Pan-Asianism and the Legacy of the Chinese RevolutionViren Murthy1stLabel: University of Chicago PressDescription: An intellectual history of pan-Asianist discourse in the twentieth century. Recent proposals to revive the ancient Silk Road for the contemporary era and ongoing Western interest in China’s growth and development have led to increased attention to the concept of pan-Asianism. Most of that discussion however lacks any historical grounding in the thought of influential twentieth-century pan-Asianists. In this book Viren Murthy offers an intellectual history of the writings of theorists intellectuals and activists—spanning leftist conservative and right-wing thinkers—who proposed new ways of thinking about Asia in their own historical and political contexts. Tracing pan-Asianist discourse across the twentieth century Murthy reveals a stronger tradition of resistance and alternative visions than the contemporary discourse on pan-Asianism would suggest. At the heart of pan-Asianist thinking Murthy shows were the notions of a unity of Asian nations of weak nations becoming powerful and of the Third World confronting the “advanced world on equal terms—an idea that grew to include non-Asian countries into the global community of Asian nations. But pan-Asianists also had larger aims imagining a future beyond both imperialism and capitalism. The fact that the resurgence of pan-Asianist discourse has emerged alongside the dominance of capitalism Murthy argues signals a profound misunderstanding of its roots history and potential.
