A history of East Asia : from the origins of civilization to the twenty-first century

Charles Holcombe begins his extraordinarily ambitious book by asking the question "What is East Asia?" In the modern age, many of the features that made the region - now defined as including China, Japan, and Korea - distinct have been submerged by the effects of revolution, politics, or globalization. Yet, as an ancient civilization, the region had both an historical and cultural coherence. It shared, for example, a Confucian heritage, some common approaches to Buddhism, a writing system that is deeply imbued with ideas and meaning, and many political and institutional traditions. This shared past and the interconnections among three distinct, yet related societies are at the heart of this book, which traces the story of East Asia from the dawn of history to the early twenty-first century. Charles Holcombe is an experienced and sure-footed guide who encapsulates, in a fast-moving and colorful narrative, the vicissitudes and glories of one of the greatest civilizations on earth. Charles Holcombe begins by asking the question 'what is East Asia?' In the modern age, many of the features that made the region - now defined as including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam - distinct have been submerged by the effects of revolution, politics or globalization. Yet, as an ancient civilization, the region had both an historical and cultural coherence. This shared past is at the heart of this ambitious book, which traces the story of East Asia from the dawn of history to the twenty-first century. The second edition has been imaginatively revised and expanded to place emphasis on cross-cultural interactions and connections, both within East Asia and beyond, with new material on Vietnam and modern pop culture. The second edition also features a Chinese character list, additional maps and new illustrations What Is East Asia? 1 The Origins of Civilization in East Asia 12 2 The Formative Era 31 3 The Age of Cosmopolitanism 60 4 The Creation of a Community: China, Korea, and Japan (Seventh-Tenth Centuries) 95 5 Mature Independent Trajectories (Tenth-Sixteenth Centuries) 132 6 Early Modern East Asia (Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries) 167 7 Dai Viet (Vietnam before the Nineteenth Century) 199 8 The Nineteenth-Century Encounter of Civilizations 217 9 The Age of Westernization (1900-1929) 259 10 The Dark Valley (1930-1945) 288 11 Japan since 1945 311 12 Korea since 1945 330 13 Vietnam since 1945 350 14 China since 1949 359 Afterword 399 Character List 401 Notes 419 Index 447 This imaginatively revised new edition, which traces the story of East Asia from the dawn of history to the twenty-first century, features new material on Vietnam and modern pop culture, an emphasis on cross-cultural connections, and a Chinese character list. It is essential reading for students of East Asia and international history.