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This open-access book offers a clear and thorough exploration of Asia's history from an international relations perspective. The book investigates key political, economic, and cultural forces defining Asia. It highlights the historical and current significance of the Indo-Pacific region, particularly shedding light on its strategic role in global geopolitics. Through detailed historical analyses, the authors guide readers toward a comprehensive understanding of Asia's complex international relations, from colonization and imperialism, through the Cold War, into decolonization and the wave of democratization in the region, to the rise of China, unpacking the various dimensions of regionalism in Asia. This book serves as a practical scholarly resource for advanced students, researchers, and lecturers interested in understanding the region's past and its implications for future geopolitical dynamics. It is relevant to historians focused on Asia and to international relations and political science scholars interested in the shift to an Asian world order, from past to present.

This book presents detailed research regarding the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, including studies of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, bronzeware, bamboo scripts, and silk manuscripts, in order to demonstrate the main features of various historical periods during the establishment and development of ancient Chinese civilization based on an a view of ancient Chinese civilization studies as a whole. The book consists of three sections with a total of 38 essays. The first section provides a macro-level overview of the formation and development history of ancient Chinese civilization; the second section, covering general topics, examines the specific characteristics of early Chinese civilization, from Emperors Yan and Huang to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Lastly, the appendix features 7 articles, including a short biography of the author.

This book traces the contours of the symbiotic relationship between crop cultivation and cattle rearing in India by reading against the grain of several official accounts from the late colonial period to the 1980s. It also skillfully unpacks the multiple cultural expressions that revolve around cattle in India and the wider subcontinent to show how this domestic animal has greatly impacted political discourses in South Asia from colonial times, into the postcolonial period. The author begins by demonstrating the dependence between the nomadic cattle breeder and the settled cultivator, at the nexus of land-livestock-agriculture, as indicated in the writings of Sir Albert Howard, who espoused some of the most sophisticated ideas on integration, holism, and mixed farming in an era when agricultural research was marked by increasing specialisation and compartmentalisation. The book springboards with the views of colonial experts who worked at imperial science institutions but passionately voiced dissenting opinions due to their emotional investment in the lives of Indian peasants, of whom Howard was a leading light. The book presents Howard and his contemporaries'writings to then engage contemporary debates surrounding organic agriculture and climate change, tracing the path out of the treadmill of industrial agriculture and factory farming. In doing so, the book shows how, historically, animal rearing has been critically linked to livelihood strategies in the Indian subcontinent. At once a dispassionate reflection on the role played by cattle and water buffaloes in not just supporting farm operations in the agro-pastoral landscape, but also in contributing to millions of livelihoods in sustainable ways while fulfilling the animal protein in the Indian diet, the book presents contemporary lessons on development perspectives relating to sustainable and holistic agriculture. A rich and sweeping treatment of this aspect of environmental history in India that tackles the transformations prompted by the arrival of veterinary medicine, veterinary education and notions of scientific livestock management, the book is a rare read for historians, environmentalists, agriculturalists, development practitioners, and animal studies scholars with a particular interest in South Asia.

This book identifies the formation, development and changes in New Zealand perceptions of its Asian neighbours, the work of which is based mainly on New Zealand sources—newspaper reports, Government and Parliamentary papers and documents from New Zealand individuals and organisations. The target audience is those with interest in how European perceptions of Asia were formed in the 19th century and Asia's response to those perceptions and how a country with a strong European culture copes with the need to better integrate with Asian neighbours.

This book provides a sweeping overview of East Asian international relations in history from the nineteenth century onwards, with a focus on Korea and its relationship with East Asia and the USA. In contrast with many books which concentrate exclusively on the twentieth century, this book offers a long-term perspective on modernity and modernization in East Asia. It addresses the tributary system, the Meiji Restoration, Japanese imperialism in East Asia, and the Cold War in East Asia. It also incorporates the First and Second Indochina Wars from Vietnam's perspective and expands the geographical scope of East Asia beyond the traditional framework of Korea, Japan, and China. The book begins with the tributary system as a starting point of East Asian modernity in contrast to the old view that the tributary system was not a'modern'system. It rejects the idea that Japan was modernizing while Korea remained stagnant and shows why Japanese colonialism continues to be controversial and problematic. Through the book's emphasis on Vietnam's perspective of the Indochina Wars, it places much value on nationalism, anti-imperialism, and decolonization as forces of modernity and modernization. Relevant to scholars and students in history, international relations, and East Asian studies more broadly, the book brings with it a novel, fresh and innovative approach to East Asian history.

This open access book provides fascinating insights into the incredible changes that Vietnam underwent in the long twentieth century as it transformed from an early modern kingdom to a European colony, to a divided land with opposing ideologies, and to a unified country in a globalized world. At each stage in this long century of changes, there were Vietnamese who sought to mold their society into some vision of “modernity.” The book looks at multiple, rather than one form of modernity, and links those forms with the different political moments that Vietnam experienced, in tandem with the outside interlocutors that were maintained during those periods. As such, this book provides a holistic view of the many forms of modernity and their global links that can be found in Vietnam over the course of the long twentieth century. These multiple modernities are documented in this book, and the authors do so by bringing together the strengths of “traditional” language-based area studies scholarship with the insights that an awareness of trans-national and global perspectives provides. Relevant to historians and researchers in the broader arena of Southeast Asian studies with a particular interest in Vietnam—its journey from past to present—this book is a must-read engagement with a country that has undergone and continues to experience, rapid transformation.

This handbook offers an updated and comprehensive presentation of knowledge on Korean modern and contemporary food history. It covers the changes in food availability, nutrition, and the health status of Koreans, and the Korean food industry's development from the late period of Joseon dynasty in the mid-19th century, to the present. This period includes the severe poverty and food shortage of the Joseon dynasty, followed by the Japanese invasion, Independence and the South-North division, the Korean war, and rapid industrial development. The influence of national and international environments and political changes during the last 150 years on the Korean food security and the nutritional situation of the people is demarcated. In doing so, the author makes novel suggestions on possible contributions to alleviate the world food crisis in the future. Relevant to food historians and food scientists, and East Asian studies scholars with a particular interest in Korean culture and history,this is a pioneering work that elucidates the driving forces for the development and betterment of Korean society—through food acquisition.

This book offers an analytical account of the April Third Massacre in Korea, a bloody confrontation between supporters of the Syngman Rhee Administration and those suspected (largely incorrectly) of being Communists, or members of the South Korean Workers'Party—the second largest Communist Party after Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. As a result, some 80,000 villagers, fishermen, and policemen were killed. The book, drawing from a wide array of primary sources, ranging from South Korean governmental records, memoranda, memoirs, and recently unclassified documents, examines the role of the South Korean Workers'Party in the April Third Massacre on Jeju and how it shaped the origins of the Korean War. The author maps these origins of the Korean War from the outbreak of the April Third Massacre and through the ensuing chain of violence which included the Yo-su and Sun-ch'on Massacres of October 1948, engulfing the peninsula until 1949. Of interest to all scholars studyingmodern Korea, it is particularly relevant to historians focused on the Korean War, as well as political scientists and international relations experts interested in East Asian conflicts.

This book offers a new analysis of the Nordic Peace after its onset in 1814, the year that marks the end to centuries of warfare between the Nordic countries, and the applicability of the Nordic solutions and principles for North East Asian conflicts. Through an analysis of three key post-1814 conflicts that the Nordic region resolved peacefully - the Union of Norway and Sweden (1814-1905), the issue on the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein between Denmark and Germany (1864-1920 & 1955), and the Aaland Islands problem between Finland and Sweden (1809-1922), the book examines how the solutions that underlie the Nordic Peace transcended causes for conflict, and if there is universal potential in the Nordic solutions for similar conflicts in North East Asia

This book explores the historical and legal importance of two principles, Quod Omnes Tangit, and Tianxia Wei Gong, which have played significant roles in European and Chinese political and legal history. While Quod Omnes Tangit has been thoroughly researched, Tianxia Wei Gong has not been systematically examined. This thesis fills this void and connects these two principles for the first time. Quod Omnes Tangit was initially introduced in Justinian's Codex Civil, while Tianxia Wei Gong originated from Liji, one of the books in a key series of works by Confucius. Liji is comparable to the Thora in the Old Testament and is considered as important as law in Chinese legal history. Both principles have undergone comparable developmental processes, with scholars contributing to their reinterpretation. This book thoroughly examines the interpretations of individual scholars, with particular attention given to Liang Qichao, who is the only one to have mentioned both Tianxia Wei Gong and Quod Omnes Tangit. The book also provides an explanation for the original discrepancies in their concepts, particularly their methodologies in distributing and legitimizing rights. This research will be of interest to legal philosophers and historians in both the Western and Eastern worlds, legal practitioners and policymakers, and researchers seeking to explain current events and explore fundamental differences between the East and West.

This book constitutes a timely intervention into debates over the status of Taiwan, at a moment when discussions of democracy and autocracy, imperialism and agency, unipolarity and multipolarity, dominate the intellectual agenda of the day. Pursuing a parallel trajectory that is both epistemic and historical, that is traced out in relation both to Taiwan's recent history and to the disparate forms of knowledge production about that history, this work engages in scholarly debate about some of the burning issues of our time, including transitional justice, hegemony and conspiracy in the digital age, debt regimes, cultural difference, national language, and the traumatic legacies of war, colonialism, anticommunism, antiblackness, and neoliberalism. Providing trenchant analyses of the fundamental bipolarity that persists amidst both unipolar and multipolar conceptions of the world schema inherited from the colonial-imperial modernity, this book will be of interest to scholars in manyfields, including translation studies, postcolonial studies, Marxism studies, trauma studies, media studies, poststructural theory, gender studies, cold war studies, area studies, American studies, black studies, and so forth.

This book analyzes the exchange relations between the colonies of the Iberian Empires, starting from two cities ports, Buenos Aires and Macau in the period 1580-1700. Agents, who were not professional traders such as the members of the Society of Jesus, and the circulation and consumption of Asian goods in the local populations of Buenos Aires and Macau, were analyzed. Both cases of study will show us how these non-state agents- the Jesuits- build their own networks and exchange channels to Chinese goods distribution (i.e silk, porcelain, musk, amber and others) between Asia and Latin American. This book intends to break with the local scheme of Jesuit studies in order to combine the local scale with analysis of inter-regional processes on a continental scale, from a comparative perspective.

Religion as a form of cultural expression constitutes a critical element in the relationship between Germany and India. The discovery of Indian traditions in Germany and re-interpretations of those traditions in India fueled not only new theological and philosophical explorations, but also extensive innovations in the fields of music, dance, bodily experience, and political intervention. Seeking to uncover the enfolding of colonial thought structures through presentations of the Self, while placing them in the context of global colonial value chains that connected the peripheries with the centre, this interdisciplinary volume addresses India through the lens of an entangled relationship. Adopting the position that the acceleration of communication, technical development, and colonisation locally triggered re-interpretations of the religious sphere, This volume takes a look at the period from 1800 to the end of National Socialism, tracing the strands of an Indo-Germanic religion inthe making as it goes along. A special emphasis is placed on the artistic expressions of religious experience including re-enactments of musical compositions and dance configurations, which were created to embody India in Germany.This is an open access book.

This book systematically and comprehensively studies on alternative media in Taiwan, using a historical approach and primary data and first hand collected materials to examine how political openness and social movement in the 1980s through the 1990s in Taiwan enabled the rapid growth and wide development of Taiwan's alternative media, what impact the alternative media in Taiwan had on its socio-political transformation, and what implications Taiwan's case of alternative media has for other societies, especially for other Asian societies. This book would be a good reading for intellectuals, media professionals, government analysts, and the general public as well, who are interested in this topic.

This book delves into topics on pilgrimage travel and communities from a variety of perspectives through academic research based on the Middle East, Northeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Europe, where sacred sites have become of great importance for both international and domestic tourism. In particular, Europe and Asia possess a high volume of world-renowned pilgrimage sites that are currently being developed as tourism destinations in their respective countries, such as Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Lourdes (France), and Koyasan (Japan). This book includes studies on these two continents that harbor both a great history of pilgrimage tradition, as well as tourism development related to religious travel. The book importantly covers the role of the community in religious tourism, as well as the impact on the locals, which is comparatively an unexplored area. Whilst pilgrimage is seen as an effective tool to revitalize local economies, this book also reveals the different challenges to achieving this goal. Realizing the importance of the interrelationship of community and pilgrimage travel, as well as the lack of studies on it, this book seeks to address this research gap through 14 chapters divided into two parts, ‘Communities and Constestation'and ‘Pilgrimage Shaping Communities'. To ensure diverse perspectives, case studies from different Eurasian countries, written by authors with expertise in the study of pilgrimage and religious travel, are included. Readers can expect to gain new perspectives by having a deeper comprehension of the ‘community side‘ of pilgrimage travel in Eurasia, and thus an integral understanding of contemporary pilgrimage

This book provides a supportive lending hand to researchers of constitutional law worldwide about the constitutional law of Bangladesh. Moreover, this book discusses the evolution and development of the constitutional law of Bangladesh over 50 years from its embryonic stage with reference to comparative constitutional law. This book is a very useful resource for the comparative constitutional researchers as readers will be able to easily interpret the constitutional law of Bangladesh from national, regional and global constitutional law perspectives.This book celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Constitution, the first of its kind to portray the journey of constitutionalism in Bangladesh comprehensively with intellectual observations and palatable recommendations for improvement. This book looks back to the constituent assembly debates, intention of the constitution makers and how have those dreams and aspirations have come into realities, what goals have beenachieved, what caused some failures, and what should be its future directions. At such a momentous point in history, it is imperative that its native and foreign constitutional authoritative voices scholarly assess the constitutional design, understand the reasons for its successes and occasional failures, and ventilate their views towards its progressive development to elevate it to a new height in the 21st century and beyond.The book chapters discuss not only the text of the constitution and some judicial precedents, rather involve in a much larger task of unveiling the interpretative approach of the Constitution from a comparative constitutional law perspective. This book shall project the future roadmap for the journey of constitutionalism in Bangladesh throughout all chapters offering policy recommendations for the revision of the Constitution.

This book provides a new perspective on the study of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its monarchy – its political leadership and decisions. Moreover, it analyzes how that decision-making evolved before, during, and after the Arab–Israeli War of 1973, and the subsequent Arab oil embargo that followed; the run-up to and aftermath of the 1975 murder of King Faysal; discussions over the oil weapon; and Saudi responses to the Carter presidency in the United States. Through the prism of tribal decision-making, this book sheds new light on a number of important political events, which have shaped the political leadership in Saudi Arabia, and explores the behind-the-scenes workings of the Saudi royal family.

This book seeks to trace the notarial history of China from 1902 to 1979. While working on this trailblazing effort, the author taps into a rich variety of artifacts, especially the notarial documents, archived records, manuals and journals from private collection or originally issued by China's judicial authorities during different periods. No similar book has been published so far. Many of these items are taken from old publications and notarial documents that the author purchased from grass-root vendors. The book complements the text with illustrations, and the descriptions of the same articles are consistent throughout narrative. Even more remarkable is that many rare notarial historical materials in Chinese and foreign languages are available for the first time. This book is a must-read for researchers and students need in their understanding of China's judicial system or China's history. It gives a complete introduction to the development and evolution of China's notarial system, which has great reference value for those who study this subject.

This book is a history reader and cultural primer for students and aspiring scholars of past and contemporary interactions among civilizations over the Eurasian landmass. Tracing a human journey that spans several million years, this general survey of civilizations comprises seven sections: Studies on Civilization, Silk Road, Survey of Greater Central Asia, Portrait of India, Persian Cultural Sphere, Caucasus, and Turkish March. The first section introduces methodologies and perspectives for civilization studies. The second focuses on the concept and connotations of the ancient Silk Road as well as China's 21st-century strategic Belt & Road Initiative. In the remaining five sections, the trilingual, peripatetic author, based on his experiences and reflections, provides introductions to and comments on the history, literature, art, social tensions, and future development of five key areas along the Silk Road, i.e., Central Asia, India, Iran, Caucasus, and Turkey.

This book is the first to analyse the practice of governance to resolve conflict in the case of Aceh in Indonesia. Combining theoretical discourse on conflict, democracy, and governance, it draws from original field research on the separatist conflict, utilizing a social constructivist approach in collating observations and interviews with political elites from both the Government of Indonesia and the Aceh Independent Movement (GAM). The conflict was an intractable one in which thousand civilians were killed between 1976 and 2006. The author zooms into the 2003 and 2007 period, against the broader context of the political landscape of Indonesia under the Suharto regime. In doing so, the book tackles the challenges presented by intrastate conflicts relating to ethno-religiosity, land use, and separatism. It unpacks the Indonesian political system's shift from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one, and demarcates the prevalence of state violence in managing conflicts, as exemplified in the Aceh separatism conflict. Relevent to political scientists and scholars in peace, conflict and development studies, this co-published book presents novel sociological insights into Indonesia's historical, and contemporary, political landscape.

This book explores a panorama of historical studies, focused on the historical tensions between genealogical knowledge and well-known Pacific Islander engagements with genomic research in a postwar era of simultaneous decolonization and Big Science. These include connected examinations of ancient voyaging reconstruction and migration routes, “warrior genes,” a noted life-form patent case, questions of genetic engineering and biopiracy, the repatriation of ancestral remains, legacies of nuclear testing, and conflicts with the Human Genome Diversity Project in Oceania. It also considers the persistence of eugenics and race thinking within blood quanta and dispossession histories and how other histories are being written. Many of these subjects have been elaborated in detailed, specialist studies, but there is to date no single-volume overview of these multiple engagements that situates them all within a narrative framework of postwar racism and anti-racism, the technological promises ofgenetic science, and the cultural and political struggles and assertions of Indigenous islanders, whose voices structure and shape the arguments. It combines traditional archival and scholarly work with contemporary Islander commentary and research, and ranges from poetry to politics and molecular biology.

Shedding light on the role of India within twentieth-century international relations, this book explores the life and career of Kavalam Madhava (K. M.) Panikkar (1894–1963), an Indian historian, statesman and diplomat. Having been involved in Indian intellectual and political life throughout the transition from the British Empire to the Nehruvian era, Panikkar was an important figure in the evolution of the modern Indian state. Based on over four years of extensive research both in India and Europe, and the analysis of public writings and unpublished archival documents, this book examines Panikkar's role in the Indian national movement, the governance of several Princely states, and India's foreign policy, notably with China. Not only do the authors critically re-evaluate Panikkar's intellectual and political thoughts, but also his influence on the broader issue of India's path towards independence. Offering a valuable contribution to modern Indian diplomatic history and wider international relations, this comprehensive book emphasises Panikkar's importance in shaping the modern idea of India and crucial elements of Indian foreign policy.

Dieses Buch bietet einen umfassenden Überblick über die vormoderne Wirtschaftsgeschichte Zentralasiens und der Seidenstraße, die mehrere Jahrtausende umfasst. Durch die Analyse einer Fülle von Quellen und Materialien veranschaulicht es die wiederholten wirtschaftlichen Blütezeiten der Seidenstraße, in denen sie über viele Jahrhunderte Orient und Okzident verband. Nomadische Steppenreiche beherrschten häufig Zentralasien, prägten dessen Wirtschaft und beeinflussten den Handel entlang der Seidenstraße. Das Buch untersucht die Ursachen und Auswirkungen des weitreichenden Booms des Überlandhandels und erörtert gleichzeitig verschiedene interne und externe Faktoren, die zum allmählichen wirtschaftlichen Niedergang Zentralasiens und letztlichzum Ende der Seidenstraße führten. Schließlich wird erläutert, wie der wirtschaftliche Niedergang zum chinesischen und russischen Kolonialismus im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert beitrug. Detaillierte Informationen, z.B. über den Verlauf derSeidenstraße in den verschiedenen Epochen, werden in Form zahlreicher neu erstellter Karten angeboten.

The exclusion of the destitute population from the formal financial system is a long-standing problem in India. This book examines the performance of financial inclusion policies in India to understand their impact on two urban vulnerable groups, Slum Dwellers and Beggars. This study includes analysis at the national level, the variables of the financial inclusion index like Penetration, Availability, and Usage from 2006 to 2020 from the world bank data set. Similarly, the authors examine five policies on financial inclusion by conducting a primary level survey on two urban capital cities of Lucknow and Kolkata, using a well-structured questionnaire for data collection. The authors uses two sampling techniques: simple random in the case of beggars, and stratified random in the case of slum dwellers.This book highlights the difference between financial access and non-access of household respondents in capturing the impacts of financial inclusion schemes on their socio-economic condition and financial behavior. The findings indicate that access to these schemes is extremely limited for the underprivileged population, such as beggars and slum dwellers. The analysis has shown that claims made by the government are not based on real-life occurrences. This book demonstrates that these programs have a negligible effect on life-deprived people.This book will be of interest to academia, policymakers, and society at large.

This book presents cutting-edge archaeological materials from Xinjiang, from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. Through a systematic topological study of major archaeological cemeteries and sites, it establishes chronologies and cultural sequences for three main regions in Xinjiang, namely the circum-Eastern Tianshan region, the circum-Dzungarian Basin region and the circum-Tarim Basin region. It also discusses the origins and local variants of prehistoric archaeological cultures in these regions and the mutual relationships between them and neighboring cultures.By doing so, the book offers a panoramic view of the socio-cultural changes that took place in prehistoric Xinjiang from pastoral-agricultural societies to the mobile nomadic-pastoralist states in the steppe regions and the agricultural states of the oasis, making it a must-read for researchers and general readers who are interested in the archaeology of Xinjiang.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of political and economic developments as well as security issues in the Korean Peninsula during 2008–2020 from a Russian perspective. The authors offer a rich analysis of domestic affairs in both Korean states and the international situation they act in. The book's first section, Diverging Development Paths, analyzes the evolution of North and South Korea in the early twenty-first century. The next section, The Nuclear Challenge, assesses Seoul's and Pyongyang's foreign policy options within ever-changing domestic and international circumstances – under the looming nuclear shadow. The final section, Partnering with Russia, presents an unprecedented first-hand account of Seoul's and Pyongyang's dealings with Moscow. The book provides a unique account with expertise from Russia, one of the four states directly involved in Korean affairs, providing insights on domestic and diplomatic decision-making of the two Korean states and international efforts to resolve the nuclear issue.

This book is divided into two parts. One is the state of trade in East Asia before and after the collapse of the tributary system to the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the war of aggression in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent a large number of troops to the Korean Peninsula with a view of conquering China at the end of the sixteenth century. With regard to East Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the contributors in this book share a problem awareness in terms of using trade and war as subjects to clarify multi-ethnic, borderless, and multilayered situations. Although there are many chapters related to Japan, this book tries to grasp the interaction between Japan as a region of East Asia and neighboring countries from a global perspective, not the one singular national history.

“The Earliest China” is the first archaeological book in China to translate in the dominant language of the world on the origin of Chinese ancient civilization in the Central Plains and the study of Xia dynastic culture. It shows readers all over the world the outstanding achievements in the study of the formation of early state in China and is the first English translation monograph on the birth history of the first dynasty of Hua-Xia nation from the perspective of archaeology. With the specific archaeological data on the basis of excavations and investigation conducted in recent years, this book focuses on the interpretation of the rise and development of the ancient civilization having initially appeared in the Central Plain of China and even in the Eastern Asia. The book contents include abundant manifestations of the first flourishing civilization especially at the Erlitou site along the Yi and Luo Rivers, characteristic of ultra-large capital city, palace buildings, elaborate bronze vessels, and stratified social organization. With the combination of previously literature, the original author attempts to further explain how the earliest China, a royal-powered, and large-scaled state, emerged four thousand years ago. In this book, the analysis on a comprehensive landscape of the ancient civilization prior to the Shang Dynasty leads the point of views, distinctively from the traditional historical perspectives. With a global perspective, he further compares with other significant civilizations in the world and also points out cultural communications between the early China and other external cultures in the Bronze Age. Therefore, this book, the Earliest China of English translated version, is so appropriate to be recommended to foreign scholars and sinologists, as well as everyone who has been attracted by China's charm overseas. With book contents, ideas, and thoughts that it contains, one can easily acknowledge the goals, methods, and reconstruction process ofChina's prehistory, so English readers will acknowledge so well about the Chinese Archaeology in the Bronze Age, which does vary in many aspects from that of European and American.

This book explores how steam engine technology was transferred into nineteenth-century China in the second half of the nineteenth century by focusing on the transmission of knowledge and skills. It takes on the long-term problem in historiography that puts too much emphasis on politics but ignores the techno-scientific and institutional requirements for launching such an endeavor. It examines how translations broke linguistic and conceptual barriers and brought new a understanding of heat to the Chinese readership. It also explores how the Fuzhou Navy Yard's shipbuilding and training program trained China's first generation of shipbuilding workers and engineers. It argues that conservatism against technology was not to blame for China's slow development in steamship building. Rather, it was government officials'failure to realize the scale of institutional and techno-scientific changes required in importing and disperse new knowledge and skills.

This monograph discusses the dispute in geographical naming of the sea between Korea and Japan, which has been a long-lasting issue in East Asia and beyond. The book covers the modern history of the dispute, reveals the origin of the names for the sea between Korea and Japan, and the historical change of the name on ancient maps of Korea, Japan, and the West, and tracks the naming trends of the East Sea in geography textbooks in the pre-modern and modern times. The book also contains suggestions for some tangible solutions for the issue. This book is a useful resource for students and scholars in the fields of political geography, historical geography, cartography, diplomatic history, international relations, politics, and other related disciplines. It also appeals to international experts in hydrographic organizations and the United Nations, and geography and history teachers. The book is also interesting for the general readers interested in the topic of geographical naming disputes.

The book integrates the latest scholarly literature on the entire Indian Ocean region, from East Africa to China. Issues such as India's history, India's changing status in the region, and India's cross-cultural networking over a long period are explored in this book. It is organized in specific themes in thirteen chapters. It incorporates a wealth of research on India's strategic significance in the Indian Ocean arena throughout history. It enriches the reader's understanding of the emergence of the Indian Ocean basin as a global arena for cross-cultural networking and nation-building. It discusses issues of trade and commerce, the circulation of ideas, peoples and objects, and social and religious themes, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. The book provides a refreshingly different survey of India's connected history in the Indian Ocean region starting from the archaeological record and ending with the coming of empire. The author's unique experience, combined with an engaging writing style, makes the book highly readable. The book contributes to the field of global history and is of great interest to researchers, policymakers, teachers, and students across the fields of political, cultural, and economic history and strategic studies.

This open access book reconstructs and examines a crucial episode of Anglo-Iberian diplomatic rivalry: the clash between the Portuguese-sponsored Jesuit missionaries and the English East India Company (EIC) at the Mughal court between 1580 and 1615. This 35-year period includes the launch of the first Jesuit mission to Akbar's court in 1580 and the preparation of the royal embassy led by Sir Thomas Roe to negotiate the concession of trading privileges to the EIC, and encompasses not only the extension of the conflict between the Iberian crowns and England into Asia, but also the consolidation of the Mughal Empire. The book examines the proselytizing and diplomatic activities of the Jesuit missionaries, the evolution of English diplomatic strategies concerning the Mughal Empire, and how the Mughal authorities instigated and exploited Anglo-Iberian rivalry in the pursuit of specific commercial, geopolitical, and ideological agendas.

This book discusses the sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands from the perspectives of Ryukyu and Okinawa. Written in chronological order, the book has 13 chapters featuring 121 documents and maps. The first 12 chapters explain, based on detailed historical facts on the Diaoyu Islands, the rise and decline of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the historical roles of China, Japan, and the United States in the history of the kingdom. The final chapter is an overview of the Sino-Ryukyuan, Japan-Ryukyuan and US-Ryukyuan relations, and further clarifies the issue of ownership of the Diaoyu Islands and their strategic position. The book demonstrates that Ryukyu did not have sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, refutes Japan's claim that these islands were a part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and reveals the causes and consequences of the Sino-Japanese conflicts created by the United States. The book examines the 500-year friendship between China and Ryukyu, recounting moving stories. Lastly, citing ancient documents and more, the books proves that the Ryukyus never owned the Diaoyu Islands and that these islands belong to China.

This book reconstructs the philosophical issues informing the debate between the makers of modern India: Ambedkar and Gandhi. At one level, this debate was about a set of different but interconnected issues: caste and social hierarchies, untouchability, Hinduism, conversion, temple entry, and political separatism. The introduction to this book provides a brief overview of the engagements and conflicts in Gandhi and Ambedkar's central arguments. However, at another level, this book argues that the debate can be philosophically re-interpreted as raising their differences on the following issues: The nature of the self,The relationship between the individual self and the community,The appropriate relationship between the constitutive encumbrances of the self and a conception of justice,The relationship between memory, tradition, and self-identity. Ambedkar and Gandhi'scontrary conceptions of the self, history,itihaas, community and justice unpack incommensurable world views. These can be properly articulated only as very different answers to questions about the relationship between the present and the past. This book raises these questions and also establishes the link between the Ambedkar--Gandhi debate in the early 20th century and its re-interpretation as it resonates in the imagination and writing of marginalized social groups in the present times.

This book, the first historical sociology of its kind concerning Bangladesh, examines the country's what-went-wrong-syndrome during the first fifty years of its existence, 1971-2021. The work is an exception to the traditional studies on modern and contemporary Bangladesh. The study is also a post-history of united Pakistan. Busting several myths, it sheds light on many known and unknown facts about the history, politics, society, and culture of the country. Besides being a twice-born country – liberated twice, from the British in 1947 and from West Pakistanis in 1971 – it is also an artificial entity suffering from acute crises of culture, development, governance, and identity. Hashmi attributes the culture and identity crises to the demographic byproducts of bad governance. In addition to being overpopulated, Bangladesh is also resource-poor and has one of the most unskilled populations, largely lumpen elements and peasants. According to Marx, these peoplerepresent “the unchanging remnants of the past”. The second round of independence empowered these lumpen classes, who suffer from an identity crisis and never learn the art of governance. The proliferation of pseudo-history about liberation has further divided the polity between the two warring tribes who only glorify their respective idols, Mujib and Zia. Pre-political and pre-capitalist peasants'/ lumpen elements'lack of mutual trust and respect have further plagued Bangladesh, turning it into one of the least governable, corrupt, and inefficient countries. It is essential to replace the pre-capitalist order of the country run by multiple lumpen classes with capitalist and inclusive institutions.

The Emergence of Bangladesh analyses and celebrates the first 50 years of Bangladesh as a nation, bringing insights from key scholars in Bangladeshi studies to an international audience, as well as ‘bringing home'to a domestic audience the work of some of the nation's greatest intellectual exports, the Bangladeshi scholars who have made a mark in their field of study in academia. The book offers unique coverage of the battlegrounds on which the founding of the new nation was fought, including language, power and religion, and provides unique insight into some of the hot spots that continue to shape the development of the nation: the issues of gender, culture, ethnicity, governance, the economy and the army. Those with an interest in understanding the past or present Bangladesh will find this a trove of frank and readable analysis.

This book aims at providing an accessible introduction to and summary of the major themes of Hong Kong history that has been studied in the past decades. Each chapter also suggests a number of key historical figures and works that are essential for the understanding of a particular theme. However, the book is by no means merely a general survey of the recent studies of Hong Kong history; it tries to suggest that the best way to approach Hong Kong history is to put it firmly in its international context.

This book attempts to reveal historical dynamism of transforming contemporary Maritime Asia and to identify key driving forces or agencies for the evolution and transformation of Maritime Asia in the context of global history studies. It seeks to accomplish these goals by connecting different experiences in Maritime Asia both historically from the late early-modern to the present and spatially covering both East and Southeast Asia. Focusing on interactions on and through oceans, seas, and islands, Maritime Asia can deal with any aspects of human society and the nature, including diplomacy, maritime trade, cultural exchange, identity and others. Its interest in supra-regional interactions and networks, migration and diaspora, combined with its microscopic concern with local and trans-border affairs, will surely contribute to the common task of contemporary social sciences and humanities, to relativize the conventional framework based on the nation-state.In this regard, research in Maritime Asia claims to be an integral part of global studies. Part I deals with long-distance trade and diplomatic relations during the late early modern era and its transition to the modern era, mainly in the nineteenth century. Part II focuses on the emergence of transregional and trans-oceanic Asian networks and the original institution-building efforts in the Asia-Pacific region in the twentieth century.

This book posits an alternative narrative to China's rise by focusing on its impact on Asia. China's rapid rise as a multidimensional power is felt in all corners of the world and poses a direct challenge to the supremacy of the United States, which has held the status of a primary superpower ever since the end of the Cold War. For the most part, Asian countries want to avoid being dragged into this great power rivalry, preferring to adopt a more balanced and pragmatic approach. While a recognition of China's greatness does not necessarily place states in a subservient position, the author argues that the most prudent approach for Asian nations is to avoid being caught in the middle of the US-China rivalry, as this allows them to derive benefits from both sides.

Diplomatisch ist nur die Verpackung: Außenpolitik ist in den letzten Jahren schneller, lauter, vielschichtiger und zugleich bürokratischer geworden. Dennoch: Ein Beruf mit Zukunft; wir brauchen offene Köpfe, keine Missionare.Trotz neuer Themen bleibt die Sicherung von Frieden und Wohlstand die Königsdisziplin. Wir sollten uns nicht nur um die Problemzonen der Welt, sondern auch um unsere fernen Freunde kümmern. Vor allem nach der Corona-Pandemie gilt: wenn wir uns nicht anstrengen, werden wir als Deutsche und Europäer abgehängt werden; wirtschaftlich und politisch. “Die Zeitreise des ehemaligen Botschafters Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch, der ein enger Mitarbeiter von mir im Bundeskanzleramt war, bietet fachkundige und unterhaltsame Einblicke in den Alltag und den Wandel der Diplomatie. Dieses Buch macht zudem deutlich, dass die sogenannten Tigerstaaten wie Vietnam und andere Aufsteiger des Südens für uns Europäer wichtige Partner bei der Gestaltung der internationalen Ordnung des 21. Jahrhunderts sein werden.” (Bundeskanzler a.D. Gerhard Schröder)

This book examines two aspects of the abbreviated reign of King Ananda Mahidol (1935-1946), or King Rama VIII, of the current Chakri dynasty of Thailand. First, it discusses the royal family's plot to thwart a romantic relationship between the young king, Ananda, and his Swiss girlfriend, Marileine Ferrari, a daughter of a famous pastor of Lausanne, Switzerland. Interracial marriage, particularly with Westerners, has been strictly forbidden for Thai kings or heirs apparent. The restriction stems from the interwoven connection between sexual relationship and the security of the throne. The second part investigates the mysterious death of King Ananda, a long-held taboo topic in Thailand. Although the two events were not specially related, both in their own way served to unavoidably shake the position of the monarchy and hence threaten its existence. The palace's reactions to these events demonstrated its continuous search to maintain its power and ultimately to warrant its survival.

This book provides a profound geographical description and analysis of Central Asia. The authors take a synthetic approach in a period of critical transformation in the post-soviet time. The monograph analyzes comprehensively the physical and human geography as well as human-nature interactions of Central Asia with focus on Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Natural processes are described at a systemic scale, focusing on ecological impacts and consequences and contemporary human adaptations and organization. It also discusses in which ways the human organizations try to apply solutions for their needs such as security, territorial management and resources renewability, material and functional needs, identity elaborations, culture and communication. The Geography of Central Asia appeals to scientists and students of regional geography and interested academics from other areas such as social, political, economic and environmental studies within the context of Central Asia. The book is also a very useful resource for field trips into this area.

This book introduces a simple idea: when we tell a story, we tell a story and at the same time create the world where this story takes place. Narration creates environments, spaces and, in a certain sense, gives symbolic meanings and values to the identities by which people interact in their daily experiences. Set in the multicultural and multireligious Taiwanese environment, this book describes the interactions, and above all the narrations, linked to a Catholic village located in the Taiwanese countryside. Catholicism in Taiwan is a minor religion (around 2% of the population), and considered a foreign and heterodox religion, something different and'other'from the Taiwanese mainstream religious environment. It is this sense of alterity that creates the stories about this place and, as a consequence, creates this place and its special identity.

This edited volume brings together a wide range of academics to engage with inter-disciplinary research perspectives in response to the development of The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which opens unparalleled opportunities to gain access to new markets in Asia, Europe and Africa. The collection examines opportunities offered in key areas such as trade and investment, policy coordination, facilities connectivity and cultural exchange. It also notably considers how the historical, environmental, cultural and political background to the BRI impacts this hugely ambitious plan which has been described as the ‘new Silk Road', as well as the challenges across these spheres in a part of the world which has witnessed much instability historically. Chapter'Between Adoption and Resistance. China's Efforts of ‘Understanding the West,'the Challenges of Transforming Monarchical Legitimacy, and the Rise of Oriental Exceptionalism, 1860-1910” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book accounts that Bangladesh is a potential destination in South Asia exhibiting a steady growth in its economy along with socio-cultural developments. With a population of over 170 million, the country possesses significant possibilities in (domestic) tourism. This book explicates that increasing number of upper social classes along with their affordability to spend on tourism and leisure activities has recalled attention for the development of this emerging industry. This book comprehensively examines the overall tourism and hospitality contexts in Bangladesh under the lens of current policy and administrative frameworks. In so doing, the contribution of tourism and hospitality industry has been highlighted in the economy of Bangladesh as a means to creating employment opportunities. Further, the book addresses that contributions remain uneven and distributed improperly and to date the tourism industry has not been offered the desired attention in supporting examples in this regard. Nonetheless, tourism and hospitality education and research have been intensifying in recent years across numerous higher academic institutions (e.g. public and private universities) in Bangladesh. This book explores critically the requirement of supportive roles of key tourism and hospitality stakeholders both from public and private domains. Ultimately, the book signifies collaborative and continuous efforts are imperative that partake both the practitioners and the academia in the development and execution of inclusive and functional tourism policy and planning in Bangladesh.

Very little has been written on the economy of East Timor since the country's independence in 2002, and no comprehensive account exists of the economic history of the country. The former cannot be properly understood without a knowledge of the historical process that created the present-day situation. This research monograph is the first book to combine a historical analysis of the creation and development of the economy of East Timor from the earliest times to the present, and an analysis of the main contemporary problems facing the East Timorese economy. Volume II offers a detailed analysis of the economy of East Timor, of politics, fiscal policy and social progress. It pays particular attention to structural problems: employment generation and the lack of a modern sector, the modernization of agriculture and the management of the oil deposits in the Timor Sea. The first volume, available separately, considers East Timor from a chronological perspective, as a Portuguese colony, and a country occupied by Indonesia up to national independence in 2002. This book will appeal to economists, political scientists and social scientists in general as well as practitioners, since it focuses on down-to-earth problems that need to be solved for the economy to develop. The book can also be read by students both at the undergraduate and graduate levels and could be used for case studies in development.

This book summarizes the systematic research on the Neolithic cultures of Taiwan, based on the latest archaeological discoveries, and focusing on the maritime interactions between mainland southeast China, Taiwan, and southeast Asia during (5600-1800 BP). The study demonstrates and sheds light on the distinctiveness of Taiwan's Neolithic cultures, their interactions with the external cultures of its surrounding regions, the maritime cultural diffusion and early seafaring across sea regions like the Taiwan Strait, Bashi channel and South China Sea. Drawing on the author's deep understanding of Taiwan and its surrounding regions, the book also incorporates recent archeological findings by Taiwanese researchers. Further, based on a new reconstruction of the spatiotemporal framework of Taiwanese prehistoric cultures, the chronologically arranged chapters discuss Neolithic cultures of the early, middle, late and final stage of this island region, revealing the prehistoric cultural development, regional typology and their maritime interactions with surrounding regions. The typological study of the native traits and external cultural influences of each stage of Neolithic culture shows the prehistoric and early history of this key stepping stone in the Asia-Pacific region.

China and the People's Liberation Army defines'great powers'and'developing states'and suggests that the purposes of their militaries are fundamentally different. Solomon Karmel works to debunk frequently unquestioned myths about China s status as a great power. He employs extensive research of Chinese and foreign sources, secret and public, to understand shortcomings in the strategic, military, and industrial overhaul of China s military-industrial complex. His thematic framework and case-study analysis have important implications for the study of developing-world militaries and East Asian security.

Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Restoration, 1868-2000 explores, through a combination of narrative and analysis, the changes in the political process which lay behind Japan's transformation into a modern nation state; its successive turn toward militarism, fascism, and the Pacific War; and the imposition of a fully democratic constitution. Sims examines closely such central topics as the Meiji renovation, samurai modernisers, the rise of liberal political parties, the Meiji constitution,'Taisho democracy', the wartime changes in the political system, postwar reforms and the'reverse course', four decades of Liberal Democratic rule, and the shake-up of Japanese politics during the 1990s. No other book has covered Japanese political history over the entire period since 1868 in such detail, and the present volume aims to fill the gap between the various general histories of modern Japan and the ever-increasing monographic literature.

This volume investigates the emergence and spread of maritime commerce and interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World—the world's first “global economy”—from a longue durée perspective. Spanning from antiquity to the nineteenth century, these essays move beyond the usual focus on geographical sub-regions or thematic aspects to foreground inter- and trans-regional connections. Analyzing multi-lingual records and recent archaeological findings, volume I examines mercantile networks, the role of merchants, routes, and commodities, as well as diasporas and port cities.