Asia, Europe, and Global Connections - Böcker

This book provides a comprehensive history of the genesis, existence, and demise of Imperial Russia’s largest penal colony, made famous by Chekhov in a book written following his visit there in 1890. Based on extensive original research in archival documents, published reports, and memoirs, the book is also a social history of the late imperial bureaucracy and of the subaltern society of criminals and exiles; an examination of the tsarist state’s failed efforts at reform; an exploration of Russian imperialism in East Asia and Russia’s acquisition of Sakhalin Island in the face of competition from Japan; and an anthropological and literary study of the Sakhalin landscape and its associated values and ideologies. The Sakhalin penal colony became one of the largest penal colonies in history. The book’s conclusion prompts important questions about contemporary prisons and their relationship to state and society.

This book provides a comprehensive history of the genesis, existence, and demise of Imperial Russia’s largest penal colony, made famous by Chekhov in a book written following his visit there in 1890. Based on extensive original research in archival documents, published reports, and memoirs, the book is also a social history of the late imperial bureaucracy and of the subaltern society of criminals and exiles; an examination of the tsarist state’s failed efforts at reform; an exploration of Russian imperialism in East Asia and Russia’s acquisition of Sakhalin Island in the face of competition from Japan; and an anthropological and literary study of the Sakhalin landscape and its associated values and ideologies. The Sakhalin penal colony became one of the largest penal colonies in history. The book’s conclusion prompts important questions about contemporary prisons and their relationship to state and society.

During the Cold War, Switzerland functioned as a hub for Chinese propaganda networks. Despite its fierce anti-communism, the Swiss Confederation was one of the first capitalist countries to recognise the People's Republic of China (PRC). As a neutral country and as the home base for many international organisations, Switzerland represented a strategic centre for the spread of Maoism throughout the world. Focusing on cultural diplomacy and questioning the notion of soft power, this book explores how the PRC developed its influence and its prestige abroad through its Embassy in Bern, the most important in Western Europe. The book also discusses how China’s approach in Switzerland, bypassing traditional diplomatic structures, and relying on contacts with individual people – "foreign friends" – was then used, and continues to be used, in many other countries, including the United States, France, and Japan.

During the Cold War, Switzerland functioned as a hub for Chinese propaganda networks. Despite its fierce anti-communism, the Swiss Confederation was one of the first capitalist countries to recognise the People's Republic of China (PRC). As a neutral country and as the home base for many international organisations, Switzerland represented a strategic centre for the spread of Maoism throughout the world. Focusing on cultural diplomacy and questioning the notion of soft power, this book explores how the PRC developed its influence and its prestige abroad through its Embassy in Bern, the most important in Western Europe. The book also discusses how China’s approach in Switzerland, bypassing traditional diplomatic structures, and relying on contacts with individual people – "foreign friends" – was then used, and continues to be used, in many other countries, including the United States, France, and Japan.

This book provides a compelling exploration into the distinctive approaches East Asian scholars employ to articulate the peculiarities of Asia’s modernity. These narratives are deftly shaped through their interactions with German-American social scientist Karl August Wittfogel, offering rich insights into the intellectual exchanges that have influenced regional understandings of society.The Science of Oriental Society: Karl August Wittfogel and the East Asian Intellectuals explores how Wittfogel’s controversial concept of “Oriental society” has influenced the assessments and interpretations of Asia’s economy and society by generations of East Asian social scientists throughout the twentieth century. The book examines the social thought of a broad spectrum of individuals engaged in the debate over Oriental society, including professional economists and sociologists in Japan and China, non-university radical activists of various convictions, and multinational research personnel who served under Japan’s colonial rule in Asia. It also details Wittfogel’s personal and intellectual interactions with his contemporary scholars from East Asia and discusses how these local intellectuals appropriated and recontextualized his theoretical framework to suit their differing political agendas.This book will be of great value to students and researchers interested in the history of social sciences, the history of sinology, heterodox economic thought, Europe-Asian knowledge transfer, and broadly defined Area Studies.

This book argues that although relations between China and Europe are strained in many areas, including trade, human rights and views about political systems, nevertheless established linkages, especially when considered in the context of long-term historical linkages, development trajectories and intellectual cultures, offer good prospects for future progressive collaborative exchanges. Approaching the subject in a balanced way, giving equal weight to the perspectives of both sides, the book examines China and Europe’s shared experiences of age-old civilizations, of the disorienting effects of the economic, social and political upheavals triggered by the late eighteenth century creation of the modern world, and of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries era of European empires, warfare and the Cold War. It contends that although China and Europe appear superficially to have followed different paths, with many problems in their relationship resulting, they in fact have a very great deal in common concerning how they have coped with the long shift from ancient civilizations to the modern world of natural-science-based industrial capitalism.

This book argues that although relations between China and Europe are strained in many areas, including trade, human rights and views about political systems, nevertheless established linkages, especially when considered in the context of long-term historical linkages, development trajectories and intellectual cultures, offer good prospects for future progressive collaborative exchanges. Approaching the subject in a balanced way, giving equal weight to the perspectives of both sides, the book examines China and Europe’s shared experiences of age-old civilizations, of the disorienting effects of the economic, social and political upheavals triggered by the late eighteenth century creation of the modern world, and of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries era of European empires, warfare and the Cold War. It contends that although China and Europe appear superficially to have followed different paths, with many problems in their relationship resulting, they in fact have a very great deal in common concerning how they have coped with the long shift from ancient civilizations to the modern world of natural-science-based industrial capitalism.

This book examines the transnational phenomenon of Japonisme in the exoticist and “autoexoticist” literature of the late nineteenth century.Focusing on the way in which reciprocal processes of transcultural acquisition – by Japan and from Japan – were portrayed in the medium of literature, the book illustrates how literary Japonisme and the wider processes whereby Japan, with its alien exotic culture and unique refined aestheticism, was absorbing Western civilization in its own way in the late nineteenth century at the same time as the phenomenon of Japonisme was occurring in Western fine arts, which were inspired by traditional Japanese artistic practices. Specifically, the book focuses on the literary works of Lafcadio Hearn and Pierre Loti, who travelled from France and America, respectively, to Japan, and Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki, who in turn went, respectively, to Germany and England from Japan.Exploring the eclectic hybridity of Japan’s modernization during the late nineteenth century, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese Studies, Postcolonial Studies and Comparative Literature.

This book examines the transnational phenomenon of Japonisme in the exoticist and “autoexoticist” literature of the late nineteenth century.Focusing on the way in which reciprocal processes of transcultural acquisition – by Japan and from Japan – were portrayed in the medium of literature, the book illustrates how literary Japonisme and the wider processes whereby Japan, with its alien exotic culture and unique refined aestheticism, was absorbing Western civilization in its own way in the late nineteenth century at the same time as the phenomenon of Japonisme was occurring in Western fine arts, which were inspired by traditional Japanese artistic practices. Specifically, the book focuses on the literary works of Lafcadio Hearn and Pierre Loti, who travelled from France and America, respectively, to Japan, and Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki, who in turn went, respectively, to Germany and England from Japan.Exploring the eclectic hybridity of Japan’s modernization during the late nineteenth century, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese Studies, Postcolonial Studies and Comparative Literature.

This book challenges previous definitions of modernity by comparing Max Weber (1864–1920), often considered the most important sociologist of the 20th century, and Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), founder of Waldorfpädagogik and the esoteric social reform movement of anthroposophy.While acknowledging that Weber and Steiner were different in several respects, this research illustrates that the individual histories of these two thinkers are more entangled than previously recognized. This includes the influence of esotericism on their thinking, as well as their profound concern with science and technological change and an openness to the religious and philosophical concepts of the civilizations of South and East Asia.Demonstrating the importance of non-European influences for a full understanding of modernity, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Asian and European philosophy, social theory, and Asian society.

This book explores the interaction of European Enlightenment thinkers with Chinese theory and shows how ideas from China and ideas about China had a profound impact on Enlightenment thought.Challenging the orthodox account of the Enlightenment as an innovation that emerged solely among European men, the book argues that many ideas which led to human progress originated outside Europe. Focusing on the cultural interaction between Europe and China it demonstrates how Chinese theory precipitated debate and demanded theorization by fundamentally challenging the intellectual framework inherited from European antiquity. The result was neither European nor Chinese, but a dynamic fusion that has continued to produce theory right up to the present day.In illustrating how cultural interaction with alien perspectives, civilizations, and worldviews can further human development, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese and European history and philosophy.