by Cole Hittle Saionji Kinmochi was many things: a child-chamberlain to the emperor at the age of three, a playmate to the future emperor not much later, a warrior who fought in the Meiji Restoration, the prime minister of Japan, and the last of the Genro. (Bunji Omura) However, being a Genro is likely Saionji’s most prestigious accomplishment. Genro, or principal elder in English, was a class of oligarchs who were able to act outside the constitution and had leading roles during the Meiji Restoration. The Genro subsequently dominated Japanese politics from 1889 to the early 1930s, when they acted as counselors to the emperor. (Genro | Japanese Oligarchy | Britannica)
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by Jolin Chan The United States, an ocean away from China, did not simply watch the Opium Wars unfold from afar. Rather, the budding nation had been intertwined in the opium trade long before the conflict. What fuels war—hunger for power, desire for resources, nationalism, to name a few—is important to study, but so is who fuels war. Traders in America, and specifically New England, were instrumental in maintaining and even strengthening the opium trade and war. Yet, the binary between Britain and China often masks American actors’ roles in the conflict. Their lucrative work in China—selling and transporting opium—allowed them to bring wealth back home, allowing cities like Boston to flourish, all while China struggled with addiction, plundered cultural heritage, and the beginnings of unequal treaties and injustice at the hands of foreign powers. by Shen Ramirez, Assistant Researcher and Dr. Stacey Anne Baterina Salinas The Imperial Japanese Army’s (IJA) occupation of the Philippines threatened the lives of ordinary citizens, further limiting their freedoms under a new colonial presence. The guerrilla fighters that resisted Imperial Japan’s occupation came from diverse Philippine communities (ethnolinguistic, class, gender, sexual orientations). Yet, the histories that are promoted and do survive about Philippine resistance to Japanese and American imperialism continue to be limited in scope and representation. After World War II, it was traditionally through a Euro-American lens of the guerrilla resistance such as Wendell Fertig. In the process, this creates a patronizing image of citizens of the Philippines as victims caught between larger geopolitical forces rather than agents of change that fiercely mobilized for their and their country’s independence. by Jolin Chan With over 45 million ethnic Chinese living outside China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, as of 2013, the Chinese diaspora spans the entire globe, reaching every habitable continent[1]. The United States is the country with the largest Chinese population. Still, this statistic does not diminish the influence that the overseas Chinese community has on other countries and regions of the world. The stories, histories, challenges, and successes of Chinese Americans are widely known, but the presence of the Chinese diaspora in other parts of the world—from South America to Australia—should not be ignored. The Chinese-American experience is only one part of the Chinese diasporic experience. As Chinese people were pushed out of their motherland for political and economic reasons during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the stories of these immigrants can thus be found almost everywhere. by Angela Xie Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) was a notable Chinese revolutionary and politician who was instrumental in deposing the Qing Dynasty and establishing the Republic of China. While Sun Yat-sen is known as the father of modern China, very little is known of his strong ties with modernized Japan, which affected his political theory and revolutionary activity.
by Jolin Chan The Chinese diaspora has a long, complex history, encompassing six continents spanning hundreds of years. The simple categorization of Chinese immigrants as "overseas Chinese" often belies the multiplicity and heterogeneity of the group, as well as the many forces that influenced their movement, including colonialism, imperialism, and war. These forces pushed them to all parts of the globe, from Peru to Malaysia, and at the same time, they brought their language, food, traditions, and beliefs along with them—but not without facing resentment and xenophobia. by Angela Xie In the movie The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the last Chinese emperor, Puyi, had a traumatic life due to political unrest and the fall of the Qing Dynasty. The government showed a very negative attitude towards Western ideas, which made the whole Chinese society very isolated and detached from the industrialized world. When Puyi got his first pair of nearsighted glasses, everyone was shocked and very upset that the young emperor accepted something from the West as they believed that the Westerners were "barbarians" who were less cultured than the Chinese. This post examines the factors that weakened the authority of the Qing Dynasty and how that led to its eventual downfall, primarily focusing on the resistance to industrialization and modernization. by Maggie Murray The Tokyo Tribunal (1946 -1948) found 28 Japanese military officers guilty of committing war crimes. While the Tokyo Tribunal is regarded as having prosecuted the most egregious cases, subsequent trials across the United States and other countries worldwide implicated more than 5,000 Japanese war criminals.[1] However, in 1958, all imprisoned Japanese war criminals were released.[2] Not only were most sentences left uncompleted, but the United States covered up certain atrocities, and those involved never faced trial. by Angela Xie Born on November 13, 1896, Kishi Nobusuke was a prominent Japanese political leader from a family with roots in the Meiji Restoration. Growing up in a small town in Japan, Kishi Nobusuke seemed to have little chance to rule Manchuria and Japan when he got older; nobody would connect him with the prime minister of Japan. However, he eventually pursued his dream of becoming a government official who aimed at modernizing Japan. Kishi was easily one of the most controversial characters of the 20th century as he went from a Class A War Criminal after WW2 to prime minister of Japan within ten years. by Maggie Murray Ambitious and deeply patriotic, Margaret Chung was the first practicing Asian American female physician. Coming from an impoverished background, Chung succeeded in medical school and started her own practice in the male-dominated field. When the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, Chung became deeply invested in the war effort and assumed her role as 'Mom Chung.' and became the surrogate mother for hundreds of U.S. soldiers. Becoming 'Mom Chung' was not a straightforward journey but resulted from unwavering effort and determination. |