2015
Craig Anthony Smith
- Adjunct Faculty
- University of British Columbia
![Picture of Craig Anthony Smith](https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1A43227F-4BE8-E411-9417-000C29879DD6.jpg)
Abstract
Until recent decades, historians of modern East Asia generally considered Asianism to be an imperialist ideology from Japan. However, early proponents of this discourse looked upon it as a strategy of uniting nations to defend against Western imperialism. This study investigates Chinese intellectual discourse from Sun Yat-sen’s speeches in 1924 to the beginning of Japan’s occupation of China proper in 1937, considering calls for regionalism in their intellectual and historical contexts. Focusing upon Sino-Japanese conferences, as well as a number of key intellectuals from both the Communist Party and the Guomindang, I will show how pan-Asian strategies were earnestly discussed in pre-war China, and that this discourse had a strong influence upon the construction of Chinese nationalism.