East Asia: From Chinese Predominance to the Rise of the Pacific Rim - Hardcover

"East Asia" is a survey of the history of nearly half mankind, from the rise of China, its first civilization, to the present day. As well as China, the book covers Japan and Korea, and South East Asia from Burma to Indonesia. It is already clear that by the next century the countries of the Pacific Rim will be the world's economic pace-setter, and that, in particular, East Asia will be the world's workshop. This book aims to set that development in context by revealing the long historical process of which it is a part. By doing so it also suggests pointers to the future, when Japan - now the front runner - will be overtaken by its neighbours, the greatest of which, China, has only just started to compete. Arthur Cotterell combines the broad sweep and the revealing parallel with the anecdote or telling detail that lends immediacy to the past, whether the far distant dawn of Chinese civilization or the more recent colonial interlude and Second World War. Above all, he provides a perspective on the most dramatic transformations taking place in the contemporary world for travellers to the East, students of Eastern societies, and businessmen who need to understand the background and position of their trading partners.