Opening Comment for Session I
Mizusawa Tsutomu
C hief C urator, Mu seum of Modern Art, Kamakur a

I would like to start Session I.
This current international symposium is the fourth organizedby the Japan Foundation Asia Center in a span of eight years to
discuss issues on Asia. I was part of the audience in the very first
symposium , but since the second one, I have taken part in thediscussions as moderator or commentator.
Professor Sakai mentioned the word , "Asian values." Ourfocus in past discussions was the positive aspect of Asian values,
an issue that was being raised all over the world in the 1990s. We
believed there were such values and concentrated on defining
exactly what they were.
At the time, we were interested in finding out what kind ofcontemporary artists worked in Asia. We wanted to find and meetthem. We were highly motivated to discover Asia through thisprocess. But since the last symposium (1999), we began toquestion what Asia really is, and whether or not we were losing
sight of this reality as we persisted in talking about "Asia." So inconsidering this current symposium, we found it important totake this issue into account as we constructed the program.
However, if we go as far as possible in rigorously criticizing Asia
instead of finding eloquent ways to describe it, we could end up
not being able to say anything about Asia, or reach a stage where
Asia becomes impossible. Nevercl1eless,there is value inexamining different ways of speaking about Asia with fullawareness that it might lead to such an impasse.
Why is this so? As Professor Sakai asserted in his
presentation, the idea of Asia emerged through its cultural clash
with the West at the end of the 19th century . Nationalism andAsian self-awareness came together over a century ago and , as it
were, caught fire, leading to the formation of many theories of the214

Sess,onI

Mizusawa Ts utomu

identity of Asia. The existence of these theories, besides raising
the question of what Asia is in real terms, demonstrates thehistorical fact that Asia has been a form of discourse.
We must first closely study this discourse itself. Otherwise,
we may be carried away by our feelings in discussing Asia andrepeatedly do so. Can't we speak about Asia a little morerationally? We need to talk about how we have talked about it. I
believe that is what the people who planned this symposium
wanted to do this time. Of course, as we consider this in greater
depth, you may question our approach, but I believe the time hascome to have this sort of a discussion.
Previous symposiums organized by the Japan Foundation
Asia Center usually focused on contemporary art, Asian art, andaesthetics. Of course, in contemporary art, discussing aesthetic
qualities is not an ultimate goal, since it has moved away fromaesthetics and involves a wider set of issues. The members of theplanning committee for this symposium thought that it would bebetter to change the point of view this time. Hence, instead ofgathering people who are interested in the latest information
about the arts and giving a series of presentation with information
on what is happening where, we wanted ro take a closer look at
the history and the essential qualities of Asia this time. Session I
was designed to achieve this goal.
Of course, we need to touch on a wide range of issues inorder to achieve our goal. Professor Sakai has just spoken about
the emergence of Asia in history, and we will begin byconsidering the position ofOkakura Kakuzo, a "superstar" ofJapanese art during that period. Then we will move on to a
discussion of China, a critical issue in Asia, and the problem ofAsia in the Chinese context. The third topic will be the issue ofAsia in Indonesia under Japanese colonial rule after the Japanesemilitary invaded the Dutch colony oflndonesia in 1942. These
three presentations will not cover all the issues pertaining to theconcept of Asia, but they entail some of the most critical ones,
and I believe that by sharing the information presented here, bothpanelists and audience will have a larger context for discussion.
The first presentation will be by Professor Koizumi Shinya

SessionI

IJS

from Ibaraki University, and the tide of his presentation is"Tenshin (Okakura Kakuzo)'s View of Asia and the Position of

The Idealsof the East." Next, we will have Professor Wang Huifrom Tsinghua University, China co present his paper entitled,"Imagining Asia: A Genealogical Analysis." The lase presentation
will be by Mr. Goenawan Mohamad from Indonesia on"Indonesia's 'Asia'."

230

SessionI

Session I Presentation 1

Tenshin (Okakura Kakuzo)'s View of Asia and the
Position of The Idealsof the East
Koizumi Shinya
Prof essor, Facul ty of Education, lb araki University
Dir ecto r, Izura Inst itut e of Arcand C ultur e

Okakura Kakuzo, also known as Tenshin (1862-1912), was a
director of the Tokyo School of Fine Ans and the Imperial Museum(today's Tokyo National Museum), and helped found Kokka, an art
magazine that is still published today. He played a central role in art
administration in early modern Japan when the study of art history
was in its infancy. His lectures on "Nihon Bijutsushi Qapanese Art
History) " at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, begun in September
1890, were the first lectures on this subject by a Japanese. His book ,The Idealsof the East, published in London in 1903, explained therelationship of Japanese art to that oflndia and China and extolled
Koizumi Shinya

the original qualities of Asian art.
This book began with the statement, "Asia is one," which was
TheAsahi Shimbun,eveni ng

later misused by the Japanese militarists who invaded Asia, starting

edition, Oct. 4, 2002.

the Fifteen-Year War. Because of this, Tenshin was mistakenly

2considered to be an ultra-nationalist in the period after World War II .

Okakura Koshiro, Sofa Okakura
Temhin (My Grandfat her
Okakura Kakuzo), Chuo Koron
Bijutsu Shuppan , 1999. HereOkakura Koshiro develops an idea
found in Kevin Nute, FrankLloyd
Wrightand Japan, Chapman andHall, 1993. Okakura Koshiro(1912-2001), a grandson of

There are still many people who regard him as a "dangerous thinker"

Okakura Kakuzo, w itnessed theshow that Tenshin's thought went beyond a simple-minded boosting

pro cess of transforming Okakura'sor suggest care in approaching ideas that T enshin is known to haveenthusiastically supported. 1 In this paper, I will draw on the mostrecent studies ofTenshin in discussing the view of Asia promulgatedby him in The Idealsof the East, TheAwakening ofJapan, and The
Book of Tea, and comment on its contemporary meaning . I hope tosentiment, "Asia is o ne," into theof national prestige and had much in common with contemporary

militaristicslogan, "Eight Cornersof the Wo rld Under One Roof."
Like other incellecruals,he wasplaced in a difficult position

ideas of anti-globalism.

during the war years and wasincarcerated for two years for
suspected infrin geme nt of thePeace Preservatio n Law.After the

It would be reasonable to accept the importance of the role
played by Ernest Fenellosa in the development ofTenshin's thinking.
Tenshin was 16 when he first met Fenellosa, a man ten years his elder
who served as his mentor and then worked with him as a colleague

war, he served as director of theduring a ten-year period. It was through Fenellosa that Tenshin

Afro-Asian Institute of Japan, andbecame known as a scholar ofinternationaJpolitics who

Spencer, and Emerson. 2 Tenshin had studied literati painting, so helearned of the ideas of Western philosophers like Kant, Hegel,SessionI237

had some practical knowledge of art, but it is thought char he formed
his systematic theory ofJ apanese art through com para rive studies
informed by Western thought. In The Awakening ofj apan, he recalls,"I read the essay on international law with great respect as if making
contact with the rices of the Chou dynasty," and chis statement isadvoca ted neutralism and ant iimp erialism. Hi s career was
repo rted wi th a posthumou s
co llectio n o f his writings in lzura

Romo (Bulletin of the lzura
Institu te of fut and C ulture,lb araki University), no. 9, 200 2.

probably indicative of his attitude as a student.
The group of Boston intellectuals standing behind Fenellosa
made his influence on Tenshin greater than the influence of a single
person. Fenellosa, who was only 25 at the time , was recomm ended asa teacher at Tokyo University by Charles Eliot Norton, a professor at
Harvard University , in response to a request by Edward S. Morse ,another Boston intellectual who was living in Japan . Norton was aprofessor of history , especially arc history, and a central figure in the
Boston eschecicist movement. 3 This movement , based on the ideas of3

Ruskin and Emerson, called for the elevation of social mora lity

Okakura Koshiro, "Fme/1.osa
tothrough art . It had a mystical side since its proponents believed chatesthecic experience was akin co religion and advocated the importanceof arc in a healthy democratic society. This philosophy was passed on

Tenshin (Fenellosa and Okakur a),"Sofa Okak ura Tenshin (MyG randfa ther Okak ura Kakuzo),

Chuo Kornn BijursuShuppan,
1999, pp . 153- 193 .

by Fenellosa and also by the American painter, John La Farge, whogave advice to Tenshin and Fenellosa prior to their study tour ofEurope , since neither of them knew much about European art at thetime . They guided La Farge during his three-month tour of Japan andalso accompanied him on the month- long voyage back to the United
Scates. As a result, it has been suggested chat Tenshin and Fenellosa
saw Europe "through La Farge's eyes." 4 The importance of La

4

Farge's influence on Tenshin is demonstrated by the face the The

Kuwahara Sumi o, ''johnLa Farge

Book of Tea is dedicated "To La Farge."
It was on the basis of the ideas he absorbed from these American s
and an extended study tour in China and India chat Tenshin went on
to construct his history ofJap anese arc. His tripartite division of
periods, ancient (classical), medieval (symbolic) , and modern(romantic), was derived from Hegel, and chis was the system he used

to Okakura Tmshin - sono
shisotekisagoeikyo ni tsuite Qohn
La Farge and Ok akura Kakuzo On the Mutual lnAuences in
Th eir Thinkin g)," Geijutsu
Kenkyuho 1, T sukuba Daigaku
Kenkyu Houkokusho (Insciture of
Art and D esign, U niversity ofT sukub a Repor t), 1980.

in The Idealsof the East (1903). In his lecture on "Taito Kogeishi(TheHistory of Aesthetics Works in the Ease)" (1910) at Tokyo
University, he expanded his chinking on the basis of experience ofactual works, saying, "In art, any tendency can coexist with another inthe same period." 5 It has been pointed out chat in a survey of ancientart in Kyoto and Nara in 1886, he followed the scheme of eastward
movement of Western culture from Greece co India to China to

238

SessionI

Kumada Yumiko, "Okakura
Temhin no Kodai Chokokuron(Okakur a Kakuzo's View ofAncient Sculprure)," lz ura Ronso{Bulletin of the lzura Institut e of

Art and Culture, lbaraki
University), no. 7, 2000, pp . 79112.

Japan, but in his lectures on "Japanese Art History" in Tokyo Schoolof Fine Arts, starting in 1890, he came to avoid looking for the origin
of Buddhist sculpture in Greece. Ten years later, in The Idealsof theEast, he did not refer to a Greco-Indian influence on the sculptural
sryle of the Nara period but identified it with the Gupta sryle ofcentral India. It became common for historians of Japanese art toregard the Gupta art of central India as being more important than
Greco-Indian art in the teens of this century, after Tenshin' s death.
Tenshin became aware of the importance of central Indian art
because of his actual experience of visiting Ajanta and Ellora in 1905.
In a letter that has been preserved, he writes, "In general, the greatnessof the remains of Indian civilization exceeds that of Rome, andLondon and Paris are like child 's play in compari son. " It has beenshown that Josephine McCloud, an American follower ofVivekananda, religious reformer and founder of the Ramakrishna
Mission, was instrumental in bringing T enshin to India for this nine6
Horioka Yasuko, "Okakura
Temhin - Ajia Bunka Senyou no
Senkusha"(O kakura Kakuzo Pioneering Advocate of Asian
Culture)," Yoshikawa Kobunkan,
1974 .

month tour. 6 In India, he became acquainted with Vivekananda andhis important English disciple, Sister Nivedita (originally Margaret E.
Noble, nivedita means "devotion" in Bengali). Nivedita, who wasrevered as the Joan of Arc ofindia, played an important role ingetting Tenshin' s The Idealsof the East published in English. She
proofread and typed the English manuscript, then added a long
preface, and even negotiated with the publisher in London. Tenshin
had prepared the initial manuscript for this book in Japan , but heexpanded and refined it in India on the basis of his experiences anddiscussions with collaborators there. It has been conjectured that inthese discussions, Tenshin's views of Asian art, which connected
Japan with China and India, overlapped with Vivekananda's ideas of7

OkakuraKoshiro, "Tenshinto
Bengarnno Kakumeikatachi(0 kakura Kakuro and the
Revolutionariesof Bengal),.,TouyouKenkyu (Oriental Stu dies)
No.81, Daito Bunka Daigaku
Touyou Kenkyujo (Center for
Oriental Studies, Daito Bunka
University) 1987, pp.1 -45.
(Reprinted in Okakura Koshiro,
Sofa Okakura Temhin (MyGrandfather Okakura Kakuzo),
Chuo Kornn BijursuShuppan,
1999, pp.87-148.)

religion and nationality. 7
The group with which Tenshin associated in India was closely
connected to the radical faction of the Indian National Congress. It
included Surendranath Tagore (nephew of the poet, Rabindranath
Tagore) , the treasurer of the secret society, Anushilan Samiti (SelfCulture Society), a revolutionary nationalist organization organized in
1902. Sister Nivediti donated thousands of books on European
revolutionary movements to the cause, including discussions of the
Irish Home Rule movement and the works of Kropotkin. Tenshin
visited India during the period when they were organizing secretbranches of the society all over the country. It has been confirmed

SessionI2]9

chat the criminal investigation officer of the Anglo-Indian
government of the time recorded that "a Japanese by the name of
Okakura" attended the founding meeting of this clandestineorganization. In several memoirs, it is reported chat Tenshin
participated in organizing activities for the revolutionary movement
while touring Ajanta and Ellora.
As a result ofTenshin's involvement with the nationalist cause,the Indian authorities refused entry to the country by his followers,
Yokayama Taikan and Hishida Shunso. During chis period, Tenshin
was writing the English manuscript for a book chat was later
published in Japan under the tide, TheAwakening of the East.
Okakura Koshiro, who discovered this manuscript, suggests that themanuscript was probably written jointly by Tenshin and Nivedica. A
number of proposals for tides are listed side by side. Nivedita wrote,"Asia is One," and Tenshin proposed , "Om! To the Spirit of Asia"and "The Spirit." These suggestions were erased and replaced with,"We are One ." This is a work of propaganda designed to stir people
to rebellion, and it deals with the effectiveness of guerilla warfare.
Tenshin took the manuscript back to Japan without printing it,
perhaps because it was the product of a joint effort by him and ocher
members of the group. The Awakening ofJapan, which was publishednext after The Idealsof the East, retains traces of its message, and thisbook can also be seen as making a strong appeal for ethnic
nationalism.
What is the arr historical significance of The Idealsof the East?
There is much to commend the thesis ofKumada Yumiko chat The

Idealsof the East should be seen as a challenge to the sort of Japanese
art history that was aligned with the imperialist view of history chat
was being formed at the time . Tenshin was originally the managing
editor for the Kohon Nihon Teikoku Bijutsu Ryakushi (Manuscript
Short History of the Art of the Japanese Empire=Histoirede L'Art duJapon) (1901), first published in French for the Paris Universal
Exposition, bur he was lacer removed from the editorial board . This"manuscript history, " which is considered the first written history ofJapanese art, was published under his successor, Fukuchi Mataichi,
who took the lead in criticizing Tenshin. Its contents differed at many
points from the Nihon BijutsushiQapanese Art History) that Tenshin
prepared after an on-site survey of Chinese and Korean art. In
contrast with his discussion of national origins in The Idealsof the240

Session I

East, the "manuscript history" states "this great nation of Japan was agift received from the sun goddess, Amaterasu Omikami." Where
Tenshin had noted that something was "made by Korean artisans," itrefers to them as "naturalized subjects of Korean origin." Where
T enshin sees a source in Ajanta, it identifies the influence as GrecoIndian. The historical periods in the "manuscript history" weredivided into imperial reigns, for example, the period of Empress
Suiko, the period of Emperor Tenchi, the period of Emperor Shomu,
the period of Emperor Kammu, and so on, while in The Idealsof theEast, T enshin adopted a more general scheme of divisions:prehistoric, Asuka, Nara, Heian, and Fujiwara.
Even after Tenshin was removed from the "manuscript history"
editorial board, he lectured on Japanese art history at the Nihon
Bijutsuin Qapan Art Institute) and felt it necessary to visit India tofurther develop his ideas. Three years after the "manuscript history"
was distributed in Paris, The Idealsof the East was published in
London. Kumada speculates:
It is thought that he was demonstrating his own viewpoint andstandards in opposition to the KohonNihon Teikoku Bijutsu

Ryakushi("manuscript history"), making a conscious attempt to"recover his honor" personally and publicly as an intellectual
representing the intellectual authority of the nation. This bookclearly expresses all ofTenshin's views that were not sufficiently
reflected in the "manuscript history," including his nomenclatureof historical periods, methods of division, basic ideas about
history, viewpoint toward neighboring countries, comparative
dating of works, and discovery of new stylistic trends . 8
Kumada Yumiko, "Oka.kura
Tmshi n no Kodai Chokokuron(Okaku ra Kakuzo's Th eory on
Ancient Sculcpures)," p. 105.

The last ofTenshin 's three English books, The Book of Tea, waspublished in New York, making him an immediate celebrity. The
Eastern intellectuals who surrounded him in the United States were
supporters of the anti-imperialist movement that emerged in responseto the Spanish-American War, opposing the colonial occupation of
the territories of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, which had
been ceded to the United States by Spain. This group included themayor of Boston and the head of the Boston Chamber of Commerce
as well as the president of Harvard, Charles Eliot Norton, Fenellosa's
mentor, and Edward S. Morse. Because of the anti-colonialist stanceSessionI241

Tenshin had taken in India, one can imagine that he responded
positively to their views, and this suggests that it might be possible tofind political implications in The Book of Tea. Perhaps Tenshin
wanted to bring together the anti-imperialists of East and West for acup of tea.

It should be possible to consider Tenshin's view of Asia in termsof the way he constructed his own identity. Tenshin's image has been
determined to a large extent by photographs showing him wearing theuniform of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (fig. 1), a fisherman's

fig. I

costume (fig. 2), and Taoist robes as evening wear in Boston (fig. 3).
These costumes were all personally chosen by Tenshin, and the boldposes he strikes show that he had confidence in his appearance in thephotographs. I have discussed the meaning of these costumes
elsewhere, but I would like to recapitulate my thoughts here. 9
The uniform of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts shown in fig. 1
was designed after the clothing worn by government officials during
the sixth and seventh centuries, the Nara period. An example of the

fig. 2

fig. 3

costume of this period, when a new political system was establishedunder the ritsuryolegal codes by the emperor of the time, is shown infig. 4. It was revived by Tenshin as appropriate to the Meiji period,
beginning in the late 19th century, when the Meiji emperor
established a new constitutional system with the emperor as head ofstate. When Tenshin retired from his positions at the Tokyo Schoolof Fine Arts and the Imperial Museum, he took up fishing, wearing
the outfit shown in fig. 2. The idea for fishing in a sheepskin cloak

fig. 4

probably came from an image of Yan Ziling, a Chinese literati who
was known for firmly refusing emperor's demands to the official
position to become a fisherman. It is hard to imagine that Tenshinwould have dressed like this without knowledge of the picture of
Ziling found in the well-known KaishiEn Gaden (Mustard Seed
Garden Manual of Painting) (fig. 5). When he dressed as a Taoist in
Boston, he was probably emulating Tao Yuanming, another alienated
Chinese intellecrual who asked in verse, "When shall I return?" when

fig. 5

he lost his government post. Tenshin must have seen many paintings
representing Tao Yuanming (fig. 6) while researching classicalJapanese and Chinese art. Also, the painters of the Japan Art Instituteproduced many paintings using episodes from the life of Tao
Yuanming.
It is clear that Tenshin's manner of dress in all these photographs

242

SessionIfig. 6was borrowed from an ancient model. How should we interpret chis
Koizumi Shinya, "Tenshinlkonogurafi- Tenshinzono
Seiritsu (Okakura Kakuro
Iconography - T he Making ofOkakura's Image)," Okakura
TenshinAlbum, Chuo Kornn
Shuppa n, 2000, pp. 206-211.

tendency ofTenshin's co construct his identity through such images.
Lee us look ac something he wrote in The Book of Tea.
[Laocze] claimed chat only in vacuum lay the truly essential. The
reality of a room, for instance, was co be found in the vacant
space enclosed by the roof and che walls, not in the roof and walls
chemselves.... One who could make of himself a vacuum into
which ochers might freely enter would become master of all

IO

situations. The whole can always dominate che pare. 10

Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea,Charles E. Turcle Co., 1956, p.45.

Another passage reads,
The body itself was but as a hue in the wilderness, a flimsy shelter
made by eying together the grasses chat grew around, -whenthese ceased co be bound together they again became resolvedII

into the original waste. 11

Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea,Charles E. Turcle Co., pp.66-67.

Did T enshin see his own essence as an empty space where various
forces could operate? If so, the first sentence of The Idealsof the East,"Asia is one," cakes on new meaning.
The person who said of Japanese arc, "the beach where eachsuccessive wave of Eastern thought has left its sand-ripple as it beat
12

against che national consciousness," 12 is not likely co have envisaged

Okakura Kakuzo, The Idealsof theEast, Charles E. Tutcle Co., 1970,
pp. 8-9.

space chat is the essence of che room . With "Arab chivalry, Persian"one" as a simple identity . This "one" probably implies che empty
poetry, Chinese ethics, and Indian philosophy " as che ceiling, walls,
and floor, a room called "che harmony of a unified Asian" can comeinto being.
In his lacer years, T enshin rarely stayed in one place for morethan a year, continually moving berween Japan, the United Scates,
and Asia. This condition of passage berween different places may havebeen chis active thinker 's essence. I believe chat Tenshin conceived of
Asia itself as being a place of passage berween different cultures, andin chis sense defined ic as "one."[Translated by Stanley N. Anderson]

SessionI243

Figs.
I. Okakura as Director of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts
2. Okakura fishing at lzura
3. Okakura dressed for an evening party in Boston
4. Portrait ofShotoku Taishi (detail)5. Yan Ziling, from the The Mustard Seed Gardrn Manual of Painting
6. Attributed to Den Shubun, Tao Yuanming Viewing Chrysanthemums (detail)244

SessionI

Session I Presentation 2

Imagining Asia: A Genealogical Analysis
Wang Hui
Professo r. Ts inghua U niversity
Research Professo r, Chin ese Academy of Soc ial Scie nces

I. The Derivativen ess of Asia
Historically speaking, the idea of Asia is not an Asian but aEuropean notion . European Enlightenment and colonialism provided
precondition s for the pur suit of knowledge in the 18th and 19th
centuries. The branches of learning -historical linguistics, modern

geography , philosophy of rights, theories of state and race,
historiograph y, and political economy -developed quickly alongwith natural sciences, and together they drew a new world map . The
ideas of Europe and Asia were integrated into the notion of "world
history " under such new knowledge conditions. Montesquieu, Adam
Wang Hui

Smith, Hegel, and Marx constructed the idea of Asia in contrast with
Europe and incorporated Asia in a teleological vision of history. 1

I need to add a special note on
Marx's argument. In the preface to
A Contribution to the Critique of
Political Economy,he regarded thehistory of Western Europe as

The core element s of this European characterization of Asia could besummed up as follows: multi-ethnical empire as opposed to European
sovereign/mon archical state, political despotism as opposed toEuropean legal and political system, the nomadic and agrarian mode

"epoc hs m ark_jng progress in theecono mic developme nt of society."of production compl etely different from European urban life and

See Karl Marx, A Contribution to

trade , etc. Since the European nation -state and the expan sion of thethe Critique of Political Economy,trans. Yuri Sdobnikov et al, ed.
Victor Schictke, vol. 29, The
CollectedWorksof Karl Marx andFrederickEngels(Moscow: Progress
Pub lishers, 1987), p . 263. After
1859, this preface was neverreprinted during Marx'slifetime.
In 1877, Russian scholar N icolai
K. Mikhailovski used Marxism toargue charRussiashould establish
capitalism in order to abolishfeudalism. Marx commented chathis wo rk merely attempted co
describe the path char Western
capitalism developed from within
feudalism, and chat one should not"transform his historical sketch of
the development of Western
European capitalism into

capitalist market system were consid ered as the advanced stage andthe end or telos of world history, Asia and its above-mentioned
characteristi cs were consequently designated to a lower stage ofhistory. In this context, Asia was not only a geographic category, butalso a form of civilization : Asia was a political form in opposition toEuropean state, a social form in opposition to European capitalism,
and a transitional stage between an unhi storical stage and a historicalstage. This derivative discourse on Asia provided a framework forEuropean intellectuals, Asian revolutionaries and reformist s, andhistorians to represent world history and Asian societies, to establish
revolution and reform policies, and to describe the past and future ofAsia. In most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the idea of Asia wascontained in a universal discourse of Europe an modernity chat

SessionI

245

provided a similar narrative framework for both colonists andrevolutionarie s, who produced two opposing blueprints of history.
This narrative framework had three key concepts: empire, nation- stateand capitalism (market economy) .

historical-philosophical theory of
uni versal develop m ent

predetermined by face for all
natio ns, whateve r their historiccircumstances in which they findthemselves may be ." He scaredchar "[char view] does m e at the

II. Revolution and Asia
Against the background of colonialism and imperialist wars,
Asian intellectuals basically followed the East/West dichotomy tosame time coo much honor andcoo much insult." See ed. Saul K.
Pandover,

TheLettersof Karl Marx(Englewoodcliffs, NJ: PrenciceHall, I 979), p. 321.

understand history. Nationalism and capitalism, two categories ofknowledge that are different and yet closely affiliated, deeply affected
their conception of Asia. The primacy of Euro-centrism in historicalstudies was based on the inherent relation of moderniry with thesetwo categories. In the Asian national liberation movement of the
19th and 20th centuries , new forms were acquired by the pattern ofantithesis between empire and state that was closely associated with
the idea of Asia in European political thought. For instance , in the
discourses on "Departure from Asia and Joining" in Japan, "Na tional
Autonomy" by Russian revolurionaries , and "Pan-Asianism " byChinese revolutionaries, the idea of Asia invariably had an internal
connection with "ethnically complicated empire and its culture ."These notions can be regarded as emblems revealing that the different
forms of Asian nationalism, although historically opposed in
substance, all constructed visions of national imaginaries within the
antithesis between nation-state and empire, variously integrating theappeal to establish nation- state with the appeal to transcend nationstate -theresultant forms were imperialism and internationalism .

Twenry-seven years after Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901)
brought out his On Departure from Asia, and soon after theRepublican Revolution erupted and the Provisional Government of
the Chinese Republic was established, Lenin published a series ofarticles -"Democracy and Narodism (from Russian: "populism ") in

China" (1912), "Th e Awakening of Asia"(1913), and "Backward
Europe and Advanced Asia" (1913). He applauded that "[today]
China is a land of seething political activiry, the scene of a virile social
movement and of a democratic upsurge," 2 and condemned the2

V. I. Lenin, "The Awakening ofAsia," in vol. 19, ColkctedWorks,
ed. Robert Daglish (Moscow:

civilized and advanced Europe, "with its highly developed machine

ForeignLanguage Publishing
House, I 963), p. 85.

industry, its rich multiform culture and its constitutions," came out

3

to "support of everything backward , moribund, and medieval" under

Lenin, "BackwardEurope andAdvanced Asia," in vol. 19,
Colkcted Works, p.99.

the command of the bourgeoi sie. 3 Lenin's judgment is a constituent

246

SessionIof his theories on imperialism and proletarian revolution. According
to him, as capitalism entered the stage of imperialism , the social
struggle of the oppressed races all over rhe world would be integrated
into rhe category of world proletarian revolution. This method of
connecting European and Asian revolutions in analysis can be traced
back to Marx's arricle "Revolution in China and in Europe" written
for the New YorkDaily Tribune in 1853. 4 Lenin and Fukuzawa's
Karl Marx, "Revolution in Ch ina
and in Europe," in vol. 12, The

CollectedWorksof Karl Marx andFrederickEngels(Moscow: Progress
Publishers, 1980), pp. 93-99.

opposing views are based on a common basic understanding , i.e.,
Asian modernity was rhe outcome of European modernity , andregardless of Asia's status and fate, the significance of irs modernity
manifest ed itself only in its relationship with the advanced Europe.
For instance, Lenin regarded Russia as an Asian country, but thisorientation was not defined from the perspective of geography but
based on the degree of capitalist development and the process ofRussian history. In "Democracy and Narodism in China," he says,"Russia is undoubtedly an Asian country and, what is more , one of
the most benighted, medieval, and shamefully backward of Asian
countries." 5 Although he was warmly sympathetic to the Chinese

Lenin, "Democ racy and Narodism
in Asia," in vol. 18, Collected

revolution, Lenin 's position was "Western European" when the issue

Works,ed. C leme ns Duttswitched from Asian revolution to the changes within the Russian(Moscow : Foreign Language

society. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Russian intellectuals regarded

Publishing House, 1963), pp.163164.

the spirit of Russia as the struggle and collision of two forces: the Easr
and the West, Asia and Europe. In the quotation above, Asia is a
category connected with notions such as barbarity, the Medieval, andbackwardness. It is for this reason that the Russian revolution had aprominent Asian character, i.e., this revolution was directed against
the characteristic benighted, medieval, and shamefully backwardsocial relations of Russia as an Asian country, and at rhe same rime,
the revolution has a global significance.
The October Revolution in 1917 arose in the immediatebackground of European wars and influenced the Chinese Revolution
profoundly. Yet two facts are seldom noticed. First, the October
Revolution took place after the Chinese Republican Revolution of1911 . The method of socialism building after the October Revolution
can to a great extend be regarded as a response to Asian revolution(i.e., the Chinese Revolution of 1911) . Lenin's theory of national selfdetermination and his interpretation of the significance of revolution
in backward countries in the imperialistic era were both introduced
after the Chinese Revolution of 1911, and were theoreticallySessionI

247

connected with his analysis of the Chinese Revolution. Second, theRussian Revolution greatly shocked and profoundly influenced
Europe and can be regarded as the historical event that separated
Russia from Europe. Like Smith or Hegel's idea of Asia, Lenin 's
revolutionary judgment perceived the history of capitalism as anevolutionary process from the ancient Orient or Asia to modern
Europe, from hunting, nomadism and agriculture to trade orindustry.
The special position of Asia in the rhetoric of world history
decided how the socialists understood the task and direction ofmodern revolution in Asia. When he reviewed the democratic andsocialist programs proposed by Chinese revolutionaries thattranscended capitalism, Lenin criticized that it had profound utopiancharacteristics, and that it rather should be regarded as populi st.
Lenin observed, "The chief representative, or the chief social bulwark,of this Asian bourgeoisie that is still capable of supporting ahistorically progressive cause, is the peasant. " 6 Therefore before the6

Asian bourgeoisie accomplished the revolutionary task that European

Lenin, "D emoc racy and Narodism
in Asia." p.165.

bourgeoisie had accomplished, socialism was out of question . He usedhistorical dialectics adeptly and asserted Sun Yat-sen's "Land Reform
Outline" was "reactionary" because it went against or beyond thehistorical stage. He also pointed our that because of the "Asian"character of the Chinese society, it was exactly this "reactionary
outline" that could accomplish the task of capitalism in China :"[populism], under the disguise of'combating capitalism' inagriculture, champions an agrarian programme that, if fully carriedout, would mean the most rapid development of capitalism inagriculture " 7 Evidently , the underst anding of Asia partly decided

7

how they understood the task and direction of revolution. In addition

Ibid ., p. l 68.

to capitalism and revolutionary logic, Hegel 's view of world history
and the particular designation of Asia as medieval, barbarian, andnon-historical was also a premise of Lenin's idea of Asia. This Hegelplus-revolution idea of Asia embrac ed the pattern of historicaldevelopment from the ancient (feudalism), to the medieval(capitalism), and to the modern (proletarian revolution or socialism).
It provided a framework joined with temporaliry and temporal
periodization for the capitalist era to comprehend the history of otherregions.
Why did the revolution aiming at internationalism and socialism

248

SessionIlead to the historical form of nation-state as well? Lenin argued in
1914:
The national state is typical and normal for the capitalist
world .... This does not mean, of course, that such a state, which
is based on bourgeois relations, can eliminate the exploitationand oppression of nations. It only means that Marxists cannot
Lenin, "The Right of Nations rolose sight of the powerful economic factors that give rise to the

Self-Determination," in vol. 18,

urge to create national states. It means that "self-determination ofCollectedWorks(Moscow: Foreign
LanguagePublishingHouse,nations" in the Marxists' Programme cannot, from a historico-1963), pp.39 7 and 400.

economic point of view, have any other meaning than political9

self-determination, state independence, and the formation of a

Nowadays, leftist and rightist
intellectuals tend co regard chisnational state. 8view as the myopia of
revolutionaries, and refuse corecognize nation -state as the bestHence when he discussed the awakening of Asia, Lenin was not

safeguard for the development ofmodern capitalism. Discussions
concerning the ideas of Asia orconcerned with the issue of socialism, but how the political

Europe show such a tendency. For

to create the national state system. Here national states and "multi-

Lenin, the question of Asia wasclosely connected with nacionscare. He said chat "in Asia itself
the conditions for the mostcomplete development ofcommodity production and thefreest, widest and speediest growthof capitalism have been createdprerequisites of capitalist development could be created, that is, hownational states", or empires, are antithetical. The former is the normal
condition of capitalism, and the latter the antithesis of nation-state.
National self-determination is political self-determination. Yet thisidea does not mean a simplistic identification of national selfdetermination with politics. Self-determination is exercised inonly in Japan, i.e., only in anpolitical practice, and subsequently creates the political conditions forindependent national state.
The latter is a bourgeois state, andbourgeois economy, or the political structure of political nations orfor that reason has itself begun tonation-states, to develop. Lenin plainly pointed out the inherent

oppress ocher nations and toenslave colonies." See Lenin , "Theconnection berween nationalism and capitalism. "[Capitalism],

Right of Nations to Self-

having awakened Asia, has called forth national movements

Derermination, " p. 399.

everywhere in that continent, too; ... the tendency of these
IO

On November 28, 1924, Sun

movements is towards the creation of national states in Asia; ... it isattended the welcome parry heldsuch states that ensure the best conditions for the development ofunder the auspice of fivecapitalism." 9 It was neither revolution nor Asia's peculiar civilization

organizations including the Kobe
Chamber of Commerce, and gavethe speech. See Sun Yat-sen , "DuiShenhushangyehuiyisuodeng
tuanti de yanshuo (Talk ro
Organizations including the Kobe
Chamber of Commerce) ," in Sun

but the development of capitalism that demanded a revolution.
Lenin's arguments provide us with an outline to understand therelationship berween modern Chinese nationalism and the idea ofAsia. When he visited Kobe in 1924, Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) madeZhongshanQuanji (Complete

his famous speech entitled "Great Asianism." 10 He generally

Works of Sun Zhongshan)(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986),
pp. 401-409.

was the origin of the most ancient civilization; the other was about todistinguished rwo ideas of Asia: one had no independent states andSessionI249

rejuvenate. The former has inherent connections with ethnicallycomplex states in Lenin's argument, but what does the starting pointof Asian rejuvenation or rejuvenated Asia mean? Sun claimed chat thestarting point was Japan, since ic abolished a number of unequal
treaties and became che first independent state in Asia. In ocher
words, we can say chis starting point is nation-state rather chan Japan.
Sun applauded the outbreak of che Russo-Japanese war andsubsequencly the Japanese triumph:
The Japanese triumph over the Russian is che first triumph of
Asian nations over the European in the past several hundredyears.... All Asian nations are exhilarated and scare co hold agreat hope .... They therefore hope co defeat Europe and scaremovements for independence .... The great hope of national
independence in Asia is born. 11

II

Ibid., pp.402-403.

Sun called attention co a subcle notion -all Asian nations. This

notion is not only Asia as the origin of che most ancient civilization,
but also an Asia chat contains independent nation-scares; it is not only12
Sun said in his conversation withnews reporters in Kobe:

Ease Asia within the Confucian cultural sphere, but also a multi-"Unification is the hope of all
Chinese citizens. If China iscultural Asia. The unity of Asia was based on che independence ofcountry can live in ease andsovereign states. "All Asian nations" are che outcome of nationalcomfort, bur if not, they will

independence movement and not an awkward imitation of European
nation-states. Sun insisted chat Asia had its own culcure and principles-

what he called "the culcure of the kingly way" as opposed co "checulcure of che hegemonic way" of European nation-states. He encicled
his speech "Great Asianism" parcly because he connected the idea of
Asia with the notion of"che kingly way." If we compare his speech

unified, people all over thesuffer. If the Japanesepeople will
not be able to do business in

China, they will also suffer
indirectly. We Chinese believethat the Japanese people sincerely

hope China be united. Bur the
possibility of China's unification is
not decided by China domestic(incernal)affairs.Since theoutbreak of the Chinesewith the imperialist idea of Asia, it becomes the most clear chat Sun's

revolution, violent upheavals havenotion of Asia is not Confucian Asia, whose core is culcural

continued to arise for years. China
can't be unified not because ofhomogeneity. It is instead an Asia consisting of equal nation-scares.
According co chis notion of Asia, the inherent unity of Asia is not

Chinese powers but completely
because of foreign powers. Why
can't China unify? The foreigners

Confucianism or any ocher homogeneous culture, but a politicalsolely cause it. The reason is chatculcure chat accommodates different religions, beliefs, nations, andChina and foreign countries

societies. Within chis category of political culcure, Sun talked about

foreigner uses chose treaties co

China, Japan, India, Persia, Afghanistan, Arab, Turkey, Bhutan, andenjoy special rights in China.

Nepal, and the tributary system of the Chinese empire. Cultural

not only using unequal treaties tohecerogeneiry is one of che main characteristics of chis idea of Asia,

enjoy special rights but also abuse

and che category of nation provides che vehicle for che heterogeneity

See Sun Yat-sen, "Zai shenhuyu

2S0

Session I

signed unequal treaties, and every

Recent people from the West arethose treaties in outrageous ways."ribenjizhe de tanhua(Co nversation with Japanese News
Repo rters in Kobe)," in Sun

inher ent in the idea of Asia.
In Sun Yat-sen's usage, cultural heterogeneity supplied theZhongshanQuanji (Complete

historical basis for nation-scare' s internal unity and resistance against

Works of Sun Zhongshan),pp.373-374. Because Asia had notexternal interference. 12 H e hoped char rhe multiplism of dynastic

undergo ne co mplete transitio n to

culture could be united with rhe new relations berween nation-scares

nation -states, "Great Asianism"
was not able to design a whole

so as to obviate the imperialist cultural colonization and the tendenc yapparatus for such regional groups.
Bue Sun's idea of Asia is closelyof high-degree cultural homogenization in nation-stares. His vision ofrelated to che tho ught chat respects

Asia was: Japan in the east, Turkey in rhe west, and nations-stares charnatio n-state's sovereignty. Hi s

have as their foundation Hindui sm, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism,"Great Asian ism" is somew hat
analogou s to what Co udenhove-

and ocher culture s in the inner areas. He said, "We must insist on

Kalergi put forward in Pan-Europe

Great Asian ism and recover the status of Asian nations. If we use only-

the thesis of Pan-Europe basedo n the sovereignty o f natio n-stares

benevolence, righteousness and morality as rhe basis to unite all-nations, all nations of Asia, [when united], will become powerful. " 13and to the Pan-Am ericanorganization char came inro
existence earlier. T his type ofregional con struct can be regarded

According to Sun, rhe culture of rhe kingly way defended rhe
oppressed nations, rebelled against the hegemonic way, and pursued

as a regio nal organizatio n o f the
League of N ation s, whose functio n
was to adjudi cate verdict overthe equality and liberation of all peoples. 14 Sun discerned therelationship berween nationalism and the concept of race, andco nflicts between regional groups
such as "Pan-Europe," "Pan-recognized that nationalism's resistance logic contained the logic char

Ame rica," N o rth America, So uthwould lead to its opposite side, i.e., the logic of oppression andAmerica, rhe UK, rhe USSR, andthe Far Ease. C. f. Pierre Ge rbet,

La.Construction de /'Europe, Notre
Siecle (Paris: Impr. nationale,1983), p. 34 ; Richard N.
Co udenho ve-Kalergi, Pan-Europe(New York: Knopf, 1926) .

hegemony. When he appealed to the notion of race to legitimize
national independence, therefore, he proposed "Great Asianism.""Great Asianism", or "Pan-Asianism," is antithetical to the proposalof "Great East Asianism" in modern Japan. As a form ofmulticulturalism , it criticized the notion of "East Asia," which was

13Sun, "Dui Shenhu shangye huiyisuo

highly homogenized, and regarded Asian stares' national self-deng tuanti deyanshuo(Talk todererminarion as the path to surpass colonialist logic. This notion

O rganizations includin g the Ko be

contains a self-deconstructive mechanism and logic because its

Chamber of Co mmerce)," pp .
408-409.
14
Ibid. , p. 409.

validity rests on the resistance to the colonial culture of thehegemonic way.
This self-deconsrrucrive logic is the very basis of the close
connection berween "Grear Asianism" and internationalism. Sun'sidea of Asia has ostensible racist marks, bur it attempted to transcend
rhe historical limits of racism by introducing a more basic standard : tosurpass national oppression. For instance , he defined the Russian as
Europe an, but regarded the new liberation movement in Russia asallied with "Great Asianism." He said:
Ther e is a new stare in Europe , which is discriminated against by
all white Europeans. The European regards it as a venomous

Session! 251snake or a violent beast and dares not approach it. Some people
in Asia hold the same view. Which state is chis? Russia. Russia isbreaking up with the white Europeans. Why does it do so?
Because Russia advocates the kingly way and not the hegemonic
way; it wants co insist on benevolence, righteousness, andmorality and is not willing to talk about right and might. leupholds justice co the utmost, and objects to che oppression of
the majority by the few. Hence che new culture of Russia is
extremely compatible with the old culcure of ours, the Ease.
Russia will therefore come co befriend the East, and break up
with the West. 15

15
Ibid.

The new culture of Russian refers to its socialism after rhe October
Revolution. Sun's idea of Asia contains a socialist dynamic char
opposes capitalism and imperialism. Urged by chis socialist dynamic,
he attempted to interpret the essence of rhe kingly way embodied inrhe tributary practice as a new type of internationalism.
Ir is probably the connection of chis socialist value with Chinese
traditions char have inspired contemporary scholars co reconstruct theidea of Asia. Mizoguchi Yuzo argues char rhe categories such as"heavenly principles " (tian!t), "public/private" (.gong!st) ran through
Chinese intellectual and social history from the Song co the Qing,
and char therefore there is an inherent continuity between somethemes of modern Chinese revolution -for instance, Sun 's principleof people 's livelihood and socialist land policy-

and the ideas ofland regulations, monarch and their values in the 16th to 17th
century . As historical notions, the relationship between categories
such as "public" (.gong), "Heaven " (tian), "heavenly principles" andmodern revolution and equalitarianism needs co be critiqued withcare. Bur the attempt co use values such as "principles of Heaven, ""public principles " (.gong/1)
or equality co define Asian culture
indubitably contains a resistance and criticism of modern capitalism
and colonialism. 16 In other words , in the waves of nationalism and16colonialism, we can discover the sharp opposition between socialist
and colonialist ideas of Asia.

c.f. Mizoguchi Yuzo, Chugokuno
Shiso(Chin ese Thinkin g) (Toky o:
H oso Daigaku Kyoiku Shinkokai ,199 1), Mizoguchi Yuzo, Chugoku
Zen Kindai Shiso no Kussetsuto
Tenkai (The Turns and Changes
in Chinese Pre•Modern Thinking)(To kyo: To kyo Dai gaku
Shuppankai , 1980).

III. The Idea of Asia and Modernity in Historical Studies"The East Asian world " as a relatively self-contained "cultural
sphere" was a modern construct based on intra-regional historical

252

SessionIconnection s. Nishijima Sadao described "the Ease Asian world" as aself-completing cultural sphere: it centered on Chin a geographically,surrounded by Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the area berween the
Mongolian and the Tibetan plateaus; its cultural characteristics were
Chinese characters, Confucianism, system of laws and decrees, and17

Buddhism . 17 The effort to establish the connection berween

N ishijima Sadao, "ToyoSeikai no
Seitei (The Formation of the East
Asian Worl d)," in Chugoku Kodai
Kokka to Higa,hiAjia Sekai (T hegeographic regions and culture aimed co construct Ease Asia as an

Anc ient State of Chin a and theorganic uniry, but chis argument did not come by itself. Ic was instead
the production of specific historical conditions . According to Maeda

EastAsian Wo rld) (T okyo : To kyo

Naonori, the traditional view of Japanese scholars did not include

Daiga ku Shupp anka i, I 983).

Japan in the East Asian world:
It is generally believed chat before moderniry , before history ofdifferent regions in the world attained commonaliry , China was aworld, and India was yet another world . From the perspective of
culcural history, the world of China can be regarded as including
Manchuria , Korea, Annam , and etc. This is what people used tobelieve. Although we considered the possibiliry, we were hesitant
to include Japan in chis world. However, chis is only a questionof cultural history . We know almost nothing about whether the
inner development of Korean or Manchurian societies, not tomention Japan, were connected or parallel to China . We knowchat in the Europe an world , the growth of the British sociery, forinstance, was parallel to and inter-relat ed with chat of theEurope an contin ent. Bue whether a similar phenomenon existed
in East Asia, especially berween Japan and China, was still not
clear except for the period of mod ern history. Moreover , thequestion itself has not yet been taken seriously. The accepted idea
has been chat Japan 's development in social structures since theancient times to the medieval and the modern period has been

18

completel y unr elated to chose of the conrinent. 18

Maeda Nao nori, "HigmhiAjia ni

Okern Kodai no Shumam (T he
End of Antiquity in East Asia)" inSuzuki Shun and Nishijima Sadao,
ChugokuShi nojidai Kubun (Th e
Periodization of Chinese History)(Tokyo: Tokyo Daigak u
Shuppan kai, I 957).

The view chat set Japan apart from Asia was closely associated withthe unique historical circumstances before Japan opened its ports andwith the notion of Japan 's particulariry chat arose after the ports wereopened. Connection and distinction , departure from Asia and joining
Asia, these antitheses formed the opposing and coordin ated charactersof the narrative of Asia in modern Japane se nationali sm.
The driving force to construct the organi ciry or self-containment

SessionI25]

of the East Asian world has always been the idea of the nationalisti c,industrial, and capitalistic W est. The notion "East Asian civilization
sphere " was an organi c constituent of modern Asian nationalisticknowledg e, and people were seeking behind it not only cultural
particularity but also the "inherent " and "universal" dynamic ofnationali sm, industrialism , and capitalism that coordinated with thi scultural particularity. H ence the effort to search for mod ernity in Asia
destructed the Hegelian framework of world history, but the inherent
standards of the Hegelian world order were not abolished butreconstructed : nationalism , capitalism, and theories of state set up ameta-history of the narrative of East Asian history. Miyazaki Ichisadaasserted "one could perceive in the Song society obvious capitalist
tendencies and phenomena that differed drastically from those of themedieval society." 19 He also said:
The political unification of the Song after the Five Dynasties , wasat the same tim e economic reunification of the dom estic market.

19

Miyazaki lchisada, "Toyoteki
Kimei (Ease Asia's Mo dern Age),"in vo l. 2, Miyauzki l chisada
Zemhu (Tokyo: lwanami Shocen,l 992), p. I 57.

. . . The capitals of the kingdoms of the Five Dynastie s lost theirsignificance as political centers, but they continued to exist ascommercial centers. Especially, the commercial cities chatappeared along the Grand Canal since the Tang grew gradually
and accumulated wealth , and in addition secured the prosperityof modern culture . Such a circum stance inevitably led to thegradual acceptance of the tenden cy to place the Song society
under the control of a sort of capitalism . 20

20
Ib id ., p. 156.

Miyazaki connected the history of different regions together throughthe notion of"cransportation, " and elaborated on "capitalism in theSong," "the modernity of Ease Asia," and "nationali sm" from chis
perspective. Thi s method evinces the possibility of tran scending the21

dispute s between universalism and particul arism in historical study.

Ib id., pp. I 95-21 1.

In the section on 'The nationalism of modern East Asia," he analyzed

22

the ethnic relations from the Qin rill the Qing . He believed chat

Ibid ., pp. 195-2 I I. M iyazaki's

during the Song dynasties, "nationalist upsurge s" appeared, nationalview is echoed in co ntemporary
historical studies mo. James Hev ia,

contacts went beyond tributary relations , and the Yue Kingdom andfor instance, shunn ed the standa rd

the Dali Kingdom were nominally China 's tribut ary states bur

div isio n of tradition andactually "independent and unrestrained nation-st ates." 21 In chis sense,

weste rn imp erial and co lo nial

the development of nationalism in Asia is treated as parallel to chat instudi es. He advoca ted treating thethe We st. Although the Yuan inrerrupt ed this process, it lacer

Qi ng Em pire since 1793 as that

254

Session I

mo dernity und er che infl uence ofco nflicts berw-een Britain and thebetween two expanding empires,
each with its own strategies andco ncerns, and co nstructing

stimulated the "Han-Chinese-centered nationalism." According tosovereignty in drastically different
ways. H evia's description of theresulting from the upsurges of Manchu nationalism, which first urged

co nflicts between Britain and thethis line of thought, the rise of the Qing Dynasty was also regarded as
the Manchurians to establish equal diplomatic relations with the

Q ing shows that he regarded the
Q ing as an empire chat came into
existence in conquering andMing and afterwards to conquer the Han Chinese. The notion ofnational co nflicts. In his wo rds,

Japanese relations by later scholars. According to Miyazaki,"T he I 7t h- and I 8th-century
foreign policies of the Qing were
not drawn up by Han -Chinese
Co nfucian officials but Manchu
rulers. The Manchus were notsatisfied with conquering China,
but con tinued to conquer nonChinese populations, andextende d its borders to far morebeyond the historical borders of
the Chi nese Empire . ... Therefore
when we discuss the Qing
diploma cy, we confront a basic
question, that is, there were nosuch people as the Chinese'
co ncerning the issues of
diploma cy. Ir is more com plex
when we look at these issues fromthe perspective of Qing monarchy:
the issue of 'China,' like Inner
Asian and Central Asia, should be
regarded as an issue of diplomacy
for che Manchus." See James
Hevia, "Cong ChaogongTizhi Dao
Zhiming Yanjiu (From the
Tributary System to Co lonial
Studi es)," Dushu 8 (1998): p.65.
How ever, if we regard the Qing
simply as an expandin g empire
and neglect its self-transformation
during the process of inheriting
the historical heritages of theMing, it will be difficult to state
the characteristics of the Qing
clearly. A more co mplex accountof the instability and stability of
the notion of China seems to be inneed.

periphery in this argument reminds us oflater accounts of Sinonationalism led to the great unification of modern East Asia. 22
Miyazaki used various European concepts daringly. His
understanding of the Tang-Song transition and particularly the Songdynasty were based on the notions of capitalism and nation-state.
Such an effort to search for history/modernity in Asia was inevitably
affected by teleology. We can see the presence of the dualism of
empire/state in European ideas of Asia by examining the inherent
connections between East Asian modernity and theories of nationstate.
Hence Hamashica's discussion of Asian tributary system is a
criticism of both "Departing from Asia" and peculiarism. He
reconstructed in the field of economic history an Asian world orderthat centered on China and was connected through the tributarysystem, and thereon recognized the historical connection within Asia
(including chat between Japan and China). Although Hamashita
similarly emphasized the modernizing dynamic coming from within
Asia, unlike Miyazaki, whose notion of East Asian modernity was
based on the European idea of nationalism, he based the inner unityof Asia on the network of the tributary system. 23 Hamashita's account
was inspiring. He discovered an inner theme to connect Asian states
and used it as a clue to envision the contemporary world. He also
used the perspectiveo f the periphery to expose the concinent-centrism
and the principle of dynastic orthodoxy in official Chinese
historiography. This is a forceful criticism of advocates ofparticuliarism who refuse to recognize the historical communications
between Japan and Asia. For Chinese scholars who are used to look at

23
See Ham ashica Takeshi, Kindai

China from within, this theory provides chem with a perspective to

Chugokuno KokusaitekiKeiki:
ChokoboekiShisutemuto Kindai
Ajia (The International

look at China from che periphery. This effort to search for Ease Asian

Opportunity of Modern China:
The Tributary Trade System andoverthrew the Euro-centric views based on the dichotomy ofModern Asia) (Tokyo: Tokyo
Daigaku Shupp ankai, I 990).

modernity based on tributary system (system of the empire) also
empire/state and tribute/trade.
The assumption of Asia's organic unity was based on the category

SessionI255

of East Asia, and Hamashita' s study stressed the aspect of trade in thetributary system, especially the marine trade relations which
overlapped with internal relations of Asia. If we join Hamashira's
inspiring and innovative study with studies of the interaction between
Asia and Europe, we will be able to better understand Asia's "modern
opportunity" centered on the, tributary system when examining
Chinese history from the 17th century on.
First, to use the tribut ary trade network to define the unity ofAsia provided a historical account of regional economic interactions
and criticized the Euro-centric account of modernity . 24 The so-called

24

tributary system, however, was in fact the result of the interaction

Hamashita defined six types ofsuzerain•vassaJrelationships. Ibid.,
p. 32 .

between the subjects that participated in this system. The practice oftribute was therefore a historical product and not a self-contained orcomplete structure. In this sense, the tribute practice was acontinuously changing relationship between multiple power centers .
Whenever a new power joined in, the internal power relationshipwould change. An overly steady framework of center/periphery will
not be able to reveal how the tribute practice changed continuously inhistory . Historically, the continuous shift of the center-margin
relation is one of the most important characteristics that distinguishthe modern capitalist world from conventional empires. Hence theconstruct of center-periphery relationship with China as the centercannot reveal the transformations of power relations within Asia sincethe 19th century. Because of the European Industrial Revolution,
rapid progress in naval technology , and the formation of nationstates, the traditional continental-marine relationship underwent
tremendous structural changes. European colonialism forcefullytransformed the traditional historical relations through navy, longdistance trade, and international labor division. Continental historicalconnections and social relations were devaluared and subjected tomarine hegemony and economic relations connected by marin e
passages. If we apply the framework of center-periphery to 19th- and20th-century power relations within Asia, it will inevitably conceal
the actual central status of some traditionally peripheral categories in
the new world system. This framework cannot explain the role ofJapan in modern Asia, or explain why exactly the periphery Qapan,
Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan , Singapore, ere.) became the center or
sub-center of 19th- and 20th-century Asian capitalism, while
continental areas such as mainland Chin a, India , and inner Asia

256

Session!

declined and became the real "margins " (After all the great growth ofChinese economy is a recent and open-ended event). It also cannot
explain great differentiation between coastal regions and inland ,especially the north-west , and the dominance of coastal economy overinland econom y.
Second, in the vision of "maritime East Asia" brought together
by the tributary network , historical communications within the Asian
continent and their changes were reduced to a subordinate andmarginal status. Hamashita's idea of Asia came into existence in
opposition with Euro-centrism. His description focused on aspects
such as trade and the circulation of silver and stressed the historicalcommunication between China and East Asia and Southeast Asia, i.e.
the trading exchanges enabled mainly through marine
communication. Therefore this narrative responded to theeconomicism logic and the framework of maritime theory inEuropean capitalist narrative. For the same reason, this "historicalworld that had its own inner unity " centered on East Asia andSoutheast Asia and stressed the importance of culture, ocean, andpolitical structure for the formation of regional relations, especiallyregional trade relations. But this idea of Asia that emphasizes unity
lacks a thorough analysis of continental communications -betweenChina and Inner Asia, West Asia, South Asia, and Russia -thatdominated the tribute system for a long period, and seldom touches
the relation between the formation of the maritime trade sphere andthe dynamic from within the continent .
Third, the theory of the tributary system was created by
opposition with that of European nation-states and their treaty
system. It overthrew the earlier idea that regarded nation-state as the
only driving force for modernity, but the dichotomy of the tributarysystem and the treaty system is also derived from that of empire andstate. Yet in as early as the 17th century, the Qing state was alreadyusing the form of treaty to define borders in certain frontier regions(e.g., the Sino-Russian border), create regular frontier patrols,
determine custom-duty rates and trade mechanism, exert sovereign
rights over residents in its administrative sphere, and establish
tributary/treaty relationship with European countries. Hence the
Qing was not only an empire of mixed national composition, but apolitical entity with advanced state systems as well. Its well-developed
tributary network included treaty relations. If we interpret the Qing

SessionI257

society through the simple opposition between state and empire ,treaty and tribute, we will not be able to see how empire construction
and state construction were two overlapping processes, and we will
not be able to understand the basic characteristics of modern Chine senationalism. It is because of the composite relationship between thetributary system and the state system that we cannot describe thetributary system simply as a ranked center/periphery relationship.
Just as the tributary system and the creary system were not two
opposing categories in Chinese history, so could che tributary system
be a form of scare relations since che European countries establisheddifferent forms of relations between scares when they were setting up
bilateral trade, political, and military relations. Hamashica defined an"interchange of trade (hushi )" eype of tributary relations, which wasmore similar than ocher types to the so-called "diplomatic relations"and "international trade relations." Within the tributary sphere, there
existed the relationship of tribute and bestowment of return gift. The
two were sometimes of equal value, and sometime the return gift
valued more than the tribute. Therefore the tributary relationshipcontained a duality : ic was both an economic and a ritual system.
Accordingly, che ritualistic inequality and che actual reciprocity, theritual character of che tributary relationship and the actual substanceof tributary trade overlapped with each other. If ic is an inherent
characteristic of the tributary practice chat the relationship between
scares and the tributary relationship overlapped, shall we not observe
European states' domestic and international relations from anotherperspective, i.e., regard the treaty system not as a structural form but aresult of che historical interactions between different powers andforms? As Hamashita argued powerfully when he analyses the opium
trade between Britain and China , the formal equality of che European
treaty system cannot conceal its actual inequality . Therefore , if one
bases ones argument on the dichotomy of tribute and treaty, empire
and state, and attacks such Euro- centric ideas by inverting therelations between the two, the complexity of historical relations
within Asia are simplified .
The question of Asia's modernity must eventually deal with therelationship between Asia and European colonialism and modern
capitalism. In as early as the 1940s, Miyazaki scarred to explore the"beginning of Song capitalism " by studying che history of wideranging communications of different regions. He argued "[those] who

258

SessionIregard the history since the Song as the growth of modernity havearrived at the time to reflect on western modern history in the light of25

the developments in modern East Asian hisrory." 25 That his theory ofMiyazaki,"Toyoteki Kinsei (Ease
Asia's Modern Age)," p.240.

East Asian modernity overlapped with the Japanese idea of "Great
East Asian Sphere" does not obscure Miyazaki's insightful
observations. He observed that in a kind of world-history framework,
how the digging of the Grand Canal, the migrating of metropolises ,and commoditie s such as spice and tea connected the European and
the Asian trade network , and how the expansion of the Mongolian
Empire promoted the artistic and cultural exchanges between Europe
and Asia not only changed the internal relations in China and Asiansocieties, but also connected Europe and Asia internally by land and26

by sea. 26 If the political, economic, and cultural features of "the Asian

Ibid. , pp.151 - 154.

Modernity" appeared in as early as the 10th or the 11th century three or four centuries earlier than the appearance of comparable
features in Europe, were the historical development of these twoworlds parallel or associated? Miyazaki propounded that East Asia,
especially China, not only provided the necessary market and material
for the Industrial revolution, but also nurtured the growth of27

humanism in the French Revolution . 27

M iyazaki conclud ed logically,"The European Industrial

Discussions on the changes of the Chinese society, forced or

Revo lution was definitely not an

voluntary, and its communications with surrounding regions enrich

independent history of Europe,

our understanding of the modern world . The movement of the world

because ic was not on ly a problemof machinery but also an issue ofdoes not simply operate around the capitalist system that centers on

the w hol e socia l structure. To

Europe; its operation is the process in which multiply worlds ofmake the Industrial Revo lution

cakeplace , the prosperityof thehistory communicate and fight with each other, permeate into eachbourgeoi s was necessary, andother, and mould each other. When historians located Asia in global

moreover , the capital
accumu lation from trading with

East Asia was also indispensable.
To make the machine s work notonly required power but also
cotton as raw material. In fact,

EaseAsia provided raw material

relations , they realized first that the issue of modernity was not an
issue of a certain society, but the result of interaction between
different regions and civilizations. Hence the validity of the idea of
Asia diminishe s, since it is neither a self-contained entity nor a set ofand market. If there had not been

relations. It is neither the beginning of a linear world history nor its

comm un ications with Ease Asia,

end. This idea of Asia, which is neither starting point nor end, neither

the Industrial Revolution might
not have taken place." Ibid., p.
238.

self-sufficient subject nor subordinating object, provides anopportunity to reconstruct "world history. "When we correct the errors in the idea of Asia, we must also
reexamine the idea of Europe. If the account of Asia continues to be
based on the self-explanatory notion of Europe, and the dynamismthat produced the idea of Europe is not thoroughly reexamined in the

SessionI

259

context of European historical development, the ambiguity of the ideaof Asia will be hard to eliminate. I'd like to support Dipesh
Charkrabarty's call for "provincializing Europe" here : in a period
when European history itself has localized, perhaps no one will believein the Hegelian myth of history, but the Europe as meta-history is aghost that still wonders behind various contemporary historicalnarratives. 28
IV. The Problem of"World History ": Asia, Empire , and Nation-state
The accounts of Asia chat we have discussed above reveal less theautonomy of Asia than the ambiguity and contradictions in the ideaof Asia. This idea is at the same time colonialist and anti-colonialist ,conservative and revolutionary, nationalist and internationalist,
originated in Europe and shaping the self-interpretation of Europe,
closely related to the issue of national state and overlapping with thevision of empire, a concept of civilization as opposed to that ofEurope and a geographic category established in geo-political
relations. We must take seriously the derivativeness, ambiguity, andinconsistency of how the idea of Asia emerged as we explore thepolitical, economic , and cultural independence of Asia. The keys totranscend or overcome such derivativeness, ambiguity, andinconsistency can be discovered only in specific historical relations
that gave rise to chem.
First, the idea of Asia was created in close relation to the issue ofmodernity or capitalism, and the core of the modernity issue was thedevelopment of the relationship between nation-state and market.
The tension between nationalism and super-nationalism is closely
related to the dual reliance of capitalist market on state and cross-state
relations. Discussions on the early modernity of Asia and Asian
capitalism strongly impacted the use of the notion of Asia today.
Since such discussions often focus on issues such as nation-state andcapitalism , the diverse historical relations, policies and governance,
customs, and cultural structure of Asian societies nested in the
narrative of modernity. Values, policies, and rituals independent of
this narrative of moderniry were suppressed and marginalized. One
goal of my analysis has been to redefine these suppressed historical
heritages and examine whether some of them rituals, and economic relations, etc. historical circumstances.

260

SessionIvalues, policies,

can be utilized under new

28
Chakr abarry Dip esh,"Posrcolonialiry and the Artifice ofHistory: Who Speaks for Indian'Pasts'?" Representations37 (1992):
pp .1-26.

Second, the dominance of nation-state in Asian imaginations
arose from the dichotomy of empire and nation-state created inmodern Europe. The historical implication of chis dichotomy was:nation-state was the single modern political form and the principal
precondition for the development of Capitalism. This dichotomy,
however, underestimated the diversity of political and economic
relations that were summarized as belonging to the category of
empire, and underestimated the diversity of internal relations within
nation-states. Nowadays national states remain the main driving forceof regional communications in Asia. Therefore regional problems
often cake the form of the extension of national relations. Because
new ideas of Asia aim to create a protective and constructive regional
network to counter-balance the mono-dominance and upheavals
resulting from the process of globalization, the issue of state still
occupies a central position of the issue of Asia. The question is: as
nation-state has become a dominant political structure, will the
traditional experiences of communication, co-existence, and policies
and regulations of Asia provide ways and opportunities to overcome
the internal and external dilemmas brought abour by the nation-statesystem?
Third, the unity of Asia as a category was established as opposed
to Europe. It encompasses various heterogeneous cultures, religions,and other social elements . Whether we base our judgment on
historical traditions or current circumstances, one does not see thepossibility or conditions in Asia to create a European Union-stylesuper-state. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
Sikism, Zoroastrianism, Daoism, and Confucianism all originated inthis continent we call Asia, on which three fifths of the world's
landmass lie and over half of the world's population live. Any attempt
to summarize the characteristics of Asia with one unitary culture will
fail. The idea of Confucian Asia cannot even fully represent thecharacteristics of China. Even if the idea of Asia is reduced to the idea
of East Asia, the culcural multiplicity in Asia still cannot be avoided.
At the same time, the religious, commercial, cultural, military andpolitical relations between Asia and Europe, Africa and America, havelong-lasting and inseparable historical connections. It is not adequate
to describe Asia with the inner/outer mode of nation-state, nor toenvision Asia as an enlarged nation-state. The idea of Asia has neverbeen a self-definition. It is rather the resulc of the interaction between

SessionI2b 1

this region and other regions. The criticism ofEuro-centrism does notseek to confirm Asia-cencrism but to eliminate the self-centered,exclusivist, and expansionist logic of dominance. In this sense, todiscern the internal disorder and diversity of "new empires " and toreject the self-explanatory idea of Europe is not only the premi se roreconstruct the idea of Asia and of Europe, but the inevitable route tobreak through the "logic of new empires."
Fourth, the commonality of Asian imaginaries partly came fromthe imaginators ' common subordinating status in colonialism, theCold War period , and the global order, and the trend s of national
self-determination movement, socialist movement, decolonialization
movement, and democratization. We will not be able to under standthe modern significance of Asia or the origin of disunion and war
crisis in Asia if we forget these historical conditions and movements.
In this sense, new Asian imaginations need to surpass the goals andprojects of 20th-century national liberation and socialist movem ents.
Under the new historical circumstances, they must explore and reflect
on these unaccomplished histori cal projects of these movements. It is
not to create a new Cold War but to abolish the old Cold War and its
derivative forms; it is not to reconstruct the colonial relationship but
to eliminate the remnant and new-born colonizing possibilities. I
emphasize again what I have conveyed: the issue of Asia is not simply
an issue in Asia; it is an issue of"world hisrory." To reconsider the"Asian history " is a reconstruction of I 9th-century European "world
history" and an attempt ro break through 21st-century "new empire "order and its logic.

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Colonial Press, 1899.
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[Trans lated by Gao Jin]

SessionI

26]

Session I Presentation 3

Indonesia's 'Asia'
Goenawan Mohamad
Senior Editor , TEMPO Weekly newsmaga zine[I]

'Asia' is like God; you cannot categorically deny or affirm its
existence. No one knows where it begins, where it ends, or whether
there is a way to define it. Maybe it is, to use John Lennon 's line
about God, 'a concept by which we measure our pain.'
The pain varies. Sometimes it renders 'Asia' the outcome of a'universalizing' scheme that, in the end, self-aborts; other times it ispart of an agonizing cultivation of the self in search of a deeper
meaning. In Indonesia, the idea of 'Asia' is generally linked to ahaphazard political agenda that, in the early 20th century, was shaped

Goe nawan Mo hamadby the need to respond to a Janus-faced modernity.
Predictably, the first face of modernity is 'Europe' as a promise of
emancipation. In the beginning of the 20th century, when Java wasunder the Dutch colonial system, a twenty-one year old woman wrote
a letter to her pen friend in Holland with a passionate opening: 'To
go to Europe! Till my last breath that shall be my ideal.' 1
That woman was Kartini, the daughter of a chief of a Javanese

AJIKarcini's quotes are from
Raden Adjeng Karrini, Letters ofA

administrative district. She was born in 1879 and died at a very young

JavanesePrincess,edited and withan introdu ction by Hildred Geertz(W .W. Nor ton & Compan y, Inc.,New York: 1964) .

age in 1904. Today, she is known as the first Indonesian feminist as
well as the forerunner of the nationalist movement for freedom; herbirthday is a national day. She is an exceptional figure, but her case isby no means untypical of a colonial setting in which every day bore
witness to European supremacy . She came from a Javanese aristocraticfamily, but her grandfather had a young tutor brought into the family
from Holland, at a time when there were very few European schools
in Java. Kartini's father, who became the regent ofJepara, was one of
the three native district administrators who spoke Dutch fluently andread Western literature extensively. He encouraged his sons anddaughters to learn not only Dutch, but also German, French andEnglish. Kartini's brother graduated with honors from a colonial

164

Session I