Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
Series · 76
books · 1997-2016
Books in series
#1
The Police In Occupation Japan
Control, Corruption and Resistance to Reform
1997
Many Western commentators have expressed their admiration for the Japanese police system, tracing its origins to the American Occupation of Japan (1945-52).
This study challenges the assumptions that underlie these accounts, focusing on the problems that attended the reform of the Japanese police during the Occupation. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, Christopher Aldous explores the extent to which America failed in it's goal of 'democratizing' the Japanese police force, arguing that deeply-rooted tradition, the pivotal importance of the black market, and the US's decision to opt for an indirect Occupation produced resistance to reform. His study concludes with a consideration of the postwar legacy of the Occupation's police reform, and touches on a number of recent controversies, most notably the case of Aum Shinrikyo.
#2
Chinese Workers
A New History
1998
Jackie Sheehan traces the background and development of workers clashes with the Chinese Communist Party through mass campaigns such as the 1956-7 Hundred Flowers movement, the Cultural Revolution, the April Fifth Movement of 1976, Democracy Wall and the 1989 Democracy Movement. The author provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers protest in China to date and locates their position within the context of Chinese political history. Chinese Workers demonstrates that the image of Chinese workers as politically conformist and reliable supporters of the Communist Party does not match the realities of industrial life in China. Recent outbreaks of protest by workers are less of a departure from the past than is generally realized.
#4
Japan and Singapore in the World Economy
Japan's Economic Advance into Singapore 1870-1965
1999
This pioneering work examines Japan's economic activities in Singapore from 1870 to 1965. Drawing upon a wide range of published and unpublished sources, the authors shed new light on issues such prostitution\ foreign trade by Kobe's overseas Chinese\ fishermen in the inter-war period\ Japanese economic activities during the Pacific War\ Japan
#5
Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism
2000
Drawing on a wide range of Chinese historical and contemporary texts, Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism addresses diverse subjects including nationalist literature; language ideology; the crafting of a national history; the impact of Japanese colonialism and the increasingly strained relationship between China and Taiwan. This book is essential reading for all scholars of the history, culture and politics of Taiwan.
#6
Japanese Industrialisation
Historical and Cultural Perspectives
2001
Japan's escape from colonialism and its subsequent industrialisation has taken it to the point where its economy is second only to that of the US. This comprehensive volume examines how this rapid change of fortunes occurred, and the impact it has had on East Asia and the world at large. Taking a wide range and focus, Inkster looks at the history of Japan's industrial development in a social and cultural context.
#10
Japanese Army Stragglers and Memories of the War in Japan, 1950-75
2003
This book charts comprehensively the various discoveries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific of Japanese soldiers still fighting the Second World War many years after it had ended. It explores their return to Japan and their impact on the Japanese people, revealing changing attitudes to war veterans and war casualties' families, as well as the ambivalence of memories of the war.
#11
The United States and Cambodia, 1870-1969
From Curiosity to Confrontation
2004
Spanning from the first US contacts with Cambodia in the 19th century up until the late 1960s and the outbreak of war with Vietnam, this book is the first to systematically explore American relations with Cambodia. A discussion of adventurers, tourists and missionaries initially sets the scene for the analysis of official relations which began in 1950.
The book traces how relations with Cambodia's king, Norodom Sihanouk, were often troubled as Sihanouk strove to keep his country out of the Cold War even when pressured by the US to join the battle against communism.
#12
The United States and Cambodia, 1969-2000
A Troubled Relationship
2004
Beginning with the restoration of diplomatic relations between the US and Cambodia in 1969, this book is the first to systematically explore the controversial issues and events surrounding the relationship between the two countries in the latter half of the 20th century. It traces how the secret bombing of Cambodia, the coup which overthrew Prince Sihanouk and the American invasion of Cambodia in 1970 led to a brutal civil war. Based on extensive archival research in the United States, Australia and Cambodia, this is the most comprehensive account of the United States' troubled relationship with Cambodia.
#13
Nationalism in Southeast Asia
If the People Are with Us
2004
Nationalism in Southeast Asia seeks a definition of nationalism through examining its role in the history of southeast Asia, a region rarely included in general books on the topic. By developing such a definition and testing it out, Tarling hopes at the same time to make a contribution to southeast Asian historiography and to limit its 'ghettoization'.
Tarling considers the role of nationalism in the 'nation-building' of the post-colonial phase, and its relationship both with the democratic aspirations associated with the winning of independence and with the authoritarianism of the closing decades of the 20th century.
#14
Rural Economic Development in Japan
From the Nineteenth Century to the Pacific War
2005
In the historical literature on Japan, rural people have tended to be regarded as the exploited victims of the industrialisation process. This book provides an alternative view of the role and significance of the rural economy in Japan's emergence as an economic power prior to World War II. Using theories and approaches derived from development studies and economic history the book describes the nineteenth-century development of a diversified, proto-industrial rural economy, focusing on the strategies employed by households as they sought to secure and improve their livelihoods. The book argues that rural people, through their 'industrious revolution', played an active part in determining the course of Japan's agrarian transition and, eventually, the distinctive features of industrial Japan's political economy, with the result that rural life still figures largely in the reality and imagination of contemporary Japan.
#17
Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, 1941-45
2006
The important and previously undocumented event in the history of the Second World the negotiation of 'prisoner' exchanges between the United States and Japan during 1941 to 1943, is examined here by Bruce Elleman.
Approximately 7000 American citizens had been arrested by the Japanese authorities while visiting Japan as tourists, conducting business, teaching English or carrying out missionary work. The same amount of Japanese citizens living illegally in the United States had to be repatriated to secure the Americans' release.
Challenging the conventional perceptions regarding the role and justification of the detention camp, this insightful book addresses questions regarding the diplomatic agreement between Japan and the United States, the Japanese-American detention camps and the role of one of the most successful minority groups in the United States the Japanese-Americans.
#18
Britain's Imperial Cornerstone in China
The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, 1854-1949
2006
This is an in-depth account of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, a uniquely cosmopolitan institution established in the wake of China's defeat in the Opium Wars (1842 to 43), and a central feature of the Treaty Port system.
The British-dominated service was headed by the famous Robert Hart who founded a far-reaching customs administration that also encompassed other responsibilities such as marine and harbour maintenance, quarantine, anti-piracy patrols and postal services. This institution sat at a crucial juncture between Chinese and foreign interests, and was intimately linked to British interests and fortunes in the Far East. Following the establishment of the Republic in 1911 there were grave misgivings as to whether the foreign element of the Service would survive. Yet the Service grew in influence and strength, ensuring the foreign inspectorate a continued role in China's affairs.
Delivering an overview of the Service, its bureaucracy, fiscal responsibilities and life for foreigners in its employ, focusing especially on the later years of the Service, Donna Brunero draws on the experiences of the foreign administration of the Service as it attempted to negotiate between Chinese and foreign expectations and interests.
#19
Intra-Asian Trade and the World Market
2006
Intra-Asian trade is a major theme of recent writing on Asian economic history. From the second half of the nineteenth century, intra-Asian trade flows linked Asia into an integrated economic system, with reciprocal benefits for all participants. But although this was a network from which all gained, there was also considerable inter-Asian competition between Asian producers for these Asian markets, and those of the wider world.
This collection presents captivating snap-shots of trade in specific commodities, alongside chapters comprehensively covering the region. The book covers: China’s relative backwardness, Japanese copper exports, Japan’s fur trade, Siam’s luxury rice trade, Korea, Japanese shipbuilding, the silk trade, the refined sugar trade, competition in the rice trade, the Japanese cotton textile trade to Africa, multilateral settlements in Asia, the cotton textile trade to Britain, and the growth of the palm oil industry in Malaysia and Indonesia. The opening of Asia, especially in Japan and China, liberated the creative forces of the market within the new intra-Asian economy.
Filling a particular gap in the literature on intra-Asian trade prior to the twentieth century, this is an insightful study that makes a considerable contribution to our knowledge of the Asian trade both prior to, and after, the arrival of colonial states. It will be of great interest to historians and economists focusing on Asia.
#20
Corruption and Good Governance in Asia
2005
Bringing together contributions on the nature of corruption in East and Southeast Asia, this edited volume examines the means of limiting and ultimately eliminating corruption at a national and international level. Taking a country by country approach the text The volume outlines key principles of good governance and the policies and practices essential for their application. As such, it represents an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of corruption and how to tackle the problem.
#22
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902-1922
2004
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was the first formal agreement of its type reached by a Western 'great' power with a non-Caucasian nation in the modern era. As such, it represented an important milestone diplomatically, strategically and culturally. This book brings together many leading experts who examine the different aspects of the Alliance in its different stages before, during and after the First World War, who explore the reasons for its success and for its end, and who reach a number of interesting and innovative conclusions on the agreement's ultimate importance.
#24
Colonial Cambodia's 'Bad Frenchmen'
The rise of French rule and the life of Thomas Caraman, 1840-87
2006
Colonial Cambodia's "Bad Frenchmen" provides a captivating analysis of the gradual establishment of French colonialism in the late nineteenth century. Drawing on new materials from French, Vietnamese and Cambodian archives, it reconstructs a time during which France struggled to give meaning and substance to its Protectorate over Cambodia.
It traces the lives of failed colonists – most notably Thomas Caramen, who all constituted a challenge to the colonial enterprise by muddling its social, cultural and racial boundaries. In its consideration of the critical role played by these colonists, this compelling book shifts away from governor-generals, grand discourses and the simple view of colonialism as ‘colonizers’ versus ‘colonized’, to explore how things actually worked themselves out on the ground. It examines in particular the 'civilizing mission' and educational initiatives; the slow destruction of the indigenous justice system; the policing of sexual relations between colonisers and colonized; the theft of Cambodian land and taxes by the colonizing power; and the brutal repression of resistance wherever and whenever it appeared.
Overall, Muller reveals the crucial role played by indigenous middlemen and marginal Europeans in the rise of the colonial state, and tells the fascinating tale of a Frenchman who came to represent everything that the colonial state dreaded.
#26
The Quest for Gentility in China
Negotiations Beyond Gender and Class
2007
The quest for gentility has shaped Chinese civilization and the formation of culture in China until the present day. This book analyzes social aspirations and cultural practices in China from 1550 to 1999, showing how the notion of gentility has evolved and retained its relevance in China from late imperial times until the modern day. Gentility denotes the way of the gentleman and gentlewoman. The concept of gentility transcends the categories of gender and class and provides important new insights into the ways Chinese men and women lived their lives, perceived their world and constructed their cultural environment. In contrast to analyses of the elite, perceptions of gentility relate to ideals, ambitions, desires, social capital, cultural sophistication, literary refinement, aesthetic appreciation, moral behaviour, femininity and gentlemanly elegance, rather than to actual status or power. Twelve international leading scholars present multi-disciplinary approaches to explore the images, artefacts and transmission of gentility across the centuries in historical and literary situations, popular and high culture, private and official documents, poetry clubs, garden culture and aesthetic guidebooks. This volume changes the ways we look at Chinese cultural history, literature, women and gender issues and offers new perspectives on Chinese sources.
#27
Women, Work and the Japanese Economic Miracle
2004
This book shows how, during the period of the Japanese economic miracle, a distinctive female employment system was developed alongside, and different from, the better known Japanese employment system which was applied to male employees. Women, Work and the Japanese Economic Miracle describes and analyses the place of female workers in the cotton textile industry, which was a crucially important industry with a large workforce. In presenting detailed data on such key issues as recruitment systems, management practices and the working experience of the women involved, it demonstrates the importance for Japan's postwar economy of harnessing female labour during these years.
#28
Russian Views of Japan, 1792-1913
2004
Before Japan was 'opened up' in the 1850s, contact with Russia as well as other western maritime nations was extremely limited. Yet from the early eighteenth century onwards, as a result of their expanding commercial interests in East Asia and the North Pacific, Russians had begun to encounter Japanese and were increasingly eager to establish diplomatic and trading relations with Japan. This book presents rare narratives written by Russians, including official envoys, scholars and, later, tourists, who visited Japan between 1792 and 1913. The introduction and notes set these narratives in the context of the history of Russo-Japanese relations and the genre of European travel writing, showing how the Russian writers combined ethnographic interests with the assertion of Russian and European values, simultaneously inscribing power relations and negotiating cultural difference.
#29
India's Princely States
People, Princes and Colonialism
2007
This is an invaluable work looking into new areas relating to India's princely states. Based on an abundance of rarely used archival material, the book sheds new light on diversities related to the princely states such as health policies and practices, gender issues, the states’ military contribution or the mechanisms for controlling or integrating the states. Contributions are from international, reputable scholars, and they present historiographic, analytical and methodological approaches, placing attention to concepts, theories and sources. Inter-disciplinary in nature, this book will appeal to scholars and researchers of South Asia, studies of transnational histories, cultural and racial studies, international politics and economic history and the social history of health and medicine.
#30
Moscow and the Emergence of Communist Power in China, 1925-1930
The Nanchang Rising and the Birth of the Red Army. Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia.
2008
This book examines the emergence of Communist power in China during the interwar period, focusing especially on the role of the Soviet Union and the 1927 Nanchang Rising. It describes the history behind the alliance between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists, the impact of the USSR's military and political advisers, and the success of the Northern Expedition that resulted in the April 1927 purge of the Communists from the Nationalist Party. It explores the debates between leading communists in Moscow, notably Stalin - who thought that China was ready in 1927 for an urban-based Communist revolution, similar to what had happened in Russia ten years before - and Trotsky who opposed it. It goes on to examine the seizure of power in Nanchang by the Communists, the establishment of China's first short-lived soviet republic, and the reasons why the soviet soon collapsed.It explains the consequences of the rising, including the adoption by the Communists of guerilla warfare, the foundation of China's second soviet, and after moving to northwest China during the 1930s, the rise of Communist power throughout all of mainland China which culminated in the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The book stresses the importance of the mythology that evolved around the Nanchang since criticism of the Nanchang Uprising would open themselves up to accusations that they were Trotskyites, the Chinese Communists created the myth that the Nanchang Uprising was a success, and later dated the origins of the People's Liberation Army to this event.
#31
Changing Visions of East Asia, 1943-93
Transformations and Continuities
2006
Ralph Smith was a highly respected historian who, at the time of his death in December 2000, had nearly completed a manuscript chronicling changes in the East Asia region since 1943. This fascinating work, completed and edited by Chad Mitcham, one of Ralph Smith’s former students, himself a specialist and established author in this field, draws together the product of Professor Smith’s research at archives in Britain, France, Japan and the United States, extensive reading and international travel from 1966 to 2000. The book also incorporates a distillation of ideas and themes explored in his earlier papers, articles and books, including Ralph Smith's pioneering three volume work, An International History of the Vietnam War . It shows how both Ralph Smith’s thinking about the future course of the region and the broader context of regional prospects radically changed throughout this turbulent time. As Ralph Smith’s last major research project, carried out from 1997 to 2000, the book has evolved from his 1997 paper ‘Visions of the East Asia in 1943 and 1993’, delivered in the Huang Hsing Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the Asian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. It is a vital contribution to post-war Asian history.
#34
Atrocity and American Military Justice in Southeast Asia
Trial by Army
2010
Using individual judicial proceedings held within war-time Southeast Asia, this book analyses how the American military legal system handled crimes against civilians and determines what these cases reveal about the way that war produces atrocity against civilians.
#35
Provincial Life and the Military in Imperial Japan
The Phantom Samurai
2009
In contrast to the enduring stereotype of a 'nation of samurai', this book uses provincial newspapers and local records to hear the voices of ordinary people living in imperial Japan through several decades of war and peace. These voices reveal the authentic experiences, opinions and emotions of men, women and children. They show that the impression of a uniquely disciplined, regimented, militaristic society, which took root in the Western imagination from the 1890s and which helped bring about the Pacific war of 1941-5, is a gross illusion.
Stewart Lone challenges the long-standing view of prewar Japan as a 'militaristic' society. Instead of relying on the usual accounts about senior commanders and politics at the heart of government, he shows the realities of provincial society's relations with the military in Japan at ground level. Working from the perspective of civil society and both rural and urban life in the provinces, Lone investigates broader civil contacts with the military including schools, local businesses, leisure and entertainment, civic ceremonies and monuments, as well as public attitudes towards the military and its values.
This book will be of interest to upper undergraduates, postgraduates and academics interested in military history and Japanese history.
#36
New Perspectives on the History and Historiography of Southeast Asia
Continuing Explorations
2011
Using a unique "old–new" treatment, this book presents new perspectives on several important topics in Southeast Asian history and historiography. Based on original, primary research, it reinterprets and revises several long-held conventional views in the field, covering the period from the "classical" age to the twentieth century. Chapters share the approach to Southeast Asian history and namely, giving "agency" to Southeast Asia in all research, analysis, writing, and interpretation. The book honours John K. Whitmore, a senior historian in the field of Southeast Asian history today, by demonstrating the scope and breadth of the scholar’s influence on two generations of historians trained in the West. In addition to providing new information and insights on the field of Southeast Asia, this book stimulates new debate on conventional ideas, evidence, and approaches to its teaching, research, and understanding. It addresses, and in many cases, revises specific, critically important topics in Southeast Asian history on which much conventional knowledge of Southeast Asia has long been based. It is of interest to scholars of Southeast Asian Studies, as well as Asian History.
#38
Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War
2009
This book describes and explains Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore’s attitudes and policies regarding the Vietnam War. While it is generally known that all three countries supported the US war effort in Vietnam, it reveals the motivations behind the decisions of the decision makers, the twists and turns and the nuances in the attitudes of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore following the development of the war from the 1950s through to its end in 1975. Although the principal focus is the three supposedly non-aligned countries - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, the perspectives of Thailand and the Philippines - the two Southeast Asian countries which were formally allied with the United States - are discussed at the appropriate junctures. It makes an original contribution to the gradually growing literature on the international history of the Vietnam War and furthers our knowledge of the diplomatic history of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the early independent years, 1945/1949, 1957 and 1965 respectively, which coincided with early years of the Cold War in Southeast Asia.
#39
Japanese and Hong Kong Film Industries
Understanding the Origins of East Asian Film Networks
2009
Focuses on the cooperation between Hong Kong and Japanese cinema from the Sino-Japanese War, which broke out in the 1930s, up until the early 1970s, to re-evaluate the significance of this event in the context of Asian film history.
#40
Regionalism in Southeast Asia
To foster the political will
2006
Regionalism in Southeast Asia provides the reader with an historical analysis of Southeast Asia from the distinct perspective of regionalism. Southeast Asian history is usually written from a national point of view, which underplays the links between neighbouring states and nations and the effects of these bonds on the development of regionalism. This innovative book begins by defining the meaning of 'region' and 'regionalism' and then applies it to periods in history in Southeast Asia, looking at how patterns of regionalism have shifted through time to the present day. By focusing on the regional perspective Nicholas Tarling gives an original treatment of Southeast Asian history, its political dynamics and its international realtions. Regionalism in Southeast Asia completes a trilogy of books on Southeast Asia by Nicholas Tarling published by Routledge, the other two are Nationalism in Southeast Asia and Imperialism in Southeast Asia .
#41
Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia
2005
Colonial armies were the focal points for some of the most dramatic tensions inherent in Chinese, Japanese and Western clashes with Southeast Asia. The international team of scholars take the reader on a compelling exploration from Ming China to the present day, examining their conquests, management and decolonization.
The journey covers perennial themes such as the recruitment, loyalty, and varied impact of foreign-dominated forces. But it also ventures into unchartered waters by highlighting Asian use of colonial forces to dominate other Asians. This sends the reader back in time to the fifteenth century Chinese expansion into Yunnan and Vietnam, and forwards to regional tensions in present-day Indonesia, and post-colonial issues in Malaysia and Singapore.
Drawing these strands together, the book shows how colonial armies must be located within wider patterns of demography, and within bigger systems of imperial security and power American, British, Chinese, Dutch, French, Indonesian, and Japanese - which in turn helped to shape modern Southeast Asia.
Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia will interest scholars working on low intensity conflict, on the interaction between armed forces and society, on comparative imperialism, and on Southeast Asia.
#42
Forgotten Captives in Japanese-Occupied Asia
2007
Experiences of captivity in Japanese-occupied Asia varied enormously. Some prisoners of war (POWs) were sent to work in Japan, others to toil on the ‘Death Railway’ between Burma and Thailand. Some camps had death rates below 1 per cent, others of over 20 per cent. While POWs were deployed far and wide as a captive labour force, civilian internees were generally detained locally. This book explores differences in how captivity was experienced between 1941 and 1945, and has been remembered differences due to geography and logistics, to policies and personalities, and marked by nationality, age, class, gender and combatant status. Part One has at least one chapter for each ‘National Memory’, Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, Indian and American. Part Two moves on to forgotten captivities. It covers women, children, camp guards, internee experiences upon the end of the war, and local heroines who fought back. By juxtaposing such a wide variety of captivity experiences – differentiated both by category of captive and by approach - this book transcends place, to become a collection about captivity as a category. It will interest scholars working on the Asia-Pacific War, on captivities in general, and on the individual histories of the countries and groups covered.
#43
Religion and Nationalism in India
The Case of the Punjab
2000
This timely and significant study explores the reasons behind the rise in Sikh militancy over the 1970s and 1980s. It also evaluates the violent response of the Indian State in fuelling and suppressing the Sikh separatist movement, resulting in a tragic sequence of events which has included the raiding of the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The book reveals the role in this movement of a section of young semi-literate Sikh peasantry who were disaffected by the Green Revolution and the commercialisation of agriculture in Punjab. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Deol examines the role of popular mass media in the revitalisation of religion during this period, and the subsequent emergence of sharper religious boundaries.
#44
The Limits of British Colonial Control in South Asia
Spaces of Disorder in the Indian Ocean Region
2008
This book assesses British colonialism in South Asia in a transnational light, with the Indian Ocean region as its ambit, and with a focus on 'subaltern' groups and actors. It breaks new ground by combining new strands of research on colonial history. Thinking about colonialism in dynamic terms, the book focuses on the movement of people of the lower orders that imperial ventures generated.
Challenging the assumed stability of colonial rule, the social spaces featured are those that threatened the racial, class and moral order instituted by British colonial states. By elaborating on the colonial state's strategies to control perceived 'disorder' and the modes of resistance and subversion that subaltern subjects used to challenge state control, a picture of British Empire as an ultimately precarious, shifting and unruly formation is presented, which is quite distinct from its self-projected image as an orderly entity.
Thoroughly researched and innovative in its approach, this book will be a valuable resource for scholars of Asian, British imperial/colonial, transnational and international history.
#45
Reforming Public Health in Occupied Japan, 1945-52
Alien Prescriptions?
2011
Whilst most facets of the Occupation of Japan have attracted much scholarly debate in recent decades, this is not the case with reforms relating to public health. The few studies of this subject largely follow the celebratory account of US-inspired advances, strongly associated with Crawford Sams, the key figure in the Occupation charged with carrying them out. This book tests the validity of this dominant narrative, interrogating its chief claims, exploring the influences acting on it, and critically examining the reforms broader significance for the Occupation and its legacies for both Japan and the US. The book argues that rather than presiding over a revolution in public health, the Public Health and Welfare Section, headed by Sams, recommended methods of epidemic disease control and prevention that were already established in Japan and were not the innovations that they were often claimed to be. Where high incidence of such endemic diseases as dysentery and tuberculosis reflected serious socio-economic problems or deficiencies in sanitary infrastructure, little was done in practice to tackle the fundamental problems of poor water quality, the continued use of night soil as fertilizer and pervasive malnutrition. Improvements in these areas followed the trajectory of recovery, growth and rising prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s.This book will be important reading for anyone studying Japanese History, the History of Medicine, Public Health in Asia and Asian Social Policy.
#46
The Development of the Japanese Nursing Profession
Adopting and Adapting Western Influences
2003
In the years after 1868, when Japan's long period of self-imposed isolation ended, in nursing, as in every other aspect of life, the Japanese looked to the west. This book tells the story of 'Florence Nightingale-ism' in Japan, showing how Japanese nursing developed from 1868 to the present. It discusses how Japanese nursing adopted western models, implementing 'Nightingale-ism' in a conscious, caricature way, and implemented it more fully, at least on the surface, than in Britain. At the same time Japanese nurses had to cope, with great difficulty, with traditional Japanese attitudes, which were strongly opposed to women being involved in professions of any kind, and, as the book shows, western models did not in fact penetrate very deeply.
#47
Trans-Colonial Modernities in South Asia
2012
Presenting cutting-edge scholarship dedicated to exploring the emergence and articulation of modernity in colonial South Asia, this book builds upon and extends recent insights into the constitutive and multiple projects of colonial modernity. Eschewing the fashionable binaries of resistance and collaboration, the contributors seek to re-conceptualize modernity as a local and transitive practice of cultural conjunction. Whether through a close reading of Anglo-Indian poetry, Urdu rhyming dictionaries, Persian Bible translations, Jain court records, or Bengali polemical literature, the contributors interpret South Asian modernity as emerging from localized, partial and continuously negotiated efforts among a variety of South Asian and European elites.
Surveying a range of individuals, regions, and movements, this book supports reflection on the ways traditional scholars and other colonial agents actively appropriated and re-purposed elements of European knowledge, colonial administration, ruling ideology, and material technologies. The book conjures a trans-colonial and trans-national context in which ideas of history, religion, language, science, and nation are defined across disparate religious, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries. Providing new insights into the negotiation and re-interpretation of Western knowledge and modernity, this book is of interest to students and scholars of South Asian Studies, as well as of intellectual and colonial history, comparative literature, and religious studies.
#48
The Cold War and National Assertion in Southeast Asia
Britain, the United States and Burma, 1948–1962
2009
This book charts British and American approaches to Burma between the country’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1948 and the military coup that ended civilian government in 1962. It analyses the fundamental drivers of Anglo-American policy-making during this crucial period – assumptions, expectations and apprehensions that would, eventually, lead America into the disaster of Vietnam. The book suggests the key to understanding British and American approaches to Southeast Asia is to see them in terms of a search for order and stability in an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world. Such order had previously been provided by the colonial regimes of the European powers. With those regimes gone or going, British and American planners faced a region beset with new uncertainties, led by a set of nationalist politicians driven by very different, and often competing, goals and aspirations. A detailed case study of post-colonial transition in Asia in the context of the emerging Cold War, this book focuses on the retraction of European colonial power in Southeast Asia, the concomitant expansion of US engagement in the region and the broad processes underpinning these changes. It draws on unique, previously unpublished British and American archival material relating to the Burmese case and fills an important gap in historical understanding of Western engagement in Southeast Asia.
#49
The International History of East Asia, 1900-1968
Trade, Ideology and the Quest for Order
2009
This book provides a broad account of the international history of East Asia from 1900 to 1968 - a subject that is essential to any understanding of the modern epoch. Whereas much of the scholarship on this subject has focused purely on the immediate origins and consequences of violent events such as wars and revolutions, this book demonstrates the importance of also considering other forces such as ideology, trade and cultural images that have helped shape East Asian international history. It analyses how the development of the region was influenced by ideological competition and ‘orientalism’, by both multilateral and unilateral efforts to instil order, and by the changing nature of international trade. It considers a number of important topics such as the concept of the ‘open door’; the rise and influence of progressive internationalism in the forum of the League of Nations; the development of anti-colonial nationalism and anti-Western internationalism in the shape of pan-Asianism; and the onset of the Cold War. It also includes detailed case studies of subjects including the administration of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service; the international effort to regulate the trade in opium; and the significance of intra-Asian trade. Overall, this book constitutes an impressive account of the international history of East Asia, and is an important contribution to the interpretive study of this crucial period of history.
#50
National Pasts in Europe and East Asia
2010
With the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe and the related imposition of colonial rule in much of East Asia, both Europe and East Asia have intertwined histories that continue to shape their political thinking and political decision making. The contemporary interactions of the two regions – now once again major trading partners – will both depend upon and facilitate deeper understandings of their respective sets of national pasts. This book compares national pasts as well as the current processes of change taking place in Europe and East Asia, including the dynamics of the European Union in Europe and the re-emergence of the historical centre of China in East Asia. It argues that as the change unfolds in the economic, social and political fields, the various national pasts embedded with the polities of the two regions will also need to be revisited and reworked. This book makes an invaluable contribution to research on comparative politics, as well as studies on South East Asia and Europe.
#51
Pre-Communist Indochina
2009
This book explores the history of pre-communist Indochina, from the fourteenth century to the 1940s. It examines the early state of Vietnam, comparing and contrasting its political and social systems, with both those of neighbouring states such as Thailand and those prevalent at the time in Europe. It identifies the forces that shaped Indochina before the arrival of European colonial powers, in particular the impact of China, which was not only a military threat and extracted payments of tribute, but was also an important commercial and cultural influence, not least through the export of Confucianism. It demonstrates clearly that the events and transformations of the late 16th and early 17th centuries are the starting point of developments which by around 1800 established the broad pattern of political and economic relations that existed before the nineteenth century 'impact of the West' began. It goes on to consider the impact of European colonialism in Indochina, focusing especially on French Indochina. It explores the ways in which the French occupiers groomed a new indigenous colonial elite to replace the existing elites who refused to co-operate with the authorities, and examines the growing opposition to French rule, including the role played by the often misunderstood religious and political movement of Caodaism. It analyses the different avenues of expression of Vietnamese nationalism, including the emergence of the Constitutionalist Party - the nearest French Indochina had to a democratic party in the Western sense. It shows how it sought to seek, through the actions of the French themselves, reforms that would lead to the modernisation of the country and more liberty for its inhabitants; and explains why it ultimately failed to achieve its objectives. Written by the late Ralph Smith, a highly respected historian of Asia, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of Indochina.
#52
Port Cities In Asia And Europe
2008
This comparative study identifies many parallels between local histories and developments in the Asian and European port cities, as well as new opportunities for sharing experiences and learning from the developments and decisions in similar situations in other port cities
#53
On The Borders of State Power
Frontiers in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region
2008
On The Borders of State Power explores the changing nature, meaning and significance of international borders over time in the area referred to today as the Greater Mekong Sub-region, incorporating Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province.
An international line up of contributors examine the changing nature of borders over time, using examples from the 15th to 21st centuries and engage with contemporary literature on globalisation, particularly as it applies to borders and the nature of state power. What the book finds is that there is far greater diversity in terms of the importance of borders across time than is commonly thought. Thus, borders commonly thought to be closed are often more open, open borders are found to be more restricted, while pre-colonial frontiers, which are usually viewed as relatively unimportant compared with the colonial era, are in fact found to have been more closely governed. Looking at the contemporary period, the book shows how economic liberalisation – or so-called cooperation between the Mekong states in the post-Cold War period – has been accompanied not by the retreat of the state but rather by its expansion, including in ways which frequently impose greatest restrictions on the poor and marginalised.
Incorporating work by both historians and social scientists this book is a valuable read for those interested in the politics, development and geography of Southeast Asia.
#54
Business-Government Relations in Prewar Japan
2007
For the business and government relationship in Japan, the pre-war period was an era of considerable change. Framed by Japan’s nation-building efforts, the relationship adapted and evolved with the often fluid economic and political circumstances. As both business and government had vested interests in the direction and success of Japan’s industrialization process, on one level they became partners. At the same time, though, they were both stakeholders in the fiercely competitive iron and steel industry. This book explores how that partner-competitor relationship worked during the amalgamation of this strategic industry from 1916 to 1934, demonstrating how both parties engaged in meaningful negotiation through the open forum of the Shingikai - or Councils of Deliberation - throughout the pre-war period. Drawing upon the original minutes of the debates, it shows the ways in which the participants defended their vested interests and sought to forge agreement, taking the forum seriously as a means of influencing outcomes, and not simply as a mere exercise of artifice deployed to shroud the real locus of decision-making. Business-Government Relations in Prewar Japan is an important contribution to the literature on the relationship between government and business in pre-war Japan.
#56
US-China Cold War Collaboration
1971-1989
2005
After more than four decades the Cold War ended with the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost simultaneously China emerged as the new potential disruptor of international stability, with Beijing replacing Moscow as the key source of Western insecurity. Drawing upon extensive primary resources, Ali questions the logic behind this perception, reflected both in popular and academic literature. Disclosing hitherto unknown aspects of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, the text reveals a secret strategic alliance between the USA and China during the Cold War’s final decades. Presenting an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the two countries, the book identifies the bases on which the alliance emerged; the growing mutual concern of a ‘Soviet threat’. Using documentation from the three capitals, Ali presents a compelling tale of intrigue and conspiracy at the highest level of the international security system. The text brings a new dimension to the current literature and deepens our understanding of a key aspect of the Cold War – its end.
#58
The British Empire and Tibet 1900-1922
2004
In August 1904 Sir Francis Younghusband's invasion force reached the forbidden city of Lhasa. The British invasion of Tibet in 1903 acted as a catalyst for change in a world transformed by revolution, war and the rise of a new order. Using unofficial government sources, private papers and the diaries and memoirs of those involved, this book examines the impact of Younghusband's invasion and its aftermath inside Tibet.
#59
A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan
Prince Cuong De (1882-1951)
2005
Prince Cuong De, viewed by the French as a pretender to the Vietnamese throne, was an important and interesting figure in the history of Vietnam s struggle for independence. He was highly regarded by many non-communist Vietnamese nationalists, but has been virtually written out of Vietnamese history.
Based on extensive original research, including interviews and important documents from the French national archives, this book traces the life of Cuong De as a royal exile in Japan, exploring his links to key Japanese leaders and how he campaigned for his cause and was supported in Japan, Vietnam and elsewhere. The author shows how Cuong De had great hopes that imperial Japan would advance the cause of Vietnamese independence from France, especially during the Japanese occupation of Vietnam in 1941-5. But these hopes were disappointed as Japan's Indochina policy gave primacy to Japan's own economic and strategic self-interest.
This book provides many fascinating insights into the development of Vietnamese nationalism and the long, harsh struggle for independence, from the perspective of an interesting and undeservedly neglected figure.
#60
Capitalist Restructuring and the Pacific Rim
2004
This book situates the evolution of capitalist economies along Asia's Pacific Rim after the Second World War within broader global, political and economic changes. Specifically, it charts their growth at the interface of periodic crises and successive waves of restructuring, and links changes in the world economy to shifts in regional dynamics in east and southeast Asia. It suggests that while the expansion of Japanese corporate networks was crucial to the emergence of the region as a low-cost exporter to the world, the reintegration of China into the world market will free the region from its dependence on the US as a market of last resort.
#61
Women's Suffrage in Asia
Gender, Nationalism and Democracy
2004
Including chapters on Indonesia, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and international suffrage connections, Women's Suffrage in Asia engages in debates on suffrage in the region by raising issues unique to the country's case studies presented. It explains why the history of suffrage is neglected in the nationalist historiography and untangles the connections between culture, nationalism and colonialism in the context of women's struggles for suffrage.
#62
Status and Security in Southeast Asian State Systems
2012
Southeast Asia serves as an excellent case study to discuss major transformations in the relationship between states. This book looks at the changing nature of relationships between countries in Southeast Asia, as well as their relationships with other states in Asia and beyond. A diverse region in many areas, open to outside influence in many fields, but not without dynamics of its own, Southeast Asia has been through centuries the site of states with very differing levels of power and in a variety of forms. It has also been exposed to powerful neighbours, seawards empires and contending world powers. Adopting a historical approach, the book analyses state relations against the background of regional and geopolitical developments from within and without. It discusses how Southeast Asian states of the 21st century can best preserve their security in the context of the rise of China, and goes on to look at the extent to which they can preserve their autonomy of action. Offering a long-term perspective on these issues, this inter-disciplinary study is of interest to scholars and students of Southeast Asian history and politics, world history and international relations.
#63
Chinese Complaint Systems
2013
Complaint systems have existed in China for many years, and in 2004, a debate took place in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the Letters and Visits System ( xinfang zhidu ), which was designed to allow people to register complaints with the upper levels of the government. However, both parties generally overlooked several different complaint systems that had preceded the Letters and Visits System during China’s history. Indeed, despite the rich heritage of numerous complaint systems throughout China’s past, most studies of complaint systems in China have paid little attention to the origins, development, practices, impact, and nature of similar institutions in the longue durée of Chinese history. Presenting a comprehensive study of complaint systems in Chinese history from early times to the present, this important book fills the gap in existing literature on complaint systems in China. Drawing on primary sources, Qiang Fang analyses the significance of continuities and changes in historical complaint systems for contemporary China, where the state continues to be nominally strong, but actually fragile. Unlike other major theories of popular resistance to the state in China, such as ‘everyday resistance’, ‘rightful resistance’ and resistance ‘as legal rights’, this book develops the theory that behind Chinese complaint systems, there was a mentality of ‘natural resistance’ that has been deeply embedded in Chinese culture, political philosophy, and folk religion for millennia. Given this history, Fang concludes that it is likely that some form of complaint system will continue to exist, and by helping to mitigate the increasing demands of the Chinese state on the Chinese, will serve to strengthen the state. An essential contribution understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and various roles of the Letters and Visits System in contemporary China, as well as the systems that have preceded it throughout China’s long history, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese history, politics and law.
#64
Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers
2010
The purpose of this book is to examine the strategies and practices of the Han Chinese Nationalists vis-à-vis post-Qing China’s ethnic minorities, as well as to explore the role they played in the formation of contemporary China’s Central Asian frontier territoriality and border security. The Chinese Revolution of 1911, initiated by Sun Yat-sen, liberated the Han Chinese from the rule of the Manchus and ended the Qing dynastic order that had existed for centuries. With the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the Mongols and the Tibetans, who had been dominated by the Manchus, took advantage of the revolution and declared their independence. Under the leadership of Yuan Shikai, the new Chinese Republican government in Peking in turn proclaimed the similar "five-nationality Republic" proposed by the Revolutionaries as a model with which to sustain the deteriorating Qing territorial order. The shifting politics of the multi-ethnic state during the regime transition and the role those politics played in defining the identity of the modern Chinese state were issues that would haunt the new Chinese Republic from its inception to its downfall. Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese history, Asian history and modern history.
#67
Macao - Cultural Interaction and Literary Representations
2013
Macao, the former Portuguese colony in southeast China from the 1550s until its return to China in 1999, has a long and very interesting history of cultural interaction between China and the West. As an entity with independent political power and a unique social setting and cultural development, the identity of Macao's people is not only indicative of the legacy and influence of the region's socio-historical factors and forces, but it has also been altered, transformed and maintained because of the input, action, interaction and stimulation of creative arts and literatures. Held together by racial accommodation and tolerance and active cultural interactions, Macao's phenomenon can be characterized as hybridization. This book is a presentation of the ongoing hybridization of Macao and is in itself a hybrid, covering a wide range of issues. Putting forward substantial new research findings, the book explores the nature of cultural interaction in Macao, and how the city has been constructed and perceived through literature and other art forms. It is a companion volume to Macao - The Formation of a Global City .
#69
Transcultural Encounters Between Germany and India
Kindred Spirits in the 19th and 20th Centuries
2013
Providing a comprehensive survey of cutting edge scholarship in the field of German—Indian and South Asian Studies," "the booklooks at the history of German—Indian relations in the spheres of culture, politics, and intellectual life. Combining transnational, post-colonial, and comparative approaches, it includes the entire twentieth century, from the First World War and Weimar Republic to the Third Reich and Cold War era.The book first examines the ways in which nineteenth-century "Indomania" figured in the creation of both German national identity and modern German scholarship on the Orient, and it illustrates how German encounters with India in the Imperial era alternately destabilized and reinforced the orientalist, capitalist, and nationalist underpinnings of German modernity. Contributors discuss the full range of German responses to India, and South Asian perceptions of Germany against the backdrop of war and socio-political revolution, as well as the Third Reich's ambivalent perceptions of India in the context of racism, religion, and occultism. The book concludes by exploring German—Indian relations in the era of decolonization and the Cold War.Employing a diverse array of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding German—Indian encounters over the past two centuries, this book is of interest to students and scholars of Germany, India, Europe, and Asia, as well as history, political science, anthropology, philosophy, comparative literature, and religious studies."
#70
The Japanese Occupation of Borneo, 1941-45
2010
The Japanese occupation of both British Borneo—Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo—and Dutch Borneo in 1941 to 1945 is a much understudied subject. Of particular interest is the occupation of Dutch Borneo, governed by the Imperial Japanese Navy that had long-term plans for permanent possession'. This book surveys Borneo under Western colonialism, examines pre-war Japanese interests in Borneo, and analyses the Japanese military invasion and occupation. It goes on to consider the nature of Japanese rule in Borneo, contrasting the different regimes of the Imperial Japanese Army, which ruled the north, and the Navy. A wide range of issues are discussed, including the incorporation of the economy in the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and the effects of this on Borneo's economy. The book also covers issues such as the relationship with the various indigenous inhabitants, with Islam and the Muslim community, and the Chinese, as well as topics of acculturation and propaganda, and major uprisings and mass executions. It examines the impact of the wartime conditions and policies on the local multiethnic peoples and their responses, providing an invaluable contribution to the greater understanding of the significance of the wartime Japanese occupation in the historical development of Borneo.
#71
A History of Alcohol and Drugs in Modern South Asia
Intoxicating Affairs
2014
At the beginning of the 21st century, alcoholism, transnational drug trafficking and drug addiction constitute major problems in various South Asian countries. The production, circulation and consumption of intoxicating substances created (and responded to) social upheavals in the region and had widespread economic, political and cultural repercussions on an international level. This book looks at the cultural, social, and economic history of intoxicants in South Asia, and analyses the role that alcohol and drugs have played in the region.The book explores the linkages between changing meanings of intoxicating substances, the making of and contestations over colonial and national regimes of regulation, economics, and practices and experiences of consumption. It shows the development of current meanings of intoxicants in South Asia in terms of politics, cultural norms and identity formation and the way in which the history of drugs and alcohol is enmeshed in the history of modern empires and nation states even in a country in which a staunch teetotaller and active anti-drug crusader like Mohandas Gandhi is presented as the father of the nation.Primarily a historical analysis, the book also includes perspectives from Modern Indology and Cultural Anthropology and situates developments in South Asia in wider imperial and global contexts. It is of interest to scholars working on the social and cultural history of alcohol and drugs, South Asian Studies and Global History.
#73
The Internment of Western Civilians under the Japanese 1941-1945
A Patchwork of Internment
2004
Anyone with an interest in the Second World War in the Far East is familiar with military and Prisoner-of-War narratives. But how the 130,000 British, Dutch and American civilian men, women and children captured and interned by the Japanese in the Far Eaast during the same period survived their internment is less well-known. How did these colonial people react to the sudden humiliation of surrender? How did they adapt to three-and-a-half years in Japanese camps in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies? The Internment of Western Civilians under the Japanese 1941-1945 addresses these questions. Bernice Archer's comparative study of the experiences of the Western civilians interned by the Japanese in mixed family camps and sexually segregated camps in the Far East combines a wide variety of conventional and unconventional source material. This includes: contemporary War, Foreign and Colonial Office papers, diaries, letters, camp newspapers and artefacts and post-war medical, engineering and educational reports, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs and over fifty oral interviews with ex-internees. An investigation of evacuation policies reveals the moral, economic, political, emotional and racial dilemmas faced by the imperial powers and the colonial communities in the Far East.
#74
Food Culture in Colonial Asia
A Taste of Empire
2011
Presenting a social history of colonial food practices in India, Malaysia and Singapore, this book discusses the contribution that Asian domestic servants made towards the development of this cuisine between 1858 and 1963. Domestic cookbooks, household management manuals, memoirs, diaries and travelogues are used to investigate the culinary practices in the colonial household, as well as in clubs, hill stations, hotels and restaurants. Challenging accepted ideas about colonial cuisine, the book argues that a distinctive cuisine emerged as a result of negotiation and collaboration between the expatriate British and local people, and included dishes such as curries, mulligatawny, kedgeree, country captain and pish pash. The cuisine evolved over time, with the indigenous servants preparing both local and European foods. The book highlights both the role and representation of domestic servants in the colonies. It is an important contribution for students and scholars of food history and colonial history, as well as Asian Studies.
#75
China's Political Economy in Modern Times
Changes and Economic Consequences, 1800-2000
2011
This book makes an important contribution to the study of changes in China’s institutions and their impact on the national economy as well as ordinary people’s daily material life from 1800 to 2000. Kent Deng reveals China’s mega-cycle of prosperity-poverty-prosperity without the usual attribution to the 1840 Opium War, or the alleged population pressure, class struggle and oriental despotism. The book challenges the conventional view on ‘rebellions’, ‘revolutions’ and their alleged motivations and outcomes. Its findings separate commonly circulated myth with reality based on solid evidence and careful evaluation. The benchmark used by the author is people’s entitlement and mundane day-to-day material well being, instead of the stereotype of aggregates of industrial hardware and national GDP. China’s Political economy in Modern Times proves that state-building was the prime mover in China’s modern history. Contrary to the popular belief in mass movement, Deng shows convincingly that changes were in most cases imposed by a minority with external help. Therefore, the quality of the state was unpredictable, seen from the anti-state that cost lives and economic growth. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Politics, Chinese Economics, Chinese History, and Political Economy.
#76
The Non-Aligned Movement and the Cold War
Delhi - Bandung - Belgrade
2014
The idea of non-alignment and peaceful coexistence was not new when Yugoslavia hosted the Belgrade Summit of the Non-Aligned in September 1961. Freedom activists from the colonies in Asia, Africa, and South America had been discussing such issues for decades already, but this long-lasting context is usually forgotten in political and historical assessments of the Non-Aligned Movement. This book puts the Non-Aligned Movement into its wider historical context and sheds light on the long-term connections and entanglements of the Afro-Asian world. It assembles scholars from differing fields of research, such as Asian Studies, Eastern European and Southeast European History, Cold War Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and International Relations. In doing so, this volume looks back to the ideological beginnings of the concept of peaceful coexistence at the time of the anticolonial movements, and at the multi-faceted challenges of foreign policy the former freedom fighters faced when they established their own decolonized states. It analyses the crucial role Yugoslav president Tito played in his determination to keep his country out of the blocs, and finally examines the main achievement of the Non-Aligned to give subordinate states of formerly subaltern peoples a voice in the international system. An innovative look at the Non-Aligned Movement with a strong historical component, the book will be of great interest to academics working in the field of International Affairs, international history of the 20th century, the Cold War, Race Relations as well as scholars interested in Asian, African and Eastern European history.
#77
Rethinking Gandhi and Nonviolent Relationality
Global Perspectives
2007
This book presents a rethinking of the world legacy of Mahatma Gandhi in this era of unspeakable global violence. Through interdisciplinary research, key Gandhian concepts are revisited by tracing their genealogies in multiple histories of world contact and by foregrounding their relevance to contemporary struggles to regain the OCyhumaneOCO in the midst of global conflict. The relevance of Gandhian notions of ahimsa and satyagraha is assessed in the context of contemporary events, when religious fundamentalisms of various kinds are competing with the arrogance and unilateralism of imperial capital to reduce the world to a state of international lawlessness.Covering a wide and comprehensive range of topics such as GandhiOCOs vegetarianism and medical practice, his successes and failures as a litigator in South Africa, his experiments with communal living and his concepts of non-violence and satyagraha. The book combines historical, philosophical, and textual readings of different aspects of the leaderOCOs life and works.Rethinking Gandhi in a New World Order will be of interest to students and academics interested in peace and conflict studies, South Asian history, world history, postcolonial studies, and studies on Gandhi."
#78
Colonial Counterinsurgency and Mass Violence
The Dutch Empire in Indonesia
2013
Whether out of historical interest, romantic identification with the colonized or as models for contemporary counter-insurgency experts, the mass violence of insurgency and counter-insurgency in the post-war decolonization of the European empires has long exerted an intense fascination. In the main, the dramas in French Algeria and British Kenya in the 1950s have dominated the scene, overshadowing the equally violent events that unfolded in the Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese empires. Colonial counterinsurgency and mass violence is the first book in English to treat the intense conflict that occurred during the 'Indonesian revolution'—the decolonization struggle of the Dutch East Indies between 1945 and 1949. This case is particularly significant as the first episode of post-war colonial violence, indeed one with global reverberations. International opinion was ranged against the Dutch, and the nascent United Nations condemned its euphemistically termed 'police actions' to reclaim the archipelago from Indonesian nationalists after defeat by the Japanese in 1942. As this book makes clear, however, intra-Indonesian violence was no less prevalent, as rival independence visions vied for control and villagers were caught between the fronts. Taking a multi-perspectival approach, eighteen authors examine the origins of the conflict as well as its representational and memory dimensions. Colonial counterinsurgency and mass violence will appeal to scholars of imperial history, mass violence and memory studies alike.
This book is based on a special issue of the Journal of Genocide Research.
#79
Xinjiang and the Expansion of Chinese Communist Power
Kashgar in the Early Twentieth Century
2014
Xinjiang, China's far northwestern province where the majority of the population are Muslim Uyghurs, was for most of its history contested territory. On the Silk Road, a region of overlapping cultures, the province was virtually independent until the late nineteenth century, nominally part of the Qing Empire, with considerable interest taken in it by the British and the Russians as part of their Great Game rivalry in Asia. Ruled by warlords in the early twentieth century, it was occupied in 1949-50 by the People's Liberation Army, since when attempts have been made to integrate the province more fully into China. This book outlines the history of Xinjiang. It focuses on the key city of Kashgar, the symbolic heart of Uighur society, drawing on a large body of records in which ordinary people provided information on the period around the communist takeover. These records provide an exceptionally rich source, showing how ordinary Uyghurs lived their everyday lives before 1949 and how those lives were affected by the arrival of the Chinese Communist Party and its army. Subjects covered by the book include Eastern Turkestan independence, regional politics, local government, the military, taxation, education and the press.
#80
Transformation of the International Order of Asia
Decolonization, the Cold War, and the Colombo Plan
2014
In Asia the 1950s were dominated by political decolonization and the emergence of the Cold War system, and newly independent countries were able to utilize the transformed balance of power for their own economic development through economic and strategic aid programmes. This book examines the interconnections between the transfer of power and state governance in Asia, the emergence of the Cold War, and the transfer of hegemony from the UK to the US, by focusing specifically on the historical roles of international economic aid and the autonomous response from Asian nation states in the immediate post-war context. "The Transformation of the International Order of Asia" offers closely interwoven perspectives on international economic and political relations from the 1950s to the 1960s, with specific focus on the Colombo Plan and related aid policies of the time. It shows how the plan served different purposes: Britains aim to reduce Indias wartime sterling balances in London; the quest for Indias economic independence under Jawaharlal Nehru; Japans regional economic assertion and its endeavour to improve its international status; Britains publicity policy during the reorganization of British aid policies at a time of economic crisis; and more broadly, the Wests desire to counter Soviet influence in Asia. In doing so, the chapters explore how international economic aid relations became reorganized in relation to the independent development of states in Asia during the period, and crucially, the role this transformation played in the emergence of a new international order in Asia.Drawing on a wide range of international contemporary and archival source materials, this book will be welcomed by students and scholars interested in Asian, international, and economic history, politics and development studies.
#81
Public Health and National Reconstruction in Post-War Asia
International Influences, Local Transformations
2014
This book, based on extensive original research, considers the transformation of public health systems in major East, South and Southeast Asian countries in the period following the Second World War. It examines how public health concepts, policies, institutions and practices were improved, shows how international health standards were implemented, sometimes through the direct intervention of transnational organisations, and explores how indigenous traditions and local social and cultural concerns affected developments, with, in some cases, the construction of public health systems forming an important part of nation-building in post-war and post-independence countries. Throughout, the book relates developments in public health systems to people’s health, demographic changes, and economic and social reconstruction projects.
#82
The Pacific War
Aftermaths, Remembrance and Culture
2014
The Pacific War is an umbrella term that refers collectively to a disparate set of wars, however, this book presents a strong case for considering this assemblage of conflicts as a collective, singular war. It highlights the genuine thematic commonalities in the legacies of war that cohere across the Asia-Pacific and shows how the wars, both individually and collectively, wrought dramatic change to the geo-political makeup of the region. This book discusses the cultural, political and social implications of the Pacific War and engages with debates over the war’s impact, legacies, and continuing cultural resonances. Crucially, it examines the meanings and significance of the Second World War from a truly international perspective and the contributors present fascinating case studies that highlight the myriad of localised idiosyncrasies in how the Pacific War has been remembered and deployed in political contexts. The chapters trace the shared legacy that the individual wars had on demographics, culture and mobility across the Asia Pacific, and demonstrate how in the aftermath of the war political borders were transformed and new nation states emerged. The book also considers racial and sexual tensions which accompanied the arrival of both Allied and Axis personnel and their long lasting consequences, as well as the impact returning veterans and the war crime trials that followed the conflict had on societies in the region. In doing so, it succeeds in illuminating the events and issues that unfolded in the weeks, months, and indeed decades after the war. This interdisciplinary volume examines the aftermaths and legacies of war for individuals, communities, and institutions across South, Southeast, and East Asia, Oceania, and the Pacific world. As such, it will be welcomed by students and scholars of Asian history, modern history and cultural history, as well as by those interested in issues of memory and commemoration.
#83
Cultural Encounters and Homoeroticism in Sri Lanka
Sex and Serendipity
2014
Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, was long known to travellers for its luxuriant landscapes, colourful temples and friendly inhabitants - the island once named Serendip. This book explores the sojourns of gay visitors from the late 1800s to the modern day, providing a history of homosexuality, travel and cultural encounter on the island.
The book offers profiles of major figures in Sri Lankan culture and of homosexual visitors, both famous and infamous, to the island. It discusses the experiences of sojourners including the Victorian social reformer Edward Carpenter and the German naturalist Ernst Haeckel, such British and American writers as Paul Bowles and Arthur C. Clarke, and the Australian painter Donald Friend. It also pays particular attention to Lionel Wendt, one of the most important modernist photographers outside Europe. For these figures, an erotic appreciation of young men whom they encountered mixed with interest in Sinhalese art, Buddhist and Hindu spirituality, and the flora and fauna of the island. Their experiences influenced modern writing, art and dance. Cultural influences moved in both directions, however, and Sri Lankans also found inspiration from abroad. The book argues that homosexuals played a major role in the transmission of cultural influences from Sri Lanka to the rest of the world, and from the wider world to this Indian Ocean island.
Providing an original analysis of gay cultures in Sri Lanka from Victorian encounters to the present day, this book is the first study of Sri Lanka as a site of gay travel. An excellent study of trans-national cultural exchange, sexuality and the relationships between them, it will be of interest to academics in the field of Asian Studies, Colonial History and Gay and Queer Studies.
#84
Mobilizing Shanghai Youth
2014
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, youth emerged as a new and important social force in many parts of the world. In China the image of this new youth imprinted itself on Chinese consciousness and made clear to potential national leaders that future governments would not be able to ignore China’s youth or expect them simply to step in line. For this and other reasons, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (GMD) and a string of War of Resistance-era collaborationist governments all formed youth organizations in an effort to win youth over and harness their vitality and enthusiasm to further their agendas. Mobilizing Shanghai Youth explores the similarities and differences among three youth organizations that were connected to Chinese political parties or governments in Shanghai, spanning from the beginning of the May Fourth Movement, just as youth began to emerge as a powerful social and political force in China, to World War II, when Nationalist, Communist and Japanese forces were still competing for dominance. It takes a comparative approach in exploring the similarities and differences, trials and tribulations in how the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Nationalist Party and a series of collaborationist regimes sought to appeal to youth through the Communist Youth League, the Three People’s Principles Youth Corps and the China Youth Corps. Focusing on Greater Shanghai allows a detailed exploration of the rise and fall of the original Communist Youth League and its connections to international communism. The spotlight on Shanghai also yields the extraordinary finding that the Three People’s Principles Youth Corps was a valuable asset to the Nationalist Party, operating as a potent resistance organization in Japanese-controlled Shanghai whereas branches in Nationalist-controlled territory were factionalized, dysfunctional and a terrible liability for the Party. Most surprisingly, the collaborationist China Youth Corps took the most practical and in some ways the most successful approach to mobilizing China’s youth. The result of exhaustive archival research, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese history, modern history, Communism and the role of youth in revolution.
#85
Museums in China
Power, Politics and Identities
2013
From the earliest museums established by Western missionaries in order to implement religious and political power, to the role they have played in the formation of the modern Chinese state, the origin and development of museums in mainland China differ significantly from those in the West. The occurrence of museums in mainland China in the late nineteenth century was primarily a result of internal and external conflicts, Westernization and colonialism, and as such they were never established solely for enjoyment and leisure.
Using a historical and anthropological framework, this book provides a holistic and critical review on the establishment and development of museums in mainland China from 1840 to the present day, and shows how museums in China have been used by a wide range of social, political, and state actors for a number of economic, religious, political and ideological purposes. Indeed, Tracey L-D Lu examines the key role played by museums in reinforcing social segmentation, influencing the economy, protecting cultural heritage and the construction and enhancement of ethnic identities and nationalism, and how they have throughout their history helped the powerful to govern the less powerful or the powerless. More broadly, this book provides important comparative insights on museology and heritage management, and questions who the key stakeholders are, how museums reflect broader social and cultural changes, and the relationship between museum and heritage management.
Drawing on extensive archival research and anthropological fieldwork, as well as the author’s experience working as a museum curator in mainland China in the late 1980s, Museums in China such will be of great interest to students and scholars working across museology, heritage studies, tourism studies Chinese culture and Chinese history.
#86
Thailand in the Cold War
2015
Thailand’s position during the Cold War was the country’s political leadership was very keen to maintain the country’s independence on the world stage, yet at the same time was anxious to establish the country’s credentials as staunchly anti-communist. However, as this book argues, Thailand, though never formally a client state of the United States, was very closely embedded in the Western camp through the commitment of Thailand’s cosmopolitan urban communities to developing a modern, consumerist lifestyle. Considering popular culture, including film, literature, fashion, tourism and attitudes towards Buddhism, the book shows how an ideology of consumerism and integration into a "free world" culture centred in the United States gradually took hold and became firmly established, and how this popular culture and ideology was fundamental in determining Thailand’s international political alignment.
#88
Itō Hirobumi - Japan's First Prime Minister and Father of the Meiji Constitution
2014
The brilliant and influential statesman, Itō Hirobumi (1841-1909), and the first prime minister of Japan’s modern state, has been poorly understood. This biography attempts to set the record straight about Itō’s thought and vision for Japan’s modernisation based on research in primary sources. It outlines Itō’s life: the son of a poor farmer, he showed exceptional talent as a boy and was sent to study in Europe and the United States. He returned home convinced that Western civilisation was the only viable path for Japan. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Itō became a powerful intellectual and political force behind reforms of Japanese laws and institutions aimed to shape a modern government based on informed leadership and a knowledeable populace. Among his many achievements were the establishment of Japan’s first constitution—the Meiji Constitution of 1889, and the founding in 1900 of a new type of constitutional party, the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government), which, reformulated after 1945, became the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japanese politics in the postwar period. Concerning Itō’s role as Japanese Resident-General in Korea from 1905, the author argues that Itō’s aim, not understood by either the Japanese home government or Koreans themselves, was not to colonize Korea. He was determined to modernise Korea and consolidate further constitutional reforms in Japan. This aim was not shared by others, and Itō resigned in 1909. He was assassinated the same year in Manchuria by a Korean nationalist. The Japanese language edition of this book is a bestseller in Japan, and it received the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, one of Japan's most prestigious publishing awards.
#89
Gambling, the State and Society in Thailand, c.1800-1945
2013
During the nineteenth century there was a huge increase in the level and types of gambling in Thailand. Taxes on gambling became a major source of state revenue, with the government establishing state-run lotteries and casinos in the first half of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, over the same period, a strong anti-gambling discourse emerged within the Thai elite, which sought to regulate gambling through a series of increasingly restrictive and punitive laws. By the mid-twentieth century, most forms of gambling had been made illegal, a situation that persists until today. This historical study, based on a wide variety of Thai- and English-language archival sources including government reports, legal cases and newspapers, places the criminalization of gambling in Thailand in the broader context of the country’s socio-economic transformation and the modernization of the Thai state. Particular attention is paid to how state institutions, such as the police and judiciary, and different sections of Thai society shaped and subverted the law to advance their own interests. Finally, the book compares the Thai government’s policies on gambling with those on opium use and prostitution, placing the latter in the context of an international clampdown on vice in the early twentieth century.
#91
Britain and China, 1840-1970
Empire, Finance and War
2014
This book presents a range of new research on British-Chinese relations in the period from Britain’s first imperial intervention in China up to the 1960s. Topics covered include economic issues such as fi nance, investment and Chinese labour in British territories, questions of perceptions on both sides, such as British worries about, and exaggeration of, the ‘China threat’, including to India, and British aggression towards, and eventual withdrawal from, China.
#93
Britain's Imperial Retreat from China, 1900-1931
2016
Britain’s relationship with China in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is often viewed in terms of gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, and the unrelenting pursuit of Britain’s own commercial interests. This book, however, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that in Britain after the First World War a combination of liberal, Labour party, pacifist, missionary and some business opinion began to argue for imperial retreat from China, and that this movement gathered sufficient momentum for a sympathetic attitude to Chinese demands becoming official Foreign Office policy in 1926. The book considers the various strands of this movement, relates developments in Britain to the changing situation in China, especially the rise of nationalism and the Guomindang, and argues that, contrary to what many people think, the reassertion of China’s national rights was begun successfully in this period rather than after the Communist takeover in 1949.
#94
Health Policy and Disease in Colonial and Post-Colonial Hong Kong, 1841-2003
2016
Besides looking at major outbreaks of diseases and how they were coped with, diseases such as malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, plague, venereal disease, avian flu and SARS, this book also examines how the successive government regimes in Hong Kong took action to prevent diseases and control potential threats to health. It shows how policies impacted the various Chinese and non-Chinese groups, and how policies were often formulated as a result of negotiations between these different groups. By considering developments over a long historical period, the book contrasts the different approaches in the periods of colonial rule, Japanese occupation, post-war reconstruction, transition to decolonization, and Hong Kong as Special Administrative Region within the People’s Republic of China.
#95
Britain's Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905-1980
2016
The decline of British power in Asia, from a high point in 1905, when Britain s ally Japan had vanquished the Russian Empire, apparently reducing the perceived threat that Russia posed to British interests in India and China, to the end of the twentieth century, when British power had dwindled to virtually nothing, is one of the most important themes in understanding the modern history of East and Southeast Asia. This book considers a range of issues that illustrate the significance and influence of the British Empire in Asia and the nature of Britain s imperial decline. Subjects covered include the challenges posed by Germany and Japan during the First World War, British efforts at international co-operation in the interwar period, the British relationship with Korea and Japan in the wake of the Second World War, and the complicated path of decolonisation in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong."
#96
Science, Public Health and the State in Modern Asia
2011
This book examines the encounter between western and Asian models of public health and medicine in a range of East and Southeast Asian countries over the course of the twentieth century until now. It discusses the transfer of scientific knowledge of medicine and public health approaches from Europe and the United States to several Asian countries—Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, and China—and local interactions with, and transformations of, these public health models and approaches from the nineteenth century to the 1950s. Taking a critical look at assumptions about the objectiveness of science, the book highlights the use of scientific knowledge for political control, cultural manipulation, social transformation and economic needs. It rigorously and systematically investigates the historical developments of public health concepts, policies, institutions, and how these practices changed from colonial, to post-colonial and into the present day.
#97
Malaysia's Defeat of Armed Communism
The Second Emergency, 1968-1989
2014
The Malayan Communist Party’s (MCP) decisive defeat in 1960 led many academics and Counterinsurgency (COIN) experts to overlook the resurrection of its armed struggle in 1968. Most scholars continue to regard the so-called ‘Second Emergency’ in Malaysia (1968-1989) as a non-event, and most of the recently published work on the MCP tends to focus on the earlier Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). This book looks at the Second Emergency through recently released archival material from the National Archives in London, the National Australian Archives and the Australian War Memorial, as well as interviews with military and diplomatic officers from the UK and Thailand. It presents the first serious strategic and operational study of the Second Emergency, and analyses three areas of historical the CPM’s strategy for armed struggle in the Second Emergency; the actual effectiveness of the CPM’s subversive propaganda on its target population and most importantly; the counterinsurgency (COIN) response and strategy of the Malaysian state and to a lesser extent the counter-subversion strategy of Singapore in the post-colonial era.
Authors
Stewart Lone
Author · 2 books
Stewart Lone is professor of Asian social history at the Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Penelope Francks
Author · 2 books
Penelope Francks is Research Associate at the Japan Research Centre, SOAS University of London.
Robert Aldrich
Author · 10 books
Robert Aldrich is an Australian historian and writer. Aldrich is a Professor of European History, he teaches and researches modern European and colonial history, including the history of France since the Revolution, the history of the French and British overseas empires, the history of 'sites of memory' and the history of gender and sexuality.
Bruce A. Elleman
Author · 7 books
Bruce Allen Elleman is William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the Naval War College. He received his B.A. in 1982 at UC Berkeley, completed his M.A. and received the Harriman Institute Certificate in 1984, his Master of Philosophy in 1987, the East Asian Certificate in 1988, and his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1993. In addition, he completed the Master of Sciences at the London School of Economics in 1985, and the Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies (with Distinction) at the U.S. Naval War College in 2004.
Michael Dillon
Author · 1 books
Michael Dillon is a China specialist with expertise in teaching the history, politics and society of the Chinese world and the Chinese language. He was founding Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham, where he taught courses on modern China in the Department of East Asian Studies. He has a BA and PhD in Chinese Studies from Leeds University and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society. He is a peer reviewer for academic publishers and journals including China Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Inner Asia and is guest editor for a forthcoming special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies focussing on Chinese ethnicity. He is a frequent commentator on Chinese and Asian affairs for the BBC and other international broadcasters, contributes to the Times Literary Supplement and was a consultant for China, a four-part television documentary directed by Jonathan Lewis for BBC2, Granada and PBS (USA). He reads Chinese fluently, speaks Putonghua (Mandarin) and some Cantonese and has a working knowledge of the Uyghur language of Xinjiang.
Donna Brunero
Author · 1 books
Donna Brunero is Senior Lecturer at he National University of Singapore.
R.B. Smith
Author · 2 books
Ralph Bernard Smith was Professor of the International History of South-East Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Nicholas Tarling
Author · 8 books
Nicholas Tarling was Professor of History at the University of Auckland from 1968 until 1997 and a Fellow of its New Zealand Asia Institute. He was the editor of The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia and wrote nearly 50 books and a large number of articles on the region.
Kenton Clymer
Author · 2 books
Kenton Clymer is Distinguished Research Professor at Northern Illinois University.
Takii Kazuhiro
Author · 1 books
TAKII Kazuhiro is a Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
