Pan-Asianism and the Legacy of the Chinese Revolution, 1st Edition

“Murthy’s book is a breathtaking achievement that combines in a true dialectical synthesis what Western intellectuals consider incompatible. This book is necessary reading for all who are interested in our future!” * Slavoj Žižek *
“Against the view of Asia’s rise as treading the path of the capitalist world, this book articulates powerful visions of pan-Asianism. Rethinking representative Asian and Western thinkers, Murthy illuminates how the imaginaries of Asian solidarity and alliances confronted imperialism and colonialism, and how traditional resources, the Chinese Revolution, and socialism were mobilized in projecting a future beyond capitalism.” * Ban Wang, Stanford University *
“Since the nineteenth century, the figure of pan-Asian civilization has been imprisoned in permanent standstill, devoid of subjectivity. Murthy brilliantly transforms our understanding by showing how lack was turned into fullness through the proposal that Asia both rescued its own past and provided a crucial supplement to what was missing in the West.” * Harry Harootunian, emeritus, University of Chicago *
“Scholarship on Pan-Asianism has until recently focused on how Pan-Asian conceptions, ideologies, or movements were linked to Japanese imperialism—as a means of its justification or as opposition to it. Viren Murthy’s Pan-Asianism and the Legacy of the Chinese Revolution is a welcome addition to the growing body of publications that demonstrate the importance of transcending Japan to understand what Pan-Asianism constituted historically and why it appealed to a wide range of thinkers and activists, in and outside Japan. By focusing on China as Japan’s most significant Asianist partner or opponent, Murthy follows a recent trend of studies of Pan-Asianism. Murthy transcends the usual temporal focus from the late nineteenth century to the end of World War II to demonstrate how Pan-Asianism is both present and relevant in political discourse also in the twenty-first century.” * American Historical Review *

Viren Murthy is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the author of The Political Philosophy of Zhang Taiyan and The Politics of Time in China and Japan.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.