On the Perils of racialized Chineseness race nation and entangled racisms in China and Southeast Asia (original) (raw)

Racial Capitalism and the National Question in the Early People's Republic of China

Recent diplomatic, economic, and military tensions between the United States and the People's Republic of China have compelled quite a few scholars and observers to debate whether we are witnessing a new Cold War. The comparison often loses sight of the uneven quality of the Cold War and the ideological departures of reform-era China, but one commonality between the past and present is the spotlight on racial and ethnic conflict. The early PRC participated in a global critique of US imperialism and Jim Crow while Americans countered with their own evidence of abuses and dissent in the socialist world. Similarly, nationalists in each country now point to various forms of injustice in the other, whether it is white supremacy, xenophobia, racist violence, and systemic racism in the US, or the mass surveillance, detention, and assimilation of non-Han peoples in the PRC. In our present political conjuncture, how can China scholars productively bring together these transnational discussions of race and ethnicity in a way that troubles such instrumentalization that only reinforces geographical and conceptual divisions inherited from Cold War knowledge production?

(Book) Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage

(With Walter Demel) Brill, 2015

A sequel to the groundbreaking volume Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions, the present volume examines in depth interactions between Western racial constructions of East Asians and local constructions of race and their outcomes in modern times. Focusing on China, Japan and the two Koreas, it also analyzes the close ties between race, racism and nationalism, as well as the links race has had with gender and lineage in the region. Written by some of the field's leading authorities, this insightful and engaging 23-chapter volume offers a sweeping overview and analysis of racial constructions and racism in modern and contemporary East Asia that is unsurpassed in previous scholarship. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Tables Conventions Preface 1. Introduction: The Synthesis of Foreign and Indigenous Constructions of Race in Modern East Asia and Its Actual Operation, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel I. Antecedents: A Detailed Examination of Early Western Racial Constructions of East Asians II. Interactions: The Fusion of European and Asian Constructions of Race III. Nationalism: Interactions between Race and Ethnic Nationalism in East Asia IV. Gender and Lineage: The Impact of Domestic and Foreign Racial Constructions PART I: ANTECEDENTS 2. East Asians in the Linnaean Taxonomy: Sources and Implications of a Racial Image, Rotem Kowner and Christina Skott The Linnaean Revolution and View of Humankind Sources of Linnaeus’ Racial Perspective on East Asians The Essence of Asia: Swedish Views of China Swedish Reports and Linnaeus’ Revision of His Human Taxonomy Linnaeus’ Legacy and the Unfolding Racial View of East Asians 3. Constructing Racial Theories on East Asians as a Transnational “Western” Enterprise, 1750-1850, Walter Demel The Founding Fathers of Racial Theories: Linnaeus, Buffon, Kant and Camper The Second Generation: Multiple Directions 4. The ‘Races’ of East Asia in Nineteenth-Century European Encyclopaedias, Georg Lehner Classifying the Peoples of Asia The Encyclopedias' Main Sources for Remarks on the “Races” of East Asia Chinese, Japanese and Koreans: Descriptions of East Asian peoples Stereotypes of East Asians in General Knowledge Visual Representations of Race in Works of General Knowledge Concluding Remarks 5. The Racial Image of the Japanese in the Western Press Published in Japan, 1861-1881, Olavi K. Fält Background The Oldest People on Earth The Shining Japanese Race Weak and Inferior Race Praising the Endeavors of a Poor Race Conclusion PART II: INTERACTIONS 6. The Propagation of Racial Thought in Nineteenth-Century China, Daniel Barth The Background: Imperial China and the “Other” Stage I (1846-1851): Marques and Wei Yuan Stage II (1851-1855): Hobson and Muirhead Stage III (1855-1872): The Self-Strengthening Movement Stage IV (1872-1892): John Fryer and the Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine Conclusion: Chinese Intellectuals, Social Darwinism and Race 7. Learning from the South: Japan's Racial Construction of Southern Chinese, 1895-1941, Huei-Ying Kuo The South Seas as Japan’s Backyard, 1895-1914 Japan's Expansion into the Southern Chinese Networks, 1914-1928 Chinese Anti-Japanese Nationalism and Japanese Discourses on South Seas Chinese, 1928-1936 Southern Chinese as Non-Han Races, 1936-1941 Conclusions 8. “The Great Question of the World Today”: Britain, the Dominions, East Asian Immigration and the Threat of Race War, 1905-11, Antony Best Immigration and “the Awakening of Asia” The Prophets of Race War Critics of White Solidarity Finessing the Racial Divide Conclusions 9. “Uplifting the Weak and Degenerated Races of East Asia”: American and Indigenous Views of Sport and Body in Early Twentieth-Century East Asia, Stefan Hübner Sportive Citizenship Training in the Philippines Chinese Cooperation and Acceptance of American-Style Modernization Japanese Resistance and its Defeat by American Style Modernization Conclusion 10. Racism under Negotiation: The Japanese Race in the Nazi-German Perspective, Gerhard Krebs Early Nazi Views on the Japanese Racial Position Becoming More Aryan The Problem with the Japanese in the Nazi Worldview Continuing Mutual Mistrust The End 11. Discourses of Race and Racism in Modern Korea, 1890s-1945 , Vladimir Tikhonov Race and Its Uncertainties The Emergence of Race Theories in Modern Korea: One of the Logics of the “Civilized World” “Race” and “Ethnic Nation” in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945 Conclusion: Race as a Path to Modernist Self-assertion? 12. The United States Arrives: Racialization and Racism in Post-1945 South Korea, Nadia Y. Kim Contextual Background: America Marches In and Mass Mediates The American Military, Whiteness, and Imperialist Racial Formation American Mass Media, White Heroes, and Counter-Hegemony Blackness and Imperialist Racial Formation Racism and Invisibility in Korean “America” Concluding Remarks 13. A Post-Communist Coexistence in Northeast Asia? Mutual Racial Attitudes among Russians and Indigenous Peoples of Siberia, David Lewis Discrimination against Siberian Peoples as an Outcome of Racial Prejudice The Origin and Legacy of Russian Attitudes to Asians Racial Attitudes among Indigenous Siberian Peoples The Communist Model of Racial Modus Vivendi The Impact of Prolonged Racism on Indigenous Siberian Peoples Marriage as an Anti-Racist Means in a Multi-Racial Society PART III: NATIONALISM 14. Nationalism and Internationalism: Sino-American Racial Perceptions of the Korean War, Lü Xun Descendants of the Mongolian Hordes: American Perceptions of the Chinese The Ambitious Wolf: Chinese Perceptions of Americans The Mirrored Self: A Nation-State in the Making 15. Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Racialized Chinese Nationalism, Yinghong Cheng Gangtai Patriotic Songs: A “Colored” Political Genre of Pop Music A Tacit Collaboration between the Party-State and Capitalist Cultural Producers in Hong Kong and Taiwan The Interaction between Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Chinese Popular Nationalism Analyses Concluding Remarks 16. Japanese as Both a “Race” and a “Non-Race”: The Politics of Jinshu and Minzoku and the Depoliticization of Japaneseness, Yuko Kawai The Historical Trajectories of Jinshu and Minzoku Being a “Race” and a “Non-Race” in Present-day Japan: An Empirical Study Conclusions and Implications 17. Ethnic Nationalism in Postwar Japan: Nihonjinron and Its Racial Facets, Rotem Kowner and Harumi Befu Premises of Nihonjinron Nihonjinron as a Manifestation of Japanese Nationalism Nihonjinron and Its Concern with Origin, Blood and Racial Hierarchy The Impact of Race-Related Tenets on Everyday Life Functions of Ethnic Nationalism in Contemporary Japan Concluding Remarks 18. Ethnic Nationalism and Internationalism in the North Korean Worldview, Tatiana Gabroussenko The Soviet Discourse of the Outside World: Conditional Internationalism The North Korean Worldview in the “Soviet Era”: Echoing the Soviet Paradigm Mono-Ethnicity as a Special Korean Virtue: The Evolution of the North Korean World Vision under the Influence of Juche North Korean Propaganda about Foreigners from Inclusive and Alienating Perspectives Conclusion PART IV: GENDER AND LINEAGE 19. In the Name of the Master: Race, Nationalism and Masculinity in Chinese Martial Arts Cinema, Kai-man Chang From Anti-imperialist Nationalism to Cultural Nationalism Masculinities That Matter Conclusion 20. Sexualized Racism, Gender and Nationalism: The Case of Japan’s Sexual Enslavement of Korean “Comfort Women”, Bang-soon Yoon Korean “Comfort Women”: Drawn in as Substitutes The Nature of Victimization Colonial Policies and the Mobilization of Korean Women Treatment of Korean “Comfort Women” Lives under Sexual Slavery Nationalism, Gender and Sexual Violence Conclusion 21. “The Guilt Feeling That You Exist”: War, Racism and Indisch-Japanese Identity Formation, Aya Ezawa Power, Discourse, and “Mixed Blood” The Indisch and the Dutch East Indies The Indisch Community under Japanese Occupation Indisch-Japanese Relationships Indisch-Japanese Descendants Conclusion 22. ‘The “Amerasian” Knot: Transpacific Crossings of “GI Babies” from Korea to the United States, W. Taejin Hwang “An Act of Both Humanity and Patriotism”: The Amerasian Immigration Act of 1982 “Confucius’ Outcasts”: The Korean Amerasian “Plight” Inter-country Adoption of Korean “GI Babies” Living as a “Mixed-Blood Child” (Honhyeola) in Cold War Korea “Half-American Also is American”: Towards Migration Conclusion and Postscript PART V: CONCLUSIONS 23. The Essence and Mechanisms of Race and Racism in Modern East Asia, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel The East Asian Contribution to the Study of Race and Racism East Asia’s Role within the Rise of Racial Theory and the Resulting Hybridity Sources and Manifestations of Racism The Close Links between Racism and Nationalism The Role of Gender and Lineage in Constructions of Race and Racism East Asia and the Future of Race and Racism Contributors Bibliography Index

(Book) Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions

(With Walter Demel) Brill, 2013

Race and Racism in Modern East Asia juxtaposes Western racial constructions of East Asians with constructions of race and their outcomes in modern East Asia. It is the first endeavor to explicitly and coherently link constructions of race and racism in both regions. These constructions have not only played a decisive role in shaping the relations between the West and East Asia since the mid nineteenth century, but also exert substantial influence on current relations and mutual images in both the East-West nexus and East Asia. Written by some of the field's leading authorities, this groundbreaking 21-chapter volume offers an analysis of these constructions, their evolution and their interrelations. REVIEWS "In the field of race studies, race and racism in East Asia has generally been little explored. These two books [Michael Keevak’s Becoming Yellow as well] each works to address that gap in scholarship. As a pair they go a long ways toward furthering our understanding of the historical, political, and social significance of the role of race in East Asia. Most significantly, these books help us to understand how prominent a factor race was in armed conflicts in twentieth-century East Asia. The volume is divided into two parts. Part One deals with Western conceptions of East Asians. Part Two, fully half of the volume, deals with questions of race and racism from perspectives located within East Asia, whether China, Korea, or Japan. The format of an edited volume allows for a large scope of overall inquiry as well as a significant degree of specificity within individual essay. …The juxtaposition of essays in Part One brings to light a number of important topics for reflection and future research, not least the large and thorny question of just how inextricably intertwined the connections between racism and rear of decline actually are. … Part two “East Asia Race Theories, Racial Policies and Racism” breaks new ground in the field of race studies in that it is devoted to race from entirely East Asian perspectives (and there are many!)." — Laura Hostetler, Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal 37 (2015): 74-84. "Within the historical research on the topic of racism, East Asia has barely played any role. This volume, the outcome of a multi-year project closes this research lacuna. ... Overall, the volume is superbly edited and easy to read and will undoubtedly remain, until further notice, the standard work on the subject of race in East Asia. For those interested in the historical development of the concept of race and wish to go beyond the European framework, this volume is highly recommended." — Sven Saaler, Historische Zeitschrift (2014) "A gigantic volume, its real strong point is its variety, with papers probing such interesting and understudied topics ... The scholarly summaries are very accomplished and provide a wealth of material for understanding that race is neither a fixed nor an atemporal construct, nor is it one that can be simply transferred from Western contexts into Eastern ones. ... The essays represent starting points for a variety of new work as such they are very valuable contributions to the burgeoning field. Highly recommended." — Michael Keevak, Asian Ethnicity (2014) "This collection of scholarly works explores racial constructions of East Asians from both external and internal perspectives. ... Not only does this book help readers understand how racial constructions of the West and East Asia interacted in shaping their relationships in the past, but also, more importantly, how these constructions still influence their current relationships in the 21st century. Summing up: Recommended. All levels/libraries." — A.Y. Lee, Choice, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Tables Conventions Preface 1. Modern East Asia and the Rise of Racial Thought: Possible Links, Unique Features, and Unsettled Issues Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel PART I: WESTERN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL IMAGES AND RACISM 2. Early Modern European Divisions of Mankind and East Asians, 1500-1750 50 Walter Demel and Rotem Kowner 3. How the “Mongoloid Race” Came into Being: Late Eighteenth-Century Constructions of East Asians in Europe Walter Demel 4. Between Contempt and Fear: Western Racial Constructions of East Asians since 1800 Rotem Kowner 5. “A Very Great Gulf”: Late Victorian British Diplomacy and Race in East Asia T.G. Otte 6. Pan-Mongolians at Twilight: East Asia and Race in Russian Modernism, 1890-1921 Susanna Soojung Lim 7. National Identity and Race in Post-Revolutionary Russia: Pil’niak’s Travelogues from Japan and China Alexander Bukh 8. Class, Race, Floating Signifier: American Media Imagine the Chinese, 1870-1900 Lenore Metrick-Chen 9. Racism for Beginners: Constructions of Chinese in Twentieth Century Belgian Comics Idesbald Goddeeris 10. Race, Imperialism, and Reconstructing Selves: Late Nineteenth Century Korea in European Travel Literature Huajeong Seok 11. Race, Culture and the Reaction to the Japanese Victory of 1905 in the English-Speaking World Philip Towle PART II: EAST ASIAN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL POLICIES AND RACISM 12. A Certain Whiteness of Being: Chinese Perceptions of Self by the Beginning of European Contact Don J. Wyatt 13. Racial Discourse and Utopian Visions in Nineteenth Century China Sufen Sophia Lai 14. The Discourse of Race in Twentieth-Century China Frank Dikötter 15. Racist South Korea? Diverse but not Tolerant of Diversity Gi-Wook Shin 16. Skin Color Melancholy in Modern Japan: Male Elites' Racial Experiences Abroad, 1880s-1950s Ayu Majima 17. Anatomically Speaking: The Kubo Incident and the Paradox of Race in Colonial Korea Hoi-eun Kim 18. Who Classified Whom, and for What Purpose? The “Japanese” in Northeast China in the Age of Empire Mariko Asano Tamanoi 19. Race and International Law in Japan’s New Order in East Asia, 1938-1945 Urs Matthias Zachmann 20. East Asia’s “Melting-Pot”: Reevaluating Race Relations in Japan’s Colonial Empire 583 Yukiko Koshiro 21. Categorical Confusion: President Obama as a Case Study of Racialized Practices in Contemporary Japan Christine R. Yano Contributors Bibliography Index

China’s National Identity and the Root Causes of China’s Ethnic Tensions

East Asia, 2018

This paper seeks to examine the People’s Republic of China’s (China) self-defined national identity and the consequences on China’s ethnic relations with its ethnic minorities. This paper argues that China’s identity is equated with the identity and culture of its ethnic Han Chinese majority—a narrative originally constructed by the Chinese state which its ethnic Han Chinese majority since indulges in. However, this hegemonic narrative is at the root of interethnic issues and tensions in China today, as further ethnic tensions stem from the resistance of ethnic minorities against Sinicization and the imposition of this “Chinese” identity against them. These phenomena thus both indicate what I term a weak “internal soft power appeal” of Han Chinese Confucian culture for ethnic minorities living in the PRC, and imply that China must adopt a different, more inclusive national identity if it were to maintain ethnic stability in the long term.