Discourse of East Asia and Narratives of Human History

Abstract

Today's East Asia is fraught with tension and conflicts. If the tension and conflicts cannot be truly resolved, can East Asia be treated as a whole for discussion? If it is possible and even necessary to speak of East Asia as a whole, then what is the internal adhesive for this whole? East Asia cannot obtain status as a single, self-sufficient, and static category: It refers to different entities in different historical periods, and has been referred to by different subjects in different periods of time. We can only discuss East Asia in specific historical contexts, and that is the only way to make the discussion meaningful.

Keywords:

• discourse on East Asia
• memory of war
• division system
• colonialism

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sun Ge

Translated by Gu Li