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East Asia at the Center: Four Thousand Years of Engagement with the World

Warren I. Cohen

Paper, 528 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-10109-7
$29.00 / £17.00

January, 2001
Cloth, 528 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-10108-0
$83.50 / £49.00

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Preface

1. The Emergence of an International System in East Asia

In the beginning there was China

Other rooms, other voices

Empire of the Han, challenge of the Xiongnu

The diffusion of power

China

Korea

Japan

Southeast Asia

Conclusion

2. Shadows over Tang Splendor

The Sui

The Years of Tang Ascendance

Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia

3. East Asia Uncentered

Late Tang

The Tibetan Factor

The demise of the Tang Dynasty

Northeast Asia

Southeast Asia

The Song reunify China

Koryo

Japan

Southeast Asia in Turmoil

Conclusion

4. The Mongol Ascendancy

Chinggis Khan and his sons

Khubilai Khan and the Chinese

Asian Resistance to Khubilai as Universal Ruler

The last days of the Yuan

Conclusion

5. The Resurgence of Chinese Power and the Coming of Islam

Rise of the Ming

Koreans, Japanese, and Ryukyu Islanders

Southeast Asia and the spread of Islam

Ming China on the eve of the Portuguese intrusion

Conclusion

6. Europe and Japan Disrupt the East Asian International Order

Arrival of the Portuguese

The Ming under Siege

The Rise of Japanese Power

Other Europeans: The Arrival of the Dutch and the English

Southeast Asia: Magnet for the West

Last Days of the Ming

Conclusion

7. The Great Qing Empire

Rebuilding of the "Chinese" empire

Japan and Korea

Southeast Asia in flux

Approach of the British empire

Conclusion

8. Triumph of the West

The British are coming

The Yanks are coming

France's quest for glory

Russia as a Pacific power

And then there were the Dutch

Conclusion

9. The Ascendance of Japan

Restoration and self-strengthening in China

The Meiji Restoration

Japan ascendant

The United States as an East Asian Power

The Boxer War

In the light of the Rising Sun

Conclusion

10. Challenge to the West

Development of the Japanese empire

The Rise of Chinese nationalism

Nationalism elsewhere in East Asia

Washington and Moscow look to East Asia

Nationalist revolution in China

Crisis in Manchuria

11. War and Decolonization, 1932-1949

In the beginning it was Manchuria

China imperiled

War comes to Asia

Japan's Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere

The war ends in East Asia

Decolonization in Southeast Asia

Conclusion

12. The Cold War in Asia

The occupation of Japan

Revolution in China

War in Korea

Southeast Asia and the Cold War

China, Taiwan, and the United States

Conclusion

13. The Resurgence of East Asian Economic Power

Japan as # 1

Little Dragons

Southeast Asia

China joins the world market economy

The Japan that can say no

Conclusion

14. On the Eve of the 21st Century

Disaster at Tiananmen

Democracy comes to Taiwan

The Korean peninsula: democracy and nuclear weapons

Red star over Hong Kong

Crisis in Southeast Asia

Conclusion

Closing Thoughts

Further Reading

Index

Related Subjects


About the Author

Warren I. Cohen is Distinguished University Professor of History at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His publications include The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: America in the Age of Soviet Power, 1945-1991, East Asian Art in American Culture (Columbia), and America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations (Columbia).

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