Some Observations on the Study of the History of Cultural Interactions in East Asia
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Chun-chieh Huang
Abstract
This paper attempts to incorporate the history of East Asian cultural interactions into the field of regional history, and toward that end proposes that certain subjects to be explored. The paper consists of five sections. Section 1 draws attention to the newer fields of regional history and global history, as distinct from national history, which occupied great academic interest in the twentieth century. Section 2 suggests a new way to study regional history: shifting our focus from the results of cultural interactions to the process, thus bringing about a paradigm shift in the study of the history of East Asian cultural interactions. Section 3 raises two problematiques in the proposed field of regional history: the mutual influence between self and other, and that between culture and the power structure. Section 4 proposes three types of exchange for further research: (1) exchanges of persons (especially professional intermediate agents), (2) exchanges of goods (especially books), and (3) exchanges of thought. The last section concludes that, with the rising of East Asian countries on the world stage in the twenty-first century, the state-centered style of historical study will be redirected to a broader East Asian perspective. By redefining the history of East Asian cultural interactions as regional history, we will be able to undertake the important task of revisiting and reconsidering on our traditional cultures.
© 2021 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Special Contribution
- A Transnational Moment
- Some Observations on the Study of the History of Cultural Interactions in East Asia
- Acculturation for Resistance
- Sino-Japanese Interaction via Chinese Junks in the Edo Period
- Book Reviews
- Review of Liangtou she: Ming mo Qing chu de diyi dai Tianzhujiaotu (Two-Headed Snakes: The First Generation of Chinese Catholics in the Late Ming and Early Qing), by Huang Yinong. Xinzhu, Taiwan: Guoli Qinghua Daxue Chubanshe, 2005
- Mandara toshi: Hindū toshi no kūkan ri’nen to sono hen’yō (Mandala Cities: The Hindu Concept of Urban Spaces and Its Transformations), by Funo Shūji. Kyoto: Kyoto Daigaku Gakujutsu Shuppankai, 2006
- Review of Yomigaeru kaijō no michi: Nihon to Ryūkyū (Revisiting the Sea Routes from Japan to the Ryukyu Archipelago), by Tanigawa Ken’ichi, 246 pages. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 2007
- Review of Ajia no jidai no chirigaku: Dentō to henkaku (The Geography of the Asian Era: Tradition and Innovation), edited by SENDA Minoru. Tokyo: Kokon Shoin, 2008
- Introduction of Major Institutions
- Chinese Civilisation Center, City University of Hong Kong: A Modern Approach to Chinese Tradition
- Department of Japanese Kanbun Instruction and Research Program, Nishōgakusha University
- Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome
- Institute for Cultural Interaction Studies, Kansai University
- Center for Japanese Studies, Korea University
- Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
- The China Research Center of Overseas Sinology of the Beijing Foreign Studies University
- The Institute of Chinese Modern History, Central China Normal University
- The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica
- The National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University
- Reports of Members’ Activities
- International Symposium: Commonality and Regionality in the Cultural Heritage of East Asia
- Report on the International Convention of Asia Scholars 6
- CONTRIBUTION GUIDELINES
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Special Contribution
- A Transnational Moment
- Some Observations on the Study of the History of Cultural Interactions in East Asia
- Acculturation for Resistance
- Sino-Japanese Interaction via Chinese Junks in the Edo Period
- Book Reviews
- Review of Liangtou she: Ming mo Qing chu de diyi dai Tianzhujiaotu (Two-Headed Snakes: The First Generation of Chinese Catholics in the Late Ming and Early Qing), by Huang Yinong. Xinzhu, Taiwan: Guoli Qinghua Daxue Chubanshe, 2005
- Mandara toshi: Hindū toshi no kūkan ri’nen to sono hen’yō (Mandala Cities: The Hindu Concept of Urban Spaces and Its Transformations), by Funo Shūji. Kyoto: Kyoto Daigaku Gakujutsu Shuppankai, 2006
- Review of Yomigaeru kaijō no michi: Nihon to Ryūkyū (Revisiting the Sea Routes from Japan to the Ryukyu Archipelago), by Tanigawa Ken’ichi, 246 pages. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 2007
- Review of Ajia no jidai no chirigaku: Dentō to henkaku (The Geography of the Asian Era: Tradition and Innovation), edited by SENDA Minoru. Tokyo: Kokon Shoin, 2008
- Introduction of Major Institutions
- Chinese Civilisation Center, City University of Hong Kong: A Modern Approach to Chinese Tradition
- Department of Japanese Kanbun Instruction and Research Program, Nishōgakusha University
- Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome
- Institute for Cultural Interaction Studies, Kansai University
- Center for Japanese Studies, Korea University
- Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
- The China Research Center of Overseas Sinology of the Beijing Foreign Studies University
- The Institute of Chinese Modern History, Central China Normal University
- The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica
- The National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University
- Reports of Members’ Activities
- International Symposium: Commonality and Regionality in the Cultural Heritage of East Asia
- Report on the International Convention of Asia Scholars 6
- CONTRIBUTION GUIDELINES
