Global East Asia: Into the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Consisting of twenty-four thematic chapters, an introduction, and conclusion, this book is a primer on the multiplicity of globalization. It offers varied, stimulating perspectives on some of the circuits, institutions, practices, and experiences of contemporary globalization that are rooted in Korea, Japan, and, above all, China. Each brief chapter provides an overview of a significant aspect of globalization, bolstered by compellingly detailed case studies, and augmented by endnotes and suggested readings to facilitate further exploration. This compendium will serve specialist and general readers who aim to consider the manifold facets of Global East Asia as a whole, as well as those who wish to gain a sophisticated understanding of a particular phenomenon and, perhaps, pursue further investigation. The volume will be an especially valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students and teachers.The chapters highlight the multidirectional trajectories of cultural, capital, information, and human flows. The worlding of Chinese medicine, the popularity of the Korean Wave among different populations in the United States, and the global circulation of Maoism are some of the subjects that highlight the influence and circulation of phenomena that travel out from the region, while Shanghai jazz demonstrates how the inflow of transnational jazz men and different performance idioms produced a novel, modern Chinese entertainment culture that was and remains a creative constituent of a global music tradition. Several other chapters scrutinize global institutions and practices, such as Ai Weiwei's film and other artistic projects on the plight of refugees, China's aims to reshape the governance of cyberspace, and the influence of East Asian regenerative medicine research—which is subject to less stringent regulation than North American and European efforts—on stem cell technologies and other scientific developments. At the same time, one can perceive global processes by examining a single place, as demonstrated in a sensitive and affecting study of popular attitudes toward the US military presence in Okinawa, which traces the influence of war, memory, and geopolitics in the making of place.International development aid is often seen as defined by American and European norms and practices, although the rise of China as a major source of grants and loans to African nations or to countries in Asia and Europe as part of the Belt and Road Initiative is altering that impression. Yet Japan's Official Development Assistance, which developed in light of Japan's experience as an aid recipient and thus diverged from Euro-American models, has long helped shaped international assistance. In particular, its Livelihood Improvement Program and One Village One Product schemes, which emphasize the use of existing resources and self-reliance, have been introduced widely elsewhere in Asia and in Africa and Latin America. Indeed, both projects were exported to China and have, in turn, helped shape the development of China's own assistance programs.East Asia has globalization without immigration, a significant difference from the situation found in much of the Americas, Europe, and elsewhere. Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, people affirm that their societies are characterized by cultural and ethnic homogeneity. Though this truth may have some veracity, it is also an aspect of political ideology. Indeed, cultural diversity is delimited by strictly controlled immigration policies and nationalist ideologies of homogeneity and unity that mask existing varieties of identification, belief, and historical experience. Several stimulating chapters explore this complex, politically fraught terrain. One engaging essay analyzes the decisions of Chinese-foreign families as to whether to claim Chinese citizenship or that of the foreign spouse (the chapter examines Chinese-Vietnamese/Russian/Cameroonian marriages) for their children; the inquiry illuminates boundaries of gender, race, and class in China, as well as moral, legal, and sociocultural dimensions of PRC citizenship. Other essays survey diasporic Japanese, Korean, and Chinese populations in the United States and Southeast Asia to examine the shifting valences of identity over generations and the influence of diasporic populations back in the ethnic homeland.The final portion of the book considers China's rise and its increased ambition to reshape the existing global order. Though the term decoupling may evoke the hostility and scatter-shot implementation of the Trump administration's goal of diminishing US economic integration with China, the United States is relatively late to the decoupling game. The “Made in China 2025” policy, issued in 2015, aims to displace China's reliance on foreign technologies (especially those from the United States) and to climb up the value chain. Differences between Beijing and Washington notwithstanding, they are pursuing similar policies albeit for their own strategic national interests. Increasing economic, social, and cultural entanglement of the United States and the PRC has been a defining characteristic of the global order since the 1980s. Should one or both parties achieve their desired relative autonomy, it seems likely that globalization may look and function rather differently in the future.