Overview

Japan and China have been rivals for more than a millennium. In more recent times, China was the more powerful until the late nineteenth century, while Japan took the upper hand in the twentieth. Now, China's resurgence has emboldened it even as Japan perceives itself falling behind, exacerbating long-standing historical frictions. June Teufel Dreyer's Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun provides a highly accessible overview of one of the world's great civilizational rivalries that ranges from the seventh century to the present. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the shrinking distances afforded by advances in technology and the intrusion of Western powers brought the two into closer proximity in ways that alternately united and divided them. In the aftermath of multiple wars between them, including a long and brutal conflict in World War II, Japan developed into an economic power but rejected militarism. China's journey toward modernization was hindered by ideological and leadership struggles that lasted until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. The final part focuses on the issues that dominate China and Japan's current relationship: economic rivalry, memories of World War II, resurgent nationalism, military tensions, Taiwan, the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, and globalization. Dreyer argues that recent disputes should be seen as manifestations of embedded rivalries rather than as issues whose resolution would provide a lasting solution to deep-standing disputes. For the paperback edition, she has added a new afterword that takes readers up to the present day.

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9780195375664

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Reviews

a useful tour of sore points and sticking points in Sino-Japanese relations ... as an introductory account of a troubled and troubling relationship, this book works well. Christopher Harding, Daily Telegraph This book makes admirably plain the resentful, troublesome and sometimes dangerous relations between China and Japan from as early as the 7th century AD ... [an] indispensable study of some of the world's longest-lived scenes of rivalry, resentment, grumpiness and occasional violence. Jonathan Mirsky, Times Higher Education As Dreyer's book shows, the history of Sino-Japanese relations has proved a terrible and bloody one. Creating a sustainable framework in which, at the very least, they can both manage their problems toward each other without resorting to fighting is the single greatest challenge, and the source of the most worrying instability, in Asia today. Kerry Brown, Diplomat well-informed on security issues, even-handed politically, and situates future China-Japan possibilities in the context of the many-centuries-long history of China-Japan relations. Edward Friedman, Taiwan Business Topics

This book makes admirably plain the resentful, troublesome and sometimes dangerous relations between China and Japan from as early as the 7th century AD ... [an] indispensable study of some of the world's longest-lived scenes of rivalry, resentment, grumpiness and occasional violence. Jonathan Mirsky, Times Higher Education As Dreyer's book shows, the history of Sino-Japanese relations has proved a terrible and bloody one. Creating a sustainable framework in which, at the very least, they can both manage their problems toward each other without resorting to fighting is the single greatest challenge, and the source of the most worrying instability, in Asia today. Kerry Brown, Diplomat well-informed on security issues, even-handed politically, and situates future China-Japan possibilities in the context of the many-centuries-long history of China-Japan relations. Edward Friedman, Taiwan Business Topics

well-informed on security issues, even-handed politically, and situates future China-Japan possibilities in the context of the many-centuries-long history of China-Japan relations. * Edward Friedman, Taiwan Business Topics * As Dreyer's book shows, the history of Sino-Japanese relations has proved a terrible and bloody one. Creating a sustainable framework in which, at the very least, they can both manage their problems toward each other without resorting to fighting is the single greatest challenge, and the source of the most worrying instability, in Asia today. * Kerry Brown, Diplomat * Dreyer's warning is timely, but will it be heeded? * Steve Craggs, Northern Echo * June Teufel Dreyer's magisterial history of the two nations' long rivalry is perfectly timed. * Global Asia * This book makes admirably plain the resentful, troublesome and sometimes dangerous relations between China and Japan from as early as the 7th century AD ... [an] indispensable study of some of the world's longest-lived scenes of rivalry, resentment, grumpiness and occasional violence. * Jonathan Mirsky, Times Higher Education * A useful tour of sore points and sticking points in Sino-Japanese relations ... as an introductory account of a troubled and troubling relationship, this book works well. * Christopher Harding, Daily Telegraph * A thoroughly convincing history of Sino-Japanese relations... June Dreyer makes an important contribution to the field. * Andrew Hanami, Asian Politics and Policy * Dreyer masterfully illustrates how bilateral relations have been fraught with mutual misperception and petty conflict from the beginning... superbly written and deftly explained. * Joel Campbell, International Affairs * In this marvellous history of bilateral relations and contemporary issues, Sinologist June Teufel Dreyer provides readers with rich context to aid both specialists and casual observers in understanding one of the most significant regional ties. * Joel Campbell (Troy University), International Affairs 94:2 *

Author Information

June Teufel Dreyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. Formerly senior Far East specialist at the Library of Congress, she has also served as Asia policy advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and as commissioner of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by the U.S. Congress.

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