newest trading partners.

Genres: Asia, History

368 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 1994

About the author

Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers an excellent overview of East Asian history. It is not a thorough account of every event that happened in the time period but it provides a great framework for further study. After going through this book the reader can identify parts of Asian history, from the BC era in China to the reconstruction of Asia after World War II, for further in-depth study. It is easy to read although there is a large amount of information packed into a very small amount of pages so while easy it is not a light read by any means. Overall it is a great textbook on East Asian history and wonderful for those who are just getting started in that area.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weakly written, weakly conceived, unedited, not even spell-checked, bordering on incoherent at times. There’s a reason it’s out of print. I mistakenly assumed Oxford U Press had standards. Unfortunately there are very few brief, popular histories of East Asia as a whole, so I went to the bitter end. (It does improve a bit once it gets to WWII.) But if anyone can recommend an alternative, please do.