DOCSLIB.ORG

The Newsletter

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Encouraging knowledge and enhancing the study of Asia iias.asia 8684 The Newsletter The Study Asian migration studies The Focus Waste and social mobilisation The Region Economic and social effects of the pandemic 2 Contents In this edition of the Focus From the Director 3 Nurturing community during COVID-19 Environmental issues, ICAS 12 and the IBP 2021 4 Crafting a Global Future social activism and The ICAS Book Prize Story 5-9 The ICAS Book Prize: A multilingual policy challenges window on the world of Asian studies Paul van der Velde Aysun Uyar Makibayashi Environmental change issues, both sudden shocks and gradual changes have been forcing states, The Study communities and individuals to transform their 10-11 The Shanghai lilong: A new ways of coping with these adversities. Recently, not concept of home in China only governmental and state-to-state international Gregory Bracken 12-13 Asian migration studies: Recent initiatives but also non-state interactions are joining publications and new directions the decision-making processes through their public Michiel Baas discussions, demonstrations and official involvement 14-15 May Fourth at 100 in Singapore in the actual processes of law-making with regard and Hong Kong: Memorialization, to these environmental change issues. This short localization, and negotiation Els van Dongen and David Kenley Focus section pays attention to this multi-level 16-17 Ode to the ‘little sun’: Everyday involvement of our societies to the policy challenges thermal practice and energy and policy transformation processes of the local, infrastructure in Chongqing (China) national and international decision makers to face Madlen Kobi 18 Asian Studies in Pakistan and bring more responsive as well as responsible Gul-i-Hina Shahzad solutions for our pending environmental change issues. Academic partnership, social activism, mass The Review mobilisation and raising awareness about day to day adjustments to these ongoing environmental 19-25 Selected reviews from newbooks.asia changes, as well as people’s understanding of 26-27 New reviews on newbooks.asia 28 New titles on newbooks.asia already changing concepts of environmental and social changes, are some of the main issues raised The Focus in the articles of this Focus. 29-30 Environmental issues, social activism and policy challenges Aysun Uyar Makibayashi 31-33 From cyberspace to the streets: Emerging environmental paradigm of justice and citizenship in Vietnam Quang Dung Nguyen 34-35 Waste and social mobilisation: Anthropological explorations beyond Asia and Europe Judith Schlehe 36-37 The Green Ger Village Master Plan: University cooperation and achieving the SDGs The Newsletter is a free periodical In this issue Patricia Chica-Morales published by the International Institute I would like to start by expressing my and Antonio J. Domenech for Asian Studies (IIAS). As well as extreme gratitude for everyone who contributed 38-39 Environmental challenges of to this issue. I have been most impressed with international migration in East Asia serving as a forum for scholars to share everyone’s commitment to deliver, despite the demanding circumstances. It wasn’t easy, but Aysun Uyar Makibayashi research, commentary and opinion with together we managed to compile yet another colleagues in academia and beyond, fantastic issue. Many thanks! We hope you will all join us in Kyoto next The Region The Newsletter is also a window into year for ICAS 12. Find details about submitting the Institute. Information about the a proposal to the conference, and your titles 1 40-4 News from Australia and the Pacific to the Book Prize, on p.4 of this issue. 42-44 News from Southeast Asia programmes and activities of IIAS On pp.5-9, IBP General Secretary Paul 45-47 China Connections can be found in the Network pages van der Velde, tells us the ‘Story of the IBP’. Read about its beginnings and how it grew of each issue of The Newsletter. into the largest book prize of its kind. Three of our regional editors have The Network contributed to this issue: The Asia Institute in Melbourne, NYU Shanghai and Fudan 948-4 Humanities across Borders Programme he International Institute for Asian University, and the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute 50 IIAS Fellowship Programme Studies (IIAS) is a global Humanities in Singapore. Find their articles on pp.40-47. 51 Announcements Tand Social Sciences institute and a The report on pp.48-49 is the latest 52-53 IIAS Research knowledge exchange platform, based in update of a project in the IIAS Humanities Leiden, the Netherlands, with programmes across Borders programme: ‘Retelling the that engage Asian and other international neighbourhood’. partners. IIAS takes a thematic and multi- Our fellows and latest announcements The Portrait sectoral approach to the study of Asia can be found on pp.50-51; IIAS research 54-55 Forgotten Faces. Visual Presentation and actively involves scholars and experts programmes, networks and other initiatives of Trauma and Mass Killing in Asia from different disciplines and regions in its are described in brief on pp.52-53; and activities. Our current thematic research on pp.54-55 you will find the beautifully Charles B. Wang Center, clusters are ‘Asian Heritages’, ‘Asian Cities’ haunting images of this issues’ Portrait: Stony Brook University and ‘Global Asia’. ‘Forgotten Faces’. The Newsletter No. 86 Summer 2020 3 From the Director The Newsletter is a free periodical published by IIAS. As well as being a window into the institute, The Newsletter Nurturing community also links IIAS with the community of Asia scholars and the worldwide public Below: IIAS staff keeping interested in Asia and Asian in touch through online during COVID-19 meetings. studies. The Newsletter bridges the gap between specialist knowledge and public discourse, and continues to serve as a forum for scholars to share Philippe Peycam research, commentary and opinion with colleagues in academia and beyond. Postal address PO Box 9500 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands Visitors Rapenburg 59 Leiden T +31 (0) 71-527 2227 [email protected] Colophon The Newsletter No. 86 Summer 2020 Managing editor: Sonja Zweegers midst the anxieties and grief brought concentrates on the value of a dignified life in networks we have created so as to deepen Guest editor for The Focus: on by the COVID-19 pandemic, IIAS its multiple expressions. This idea is certainly each other’s experience and mission. Aysun Uyar Makibayashi A– a mediating space for dialogue and compounded by the sentiment that COVID - Systematically anchoring activities in Regional editors: generation of knowledge on, in and with is just one of nature’s responses to human contexts, at regional, national, and local Edwin Jurriëns and Andy Fuller Asia – is witnessing the disruption of many hubris, and that it is yet another warning levels, based on respect for the diversity (Asia Institute in Melbourne), of its activities and plans. Many programmed against a global ecological crisis that is of conditions and an equal belief in Su-Ann Oh (ISEAS–Yusof Ishak events have been either cancelled or ahead of us. Economic and social disparities trans-local trans-cultural understanding. Institute), Fan Zhang (NYU postponed indefinitely. Our sense of purpose may appear less acceptable now, especially - Moving beyond the narrowly Shanghai). and way of functioning as a global-local when the effects of the virus tend to reinforce individualistic, fragmented model The Review pages editor: platform of engaged scholarship is being put them, with large swaths of society, in both of scholarship through processes of Wai Cheung to the test. Yet, with the little hindsight we the global North and South, left without collective deliberation around themes The Network pages editor: already have, I can say that the confinement jobs, education or healthcare. Observing the that have the potential to produce Sandra Dehue period, if at first unsettling, is somehow fact that service providers hitherto deemed transformative shared outcomes. Digital issue editor: turning into a meaningful experience for subalterns – nurses, cleaners, carers, farmers, - Innovation through creative disruption Thomas Voorter us. We, like so many other organisations all postal workers, and so forth – enabled us to by bringing into contact peoples, ideas Graphic Design: around the world, have had no choice but continue to live our lives under lockdown, is and approaches otherwise unlikely to Paul Oram to brace ourselves and to reflect upon our the kind of collective realisation that is bound interrelate; to support ‘experiential’ Lava mission and methods. To what extent can to drastically alter our perceptions of the meeting formats that can instil IIAS’s mode of functioning withstand the world, of the role of youth, of the falsity of new debates, and encourage new Printing: EPC, Belgium challenges of navigating the present crisis artificial structures, and the space of action consciousness or solutions. and its future unfolding? and reflection that is needed to recalibrate - Consciously choreograph these multiple social relations at large. innovations-disruptions to create Submissions To ensure that the IIAS team would not turn Against these needs and aspirations arising conducive situations for new conviviality, Issue #87: 15 July 2020 into an assortment of scattered colleagues, from a new urgency impinging upon both new meanings, new understandings. Issue #88: 1 Dec 2020 left to work on their separate tasks in isolation, global and local actors, IIAS stands as a model One word can sum up IIAS’s post-COVID Issue #89: 15 March 2021 our first decision was to organise everyone of engaged scholarship. The institute has method of action and resolve, rarely used for into virtual ‘working groups’, with the aim long taken steps that in the present context an academic institution: community, or the to synchronise our actions and shape them have become even more relevant: initiate art of community formation and community Submission enquiries into broader collective efforts.
Recommended publications
  • Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017

    Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017

    Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 Princeton Model United Nations Conference 2017 The Taiping Rebellion Chair: Nicholas Wu Director: [Name] 1 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 CONTENTS Letter from the Chair……………………………………………………………… 3 The Taiping Rebellion:.…………………………………………………………. 4 History of the Topic………………………………………………………… 4 Current Status……………………………………………………………….7 Country Policy……………………………………………………………… 9 Keywords…………………………………………………………………...11 Questions for Consideration………………………………………………...12 Positions:.………………………………………………………………………. 14 2 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Dear Delegates, Welcome to PMUNC 2017! This will be my fourth and final PMUNC. My name is Nicholas Wu, and I’m a senior in the Woodrow Wilson School, pursuing certificates in American Studies and East Asian Studies. It’s my honor to chair this year’s crisis committee on the Taiping Rebellion. It’s a conflict that fascinates me. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest civil war in human history, but it barely receives any attention in your standard world history class. Which is a shame — it’s a multilayered conflict. There are ethnic, economic, and religious issues at play, as well as significant foreign involvement. I hope that you all find it as interesting as I do. On campus, I’m currently figuring out how to write my thesis, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be researching the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). I’m also involved with the International Relations Council, the Daily Princetonian, the Asian American Students Association, and Princeton Advocates for Justice. I also enjoy cooking. Best of luck at the conference! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. You can email me anytime at [email protected].
  • Marxism, Stalinism, and the Juche Speech of 1955: on the Theoretical De-Stalinization of North Korea

    Marxism, Stalinism, and the Juche Speech of 1955: on the Theoretical De-Stalinization of North Korea

    Marxism, Stalinism, and the Juche Speech of 1955: On the Theoretical De-Stalinization of North Korea Alzo David-West This essay responds to the argument of Brian Myers that late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung’s Juche speech of 1955 is not nationalist (or Stalinist) in any meaningful sense of the term. The author examines the literary formalist method of interpretation that leads Myers to that conclusion, considers the pro- grammatic differences of orthodox Marxism and its development as “Marx- ism-Leninism” under Stalinism, and explains that the North Korean Juche speech is not only nationalist, but also grounded in the Stalinist political tradi- tion inaugurated in the Soviet Union in 1924. Keywords: Juche, Nationalism, North Korean Stalinism, Soviet Stalinism, Socialism in One Country Introduction Brian Myers, a specialist in North Korean literature and advocate of the view that North Korea is not a Stalinist state, has advanced the argument in his Acta Koreana essay, “The Watershed that Wasn’t” (2006), that late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung’s Juche speech of 1955, a landmark document of North Korean Stalinism authored two years after the Korean War, “is not nationalist in any meaningful sense of the term” (Myers 2006:89). That proposition has far- reaching historical and theoretical implications. North Korean studies scholars such as Charles K. Armstrong, Adrian Buzo, Seong-Chang Cheong, Andrei N. Lankov, Chong-Sik Lee, and Bala、zs Szalontai have explained that North Korea adhered to the tactically unreformed and unreconstructed model of nationalist The Review of Korean Studies Volume 10 Number 3 (September 2007) : 127-152 © 2007 by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  • Imperial China and the West Part I, 1815–1881

    Imperial China and the West Part I, 1815–1881

    China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West Part I, 1815–1881 The East India Company’s steamship Nemesis and other British ships engaging Chinese junks in the Second Battle of Chuenpi, 7 January 1841, during the first opium war. (British Library) ABOUT THE ARCHIVE China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West Part I, 1815–1881 is digitised from the FO 17 series of British Foreign Office Files—Foreign Office: Political and Other Departments: General Correspondence before 1906, China— held at the National Archives, UK, providing a vast and significant primary source for researching every aspect of Chinese-British relations during the nineteenth century, ranging from diplomacy to trade, economics, politics, warfare, emigration, translation and law. This first part includes all content from FO 17 volumes 1–872. Source Library Number of Images The National Archives, UK Approximately 532,000 CONTENT From Lord Amherst’s mission at the start of the nineteenth century, through the trading monopoly of the Canton System, and the Opium Wars of 1839–1842 and 1856–1860, Britain and other foreign powers gradually gained commercial, legal, and territorial rights in China. Imperial China and the West provides correspondence from the Factories of Canton (modern Guangzhou) and from the missionaries and diplomats who entered China in the early nineteenth century, as well as from the envoys and missions sent to China from Britain and the later legation and consulates. The documents comprising this collection include communications to and from the British legation, first at Hong Kong and later at Peking, and British consuls at Shanghai, Amoy (Xiamen), Swatow (Shantou), Hankow (Hankou), Newchwang (Yingkou), Chefoo (Yantai), Formosa (Taiwan), and more.
  • University of California Riverside

    University of California Riverside

    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE North Korean Literature: Margins of Writing Memory, Gender, and Sexuality A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature by Immanuel J Kim June 2012 Dissertation Committee: Professor Kelly Jeong, Chairperson Professor Annmaria Shimabuku Professor Perry Link Copyright by Immanuel J Kim 2012 The Dissertation of Immanuel J Kim is approved: _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank the Korea Foundation for funding my field research to Korea from March 2010 to December 2010, and then granting me the Graduate Studies Fellowship for the academic year of 2011-2012. It would not be an overstatement for me to say that Korea Foundation has enabled me to begin and complete my dissertation. I would also like to thank Academy of Korean Studies for providing the funds to extend my stay in Korea. I am grateful for my advisors Professors Kelly Jeong, Henk Maier, and Annmaria Shimabuku, who have provided their invaluable comments and criticisms to improve and reshape my attitude and understanding of North Korean literature. I am indebted to Prof. Perry Link for encouraging me and helping me understand the similarities and differences found in the PRC and the DPRK. Prof. Kim Chae-yong has been my mentor in reading North Korean literature, opening up opportunities for me to conduct research in Korea and guiding me through each of the readings. Without him, my research could not have gotten to where it is today. Ch’oe Chin-i and the Imjingang Team have become an invaluable resource to my research of writers in the Writer’s Union and the dynamic changes occurring in North Korea today.
  • The Recovery of Hong Kong by the People's Republic of China-A Fifty Year Experiment in Capitalism and Freedom

    The Recovery of Hong Kong by the People's Republic of China-A Fifty Year Experiment in Capitalism and Freedom

    Day: The Recovery of Hong Kong THE RECOVERY OF HONG KONG BY THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA-A FIFTY YEAR EXPERIMENT IN CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM Christian C. Day* I. INTRODUCTION The People's Republic of China (PRC) has the opportunity to fashion a novel relationship with the capitalistic city-state of Hong Kong. This opportunity has arisen out of the September 26, 1984 Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong.1 This Joint Declaration, issued with three integrated annexes, and an Ex­ change of Memoranda, comprises the text of the "agreement" be­ tween the UK and the PRC on the future of the current British Colony.2 The UK-PRC agreement, which was signed in Peking on December 19, 1984,3 is an unprecedented solution to the PRC's * Associate Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law; A.B. Cornell University, 1967; J.D. New York University School of Law, 1970. 1. Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, signed at Peking Dec. 19, 1984, United Kingdom-People's Republic of China, 1984 Gr. Brit. T.S. No. 20, at 11-13 (Cmd. 9352) [hereinafter cited as Joint Declaration]. Ac­ cording to the Joint Declaration, its effectiveness is subject to "ratification and shall enter into force on the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification, which shall take place in Beijing before 30 June 1985." Id.
  • Cold War Cultures in Korea by Travis Workman

    Cold War Cultures in Korea by Travis Workman

    Cold War Cultures in Korea Instructor: Travis Workman Campuses: U of Minnesota, Ohio State U, and Pennsylvania State U Course website: http://coldwarculturesinkorea.com In this course we will analyze the Cold War (1945-1989) not only as an era in geopolitics, but also as a historical period marked by specific cultural and artistic forms. We focus on the Korean peninsula, looking closely at the literary and film cultures of both South Korea and North Korea. We discuss how the global conflict between U.S.- centered and Soviet-centered societies affected the politics, culture, and geography of Korea between 1945 and 1989, treating the division of Korea as an exemplary case extending from the origins of the Cold War to the present. We span the Cold War divide to compare the culture and politics of the South and the North through various cultural forms, including anti-communist and socialist realist films, biography and autobiography, fiction, and political discourse. We also discuss the legacy of the Cold War in contemporary culture and in the continued existence of two states on the Korean peninsula. The primary purpose is to be able to analyze post-1945 Korean cultures in both their locality and as significant aspects of the global Cold War era. Topics will include the politics of melodrama, cinema and the body, visualizing historical memory, culture under dictatorship, and issues of gender. TEXTS For Korean texts and films, the writer or director’s family name appears first. Please use the family name in your essays and check with me if you are unsure.
  • Results Announcement for the Year Ended December 31, 2020

    Results Announcement for the Year Ended December 31, 2020

    (GDR under the symbol "HTSC") RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 The Board of Huatai Securities Co., Ltd. (the "Company") hereby announces the audited results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2020. This announcement contains the full text of the annual results announcement of the Company for 2020. PUBLICATION OF THE ANNUAL RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE ANNUAL REPORT This results announcement of the Company will be available on the website of London Stock Exchange (www.londonstockexchange.com), the website of National Storage Mechanism (data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism), and the website of the Company (www.htsc.com.cn), respectively. The annual report of the Company for 2020 will be available on the website of London Stock Exchange (www.londonstockexchange.com), the website of the National Storage Mechanism (data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism) and the website of the Company in due course on or before April 30, 2021. DEFINITIONS Unless the context otherwise requires, capitalized terms used in this announcement shall have the same meanings as those defined in the section headed “Definitions” in the annual report of the Company for 2020 as set out in this announcement. By order of the Board Zhang Hui Joint Company Secretary Jiangsu, the PRC, March 23, 2021 CONTENTS Important Notice ........................................................... 3 Definitions ............................................................... 6 CEO’s Letter .............................................................. 11 Company Profile ........................................................... 15 Summary of the Company’s Business ........................................... 27 Management Discussion and Analysis and Report of the Board ....................... 40 Major Events.............................................................. 112 Changes in Ordinary Shares and Shareholders .................................... 149 Directors, Supervisors, Senior Management and Staff..............................
  • Buddhist Print Culture in Early Republican China Gregory Adam Scott Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of

    Buddhist Print Culture in Early Republican China Gregory Adam Scott Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of

    Conversion by the Book: Buddhist Print Culture in Early Republican China Gregory Adam Scott Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Gregory Adam Scott All Rights Reserved This work may be used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. For more information about that license, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. For other uses, please contact the author. ABSTRACT Conversion by the Book: Buddhist Print Culture in Early Republican China 經典佛化: 民國初期佛教出版文化 Gregory Adam Scott 史瑞戈 In this dissertation I argue that print culture acted as a catalyst for change among Buddhists in modern China. Through examining major publication institutions, publishing projects, and their managers and contributors from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, I show that the expansion of the scope and variety of printed works, as well as new the social structures surrounding publishing, substantially impacted the activity of Chinese Buddhists. In doing so I hope to contribute to ongoing discussions of the ‘revival’ of Chinese Buddhism in the modern period, and demonstrate that publishing, propelled by new print technologies and new forms of social organization, was a key field of interaction and communication for religious actors during this era, one that helped make possible the introduction and adoption of new forms of religious thought and practice. 本論文的論點是出版文化在近代中國佛教人物之中,扮演了變化觸媒的角色. 通過研究從十 九世紀末到二十世紀二十年代的主要的出版機構, 種類, 及其主辦人物與提供貢獻者, 論文 說明佛教印刷的多元化 以及範圍的大量擴展, 再加上跟出版有關的社會結構, 對中國佛教 人物的活動都發生了顯著的影響. 此研究顯示在被新印刷技術與新形式的社會結構的推進 下的出版事業, 為該時代的宗教人物展開一種新的相互連結與構通的場域, 因而使新的宗教 思想與實踐的引入成為可能. 此論文試圖對現行關於近代中國佛教的所謂'復興'的討論提出 貢獻. Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables iii Acknowledgements v Abbreviations and Conventions ix Works Cited by Abbreviation x Maps of Principle Locations xi Introduction Print Culture and Religion in Modern China 1.
  • A Well-Reasoned Dharma: Buddhist Logic in Republican China

    A Well-Reasoned Dharma: Buddhist Logic in Republican China

    Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies (2015, 28: 189–234) New Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies ᷕ厗ἃ⬠⬠⟙䫔Ḵ⋩ℓ㛇ġ 枩 189–234炷㮹⚳ᶨ䘦暞⚃⸜炸炻㕘⊿烉ᷕ厗ἃ⬠䞼䨞㇨ ISSN: 2313-2000 e-ISSN: 2313-2019 A Well-Reasoned Dharma: Buddhist Logic in Republican China Eyal Aviv Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, George Washington University Abstract The rediscovery of Buddhist logic (Skt. hetuvidyƘ, yinming ⚈㖶) in early 20th century China was a key element in the Chinese Buddhist response to modernity. I argue that while Buddhist intellectuals used Buddhist logic for different purposes, their shared goal was to demonstrate that Buddhism was not only modern but also that it was and is indispensable for the modern project. The article addresses two reasons for the renewed interest in Buddhist logic. Firstly, the revival should be understood in the context of logic’s newly gained authority and significance in the early part of the 20th century in China. Secondly, the rise of Buddhist logic was a product of doctrinal debates within Buddhism. With globalization and growing foreign influence, Chinese Buddhists revisited Buddhist teachings that were in the margins for centuries. These teachings, primarily from the Yog¢c¢ra schools, challenged ubiquitous views in Chinese Buddhism. Buddhist logic was not only one of the doctrines that was rediscovered, but it was also one of the most effective tools in debating the nature and future of Buddhism in modern China. Keywords: Buddhist Logic, HetuvidyƘ, YogƘFƘra, Modern Buddhism, Modernity 190 Journal of Chinese Buddhist
  • The Incompetence of Qing Dynasty Officials in the Opium Wars, and the Consequences of Defeat

    The Incompetence of Qing Dynasty Officials in the Opium Wars, and the Consequences of Defeat

    An Indefensible Defense: The Incompetence of Qing Dynasty Officials in the Opium Wars, and the Consequences of Defeat DANIEL CONE The Opium Wars were small scale wars fought with global implications. With fewer than five thousand troops and twenty naval vessels the British were able to win the First Opium War, allowing them to rewrite trade laws that were demonstrably unfair to the Chinese. After losing the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty then had to deal with the Taiping Rebellion (caused in part by anti- foreign sentiment sprung from the Opium War) and a subsequent Second Opium War, which created more unequal trade stipulations. The Manchus and the British had very different militaries, as “Britain experienced an industrial revolution that produced military technology far beyond that of the Qing forces,” writes Peter Worthing.1 While the Manchus would almost certainly be defeated by the British in an open, “fair fight,” there are many other ways of engaging an enemy while maintaining a tactical advantage. This is especially true when fighting an invading force, as the Manchus could utilize defensive structures to their advantage. According to the traditionalist view, the Manchus could not have competed with such a superior force,2 but I contend it was the incompetency of Qing officials, not the superiority of European warfare, that caused the Qing Dynasty to capitulate. Qing officials anticipated an armed conflict would be necessary to halt the importation of British opium, but the Manchus vastly underestimated the foe they were to face. The preparations made before the invasion were underfunded, underutilized, and most importantly undermanned; often leaving local provinces to fight without any assistance.
  • The Taiping Movement

    The Taiping Movement

    Seeds of Unrest: The Taiping Movement (From facinghistory.org) At the same time efforts of reform were under way in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century, China remained under the same dynasty that had ruled for more than 200 years. Qing rule, led by the ethnic minority Manchu people, were struggling to maintain China’s wealth and prestige in East Asia. The first emperor in power after the opium wars was Emperor Tongzhi (r. 1861–1875). At the age of five he had little power and instead, his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, largely controlled the reigns. She promoted a movement called the Tongzhi Restoration to halt any further decline of Qing power by restoring the traditional sociopolitical order and strengthening Confucian culture. The damaging defeats by the British in the opium wars were partially a cause of domestic instability, but also partially a consequence. Although Qing leaders did not passively submit to Western imperialism, they held power when Western colonial powers gained an economic and political foothold in China. As a result, the legitimacy and effectiveness of their rule and the rule of the Manchu people was shaken, contributing to the further weakening of the Chinese nation. While opium addiction and subsequent conflict over its trade continued, clashes between tradition and modernity also confronted China’s imperial court. This set the stage for one of the bloodiest civil wars ever in world history, the Taiping War from the early 1850s up to 1864.[1] Until China’s loss to Britain in the opium wars, Western traders were permitted to conduct trade and business only through an association of Chinese merchants known as cohong, 13 authorized merchants approved by the Chinese central government.
  • Abolition of China's Unequal Treaties and the Search for Regional Stability in Asia, 1919-1943

    Abolition of China's Unequal Treaties and the Search for Regional Stability in Asia, 1919-1943

    Texas A&M University School of Law Texas A&M Law Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 1-1994 Abolition of China's Unequal Treaties and the Search for Regional Stability in Asia, 1919-1943 Charlotte Ku Texas A&M University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Charlotte Ku, Abolition of China's Unequal Treaties and the Search for Regional Stability in Asia, 1919-1943, 12 Chinese (Taiwan) Y.B. Int'l L. & Aff. 67 (1994). Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/413 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Texas A&M Law Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Texas A&M Law Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABOLITION OF CHINA'S UNEQUAL TREATIES AND THE SEARCH FOR REGIONAL STABILITY IN ASIA, 1919-1943* CHARLOTTE Ku** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Development of China's Unequal Treaty System ......... 67 II. China at the Paris Peace Conference: The Sanctity of Treaties ................................................... 70 III. The Failure of Incremental Change: Article XIX of the League of Nations Covenant ............................. 73 IV. The Pursuit of Regional Stability Through the Washington Conference .................................. 76 V. China's Program of National Reunification .............. 79 VI. World War II and the End of the Treaty System ......... 82 VII. Conclusion: China's Search for Equality and Independence ........................................ 83 I. DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S UNEQUAL TREATY SYSTEM On July 1, 1997, China will resume control over Hong Kong - territory ceded to Britain in 1842 following China's defeat in the Opium War.