| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.4

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 292 words from this article are provided below; about 583 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

See Heng Teow. Japan's Cultural Policy toward China, 1918–1931: A Comparative Perspective. (Harvard East Asian Monographs, number 175.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center; distributed by Harvard University Press. 1999. Pp. xiii, 310.

See Heng Teow's work describing China between the wars takes its place among studies revisiting the complex era of 1918–1931 with its warlord diversity, a phony Peking government, and finally a new central government at Nanking. Recent scholars view that China not as a passive recipient of "cultural imperialism," but as assertive and active. Teow, like Sun Youli in China and the Origins of the Pacific War, 1931–1941 (1993), and I in my Chinese Boycotts versus Japanese Bombs: The Failure of China's Revolutionary Diplomacy, 1931–1932 (1991), sees China, despite an absence of central strength, actively pressing its interests in international relations. Teow argues that in the spending of Japan's Boxer Rebellion indemnity remissions, China was unlike helpless victims of foreign "cultural imperialism," asserting its own objectives sometimes against Tokyo's designs. This is worth noting. His definition of Japan's cultural approach, however, is so inclusively fuzzy that conclusions are difficult. 1

Rather than defining what was cultural in Japan's China policy, he leaves the reader to decipher the "cultural development experience" that Japan sought to impose on China. Teow uses, interchangeably, the terms "cultural," "policy," "diplomacy," and "influence" as well as "cultural imperialism." Concentrating on Tokyo's projects in China funded by the indemnity remissions, the author compares Japan's experience with similarly funded American and British projects, which he expands to include private and philanthropic projects. What Teow considers Japan's "cultural" approach from 1918–1931 includes not only educational and scholarly projects but public health and relief, as well as scientific and medical aid and facilities. . . .

There are about 583 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.