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Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia
Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia addresses provocative themes concerning the experience of particular nations and of East Asia as a whole. It explores the turbulent process of integrating Asian societies and political systems into a global order dominated by the West over the past two centuries.
The authors show that important changes were already underway before the western advance, which had their own internal logic and staying power. They describe how people in China, Japan, and Korea redefined and defended indigenous "traditions" even as they disagreed over what these traditions were and how to transform them. They make it clear that nationalism was a powerful motivating force in the modern development of these countries, but they stress that a wide variety of nationalisms emerged and collided in the dramatic history of modern Asia.
The authors show that important changes were already underway before the western advance, which had their own internal logic and staying power. They describe how people in China, Japan, and Korea redefined and defended indigenous "traditions" even as they disagreed over what these traditions were and how to transform them. They make it clear that nationalism was a powerful motivating force in the modern development of these countries, but they stress that a wide variety of nationalisms emerged and collided in the dramatic history of modern Asia.
384 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2000
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December 15, 2014
My first thought is that this is a very well organized book collecting various essays on Eastern Asia. The ten chapters progress in a linear timeline fashion even if they focus on different nations within. It helps keep the greater timeline of global development unmuddled while reading it. Even more helpful are the China/Korea/Japan timeline(s) in the back.
Apart from the first chapter that provided a brief and generalized history of the entire east Asia region from the 19th through 20th century, the essays are predominantly split between the two mega powers of the region; China and Japan. The first half of the essays describe the two countries throughout the 19th century, which is the fall of the Qi Dynasty and the Meiji Restoration respectively. The latter half of the essays details Japan's imperialist expansion in Asia throughout the early 20th century, as well as China's internal struggles between Nationalism and Communism views. A very lengthy but singular chapter that covers both centuries for the Korean state divides the halves of the book.
I am no Asian history major (as much as I would like to be), so I can't really go and talk about how well these views were presented because it's my first exposure to a majority of information provided here. Written by westerners though I can only assume these are very democratic, capitalist, white words writing about an Asian history and system. Although I thought the essays were basically very straightforward and neutral when reading them I thought it was an important factor to note for the source and view aficionados out there. That said however, every essay is very well cited, with tons of resources and footnotes in the back pages that have given me plenty of jumping off places to go read in the future. What I will say is that if you have taken a Western Civ college course that covers the last 200 years of western history, this will help you fill in some of the eastern gaps quite well. Especially when it comes to figuring out Japan's rise in the east, and the shifting western allegiances they undergo that take place from WWI to WWII.
My one singular complaint about this book is that is didn't feel like so much of East Asia as it did China and Japan. The Korea area gets one huge chapter, but doesn't at all feel like a focal point in this as much as I loved learning about the area. Taiwan also gets lumped in with the Chinese civil war material, and doesn't get a chance to be highlighted very much, although it is mentioned briefly. There is no mention of Mongolia, nor the special designated Chinese territories Hong Kong and Macau.
Apart from the first chapter that provided a brief and generalized history of the entire east Asia region from the 19th through 20th century, the essays are predominantly split between the two mega powers of the region; China and Japan. The first half of the essays describe the two countries throughout the 19th century, which is the fall of the Qi Dynasty and the Meiji Restoration respectively. The latter half of the essays details Japan's imperialist expansion in Asia throughout the early 20th century, as well as China's internal struggles between Nationalism and Communism views. A very lengthy but singular chapter that covers both centuries for the Korean state divides the halves of the book.
I am no Asian history major (as much as I would like to be), so I can't really go and talk about how well these views were presented because it's my first exposure to a majority of information provided here. Written by westerners though I can only assume these are very democratic, capitalist, white words writing about an Asian history and system. Although I thought the essays were basically very straightforward and neutral when reading them I thought it was an important factor to note for the source and view aficionados out there. That said however, every essay is very well cited, with tons of resources and footnotes in the back pages that have given me plenty of jumping off places to go read in the future. What I will say is that if you have taken a Western Civ college course that covers the last 200 years of western history, this will help you fill in some of the eastern gaps quite well. Especially when it comes to figuring out Japan's rise in the east, and the shifting western allegiances they undergo that take place from WWI to WWII.
My one singular complaint about this book is that is didn't feel like so much of East Asia as it did China and Japan. The Korea area gets one huge chapter, but doesn't at all feel like a focal point in this as much as I loved learning about the area. Taiwan also gets lumped in with the Chinese civil war material, and doesn't get a chance to be highlighted very much, although it is mentioned briefly. There is no mention of Mongolia, nor the special designated Chinese territories Hong Kong and Macau.
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