About this item
Highlights
- In Imperial Gateway, Seiji Shirane explores the political, social, and economic significance of colonial Taiwan in the southern expansion of Japan's empire from 1895 to the end of World War II.
- About the Author: Seiji Shirane is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Affiliated Faculty Member in the Asian Studies Program at The City College of New York.
- 288 Pages
- Social Science, Ethnic Studies
Description
About the Book
"Drawing on multilingual archives from six countries, this book examines the strategic importance of Taiwan to the Japanese Empire and uncovers the half-century of dynamic relations between Japan, Taiwan, China, and Western regional powers in an ever-shifting international order"--Book Synopsis
In Imperial Gateway, Seiji Shirane explores the political, social, and economic significance of colonial Taiwan in the southern expansion of Japan's empire from 1895 to the end of World War II. Challenging understandings of empire that focus on bilateral relations between metropole and colonial periphery, Shirane uncovers a half century of dynamic relations between Japan, Taiwan, China, and Western regional powers. Japanese officials in Taiwan did not simply take orders from Tokyo; rather, they often pursued their own expansionist ambitions in South China and Southeast Asia. When outright conquest was not possible, they promoted alternative strategies, including naturalizing resident Chinese as overseas Taiwanese subjects, extending colonial police networks, and deploying tens of thousands of Taiwanese to war. The Taiwanese--merchants, gangsters, policemen, interpreters, nurses, and soldiers--seized new opportunities for socioeconomic advancement that did not always align with Japan's imperial interests. Drawing on multilingual archives in six countries, Imperial Gateway shows how Japanese officials and Taiwanese subjects transformed Taiwan into a regional gateway for expansion in an ever-shifting international order.
Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Review Quotes
This book contains 60 pages of detailed notes on sources and further reading in several languages which will be of great use to those seeking to understand the fascinating story of this small island under Japanese colonialism, and its remarkable economic and political transformation since 1950.
-- "Pacific Affairs"About the Author
Seiji Shirane is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Affiliated Faculty Member in the Asian Studies Program at The City College of New York. Follow him on X @SeijiShirane.