Nationalism in East Asia, 1839-1945

Nationalism emerged in East Asia as a result of the influx of Western-derived political thought in the nineteenth century, but its formation drew heavily on pre-existing notions of identity. In Japan, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 set the path for a modern, state-driven nationalism that would underpin the country’s economic and diplomatic resurgence as an imperial power. China, in contrast, was unable to repel foreign incursions, and used nationalism to articulate resistance to the domination of the country by other powers. Resistance to Japanese imperialism also shaped Korean nationalism during this period. From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, key shapers of nationalism in East Asia included ideas of race, Social Darwinism, and pan-Asianism. World War II was a confrontation between various types of nationalism in China in particular, with ‘collaborationist’ models losing out to those that articulated strong resistance to domination by the West or Japan, in particular Chinese communism.