The Teleology of the Modern Nation-state

"This interdisciplinary volume asks deceptively simple questions: When did "Japan" and "China" become Japan and China? When and why do inhabitants begin to define their identity and interests nationally rather than locally? Identifying the role of mitigating factors from disease and travel abroad to the subtleties of political language and aesthetic sensibility, the answers provided in these diverse essays are appropriately complex. By setting aside Western notions of the nation-state, the contributors approach each region on its own terms, while the thematic organization of the book provides a unique lens through which to view the challenges common to understanding both Japan and China. This collection will be important to scholars both inside and beyond the field of East Asian studies."--BOOK JACKET.

First sentence: At the very end of May 1862, fifty-one Japanese-or, more correctly, men from many different domains of the land we now call Japan-set sail together with a British crew of eleven and a few merchants from Nagasaki to the port of Shanghai.

Year

2004

Language

English

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Press

Editions

1

Pages

243

ISBN

9780812238204

Data source: Wikidata