Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun
Sino-Japanese Relations, Past and Present
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:25th Aug '16
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Japan and China have been rivals for more than a millennium. In more recent times, China was the more powerful until the late nineteenth century, while Japan took the upper hand in the twentieth. Now, China's resurgence has emboldened it even as Japan perceives itself falling behind, exacerbating long-standing historical frictions. June Teufel Dreyer's Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun provides a highly accessible overview of one of the world's great civilizational rivalries. Dreyer, a senior scholar of East Asia, begins in the seventh century in order to provide a historical background for the main story: by the mid-nineteenth century, the shrinking distances afforded by advances in technology and the intrusion of Western powers brought the two into closer proximity in ways that alternately united and divided them. In the aftermath of multiple wars between them, including a long and brutal conflict in World War II, Japan developed into an economic power but rejected any concomitant military capabilities. China's journey toward modernization was hindered by ideological and leadership struggles that lasted until the death of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong in 1976. Bringing the narrative up to the present day, Dreyer focuses on the issues that dominate China and Japan's fraught current relationship: economic rivalry, memories of World War II, resurgent nationalism, military tensions, Taiwan, the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, and globalization. Dreyer argues that recent disputes should be seen as manifestations of embedded rivalries rather than as issues whose resolution would provide a lasting solution to deep-standing disputes. For anyone interested in the political dynamics of East Asia, this integrative history of the relationship between the region's two giants is essential reading.
In this marvellous history of bilateral relations and contemporary issues, Sinologist June Teufel Dreyer provides readers with rich context to aid both specialists and casual observers in understanding one of the most significant regional ties. * Joel Campbell (Troy University), International Affairs 94:2 *
Dreyer masterfully illustrates how bilateral relations have been fraught with mutual misperception and petty conflict from the beginning... superbly written and deftly explained. * Joel Campbell, International Affairs *
A thoroughly convincing history of Sino-Japanese relations... June Dreyer makes an important contribution to the field. * Andrew Hanami, Asian Politics and Policy *
A useful tour of sore points and sticking points in Sino-Japanese relations ... as an introductory account of a troubled and troubling relationship, this book works well. * Christopher Harding, Daily Telegraph *
This book makes admirably plain the resentful, troublesome and sometimes dangerous relations between China and Japan from as early as the 7th century AD ... [an] indispensable study of some of the world's longest-lived scenes of rivalry, resentment, grumpiness and occasional violence. * Jonathan Mirsky, Times Higher Education *
June Teufel Dreyer's magisterial history of the two nations' long rivalry is perfectly timed. * Global Asia *
Dreyer's warning is timely, but will it be heeded? * Steve Craggs, Northern Echo *
As Dreyer's book shows, the history of Sino-Japanese relations has proved a terrible and bloody one. Creating a sustainable framework in which, at the very least, they can both manage their problems toward each other without resorting to fighting is the single greatest challenge, and the source of the most worrying instability, in Asia today. * Kerry Brown, Diplomat *
well-informed on security issues, even-handed politically, and situates future China-Japan possibilities in the context of the many-centuries-long history of China-Japan relations. * Edward Friedman, Taiwan Business Topics *
ISBN: 9780195375664
Dimensions: 160mm x 239mm x 43mm
Weight: 771g
468 pages