Dynamics of Change in East Asia: Historical Trajectories and Contemporary Development

311 Pages·2018·25.011 MB·English

by  P. W. Preston

Dynamics of change in east asia
Over the past forty years, East Asia has been radically transformed from a war-
damaged sub- continent to a region of global pre- eminence. With new, highly
developed scientific resources, great economic strengths, significant global trading
links and equally powerful financial resources, East Asia is now one of the most
dynamic regions in the global system.
This book illuminates the historical development trajectory and contemporary
circumstances of the countries of the region. Embracing a cross- disciplinary per-
spective, it summarizes the history of the region and goes on to focus upon the rise
of East Asia since the ruins of the Pacific War. Analysing the region’s basic strengths
and the distinctive elite development strategies across the various countries, it also
examines areas of domestic, intra- regional and international conflict. It covers the
basic ground of political economy, society, culture and politics, whilst also taking
care to locate the contemporary region in its own history and asking, what further
change can be expected in the future?
Providing an excellent introduction to the study of the region, this book is an
important read for students and scholars of East Asian politics, history and
development.
P.W. Preston is Emeritus Professor of Political Sociology at the University of
Birmingham, UK. His recent publications include Political- Cultural Developments in
East Asia (2017) and The Logic of Chinese Politics (2016).

Dynamics of change
in east asia
Historical Trajectories and
Contemporary Development
P.W. Preston
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 P.W. Preston
The right of P.W. Preston to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Preston, P. W. (Peter Wallace), 1949– author.
Title: Dynamics of change in East Asia : historical trajectories and
contemporary development / P.W. Preston.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017052378| ISBN 9780415424370 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780415424882 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315227993 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Economic development–East Asia. | East Asia–Strategic
aspects. | Nationalism–East Asia. | East Asia–Commerce. | Information
technology–Economic aspects. | East Asia–Economic conditions–21st
century.
Classification: LCC HC460.5 .P74 2018 | DDC 338.95–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052378
ISBN: 978-0-415-42437-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-42488-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22799-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
contents
List of figures and maps viii
List of tables x
Maps of East Asia xi
Preface xiv
Acknowledgements xv
Part i
complex change and the logics of forms of life 1
1 Argument making in social science 3
2 Substantive approaches: the resources of current disciplines 20
3 Grasping the core logics of forms of life 32
Part ii
the shift to the modern world in east asia 49
4 Colonialism and modernity: the overall trajectory 51
5 Colonialism and modernity: disentangling the issues 76
vi Contents
Part iii
successor elites and the pursuit of national development 93
6 The dissolution of state- empires 95
7 The formation of successor elites 114
8 Elites and masses: domestic power, authority and dissent 130
9 Development issues faced 144
Part iV
east asia in the changing global system 171
10 Three spheres of concern: domestic, regional and
international 173
11 Globalization, the end of history and the debate about
regions 188
Part V
east asia: success and its costs 203
12 Elite projects and post- colonial goals 205
13 Elites, masses and the ideal of democracy 217
14 Imagined communities, collective memory and the
national past 235
15 Performance, problems and mooted reforms 253
Afterword 278
Annex 1: Population, GDP and Gini coefficient 280
Annex 2: Health and education 281
Annex 3: Rural and urban employment 282
Annex 4: Military expenditures 283
Contents vii
Annex 5: China’s twentieth century in twelve films 284
Annex 6: East Asia’s twentieth century in twenty films 285
Bibliography and further reading 286
Index 292
figUres anD maPs
Map 1 South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia xi
Map 2 Southeast Asia and East Asia xii
Map 3 China – provinces xiii
P.1 Roadside flowers, author and friends, outside Zhenjiang xvi
4.1 A tea warehouse in Canton, 1790 53
4.2 A view of Batavia (no date) 53
4.2(a) Batavia Plan, 1897 54
4.3 Singapore: view from Government Hill, 1830 55
4.4 Rangoon: storming the principal stockades, 1824 59
4.5 Interior of the North Taku Fort during Second Opium War,
1860 59
4.6 Pu Yi 60
5.1 Chinese snipers, 1894 77
5.2 Japanese Navy, 1894 78
5.3 Combined Japanese and British attack on Ching Tao, 1914 88
5.3(a) Ching Tao Plan, 1912 89
6.1 Battle of Shanghai, 1932 96
6.2 HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, 1941 97
6.3 Mountbatten, Chiang Kai Shek and T.V. Soong 99
6.4 Allied reoccupation of French Indo-C hina, 1945 107
9.1 Village field, Sichuan 151
9.2 Washing leeks, Sichuan 152
9.3 Farming, Zhenjiang 153
9.4 Village, Zhenjiang 155
9.5 Ramkhamhaeng Road, Bangkok 157
9.6 Café, Ramkhamhaeng Road 158
9.7 Public housing, Singapore 159
Figures and maps ix
14.1 Lim Bo Seng Memorial, Singapore 249
14.2 Kranji, Singapore 250
14.3 School, Sichuan 251
15.1 Hong Kong Central 256
15.2 Changi Airport 259
15.3 Beijing Airport 260
15.4 Consumption, Singapore 266
15.5 Recycling, Zhenjiang 268
15.6 Beijing smog 269
A.1 Café, Bangkok 279