Imperial Gateway
Colonial Taiwan and Japan's Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895–1945

Seiji Shirane (Author)

9781501767708

Paperback / softback, published 15 December 2022

288 pages, 25 b&w halftones, 1 map - 1 Maps - 25 Halftones, black and white
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.454 kg

This book contains 60 pages of detailed notes on sources and further reading in several languages which will be of great use to those seeking to understand the fascinating story of this small island under Japanese colonialism, and its remarkable economic and political transformation since 1950.

In Imperial Gateway, Seiji Shirane explores the political, social, and economic significance of colonial Taiwan in the southern expansion of Japan's empire from 1895 to the end of World War II. Challenging understandings of empire that focus on bilateral relations between metropole and colonial periphery, Shirane uncovers a half century of dynamic relations between Japan, Taiwan, China, and Western regional powers. Japanese officials in Taiwan did not simply take orders from Tokyo; rather, they often pursued their own expansionist ambitions in South China and Southeast Asia. When outright conquest was not possible, they promoted alternative strategies, including naturalizing resident Chinese as overseas Taiwanese subjects, extending colonial police networks, and deploying tens of thousands of Taiwanese to war. The Taiwanese—merchants, gangsters, policemen, interpreters, nurses, and soldiers—seized new opportunities for socioeconomic advancement that did not always align with Japan's imperial interests. Drawing on multilingual archives in six countries, Imperial Gateway shows how Japanese officials and Taiwanese subjects transformed Taiwan into a regional gateway for expansion in an ever-shifting international order.

Introduction
Part One: Overseas Subjects as Gateway Actors
1. Opening a Gateway into China
2. Taiwanese in South China's Border Zones
3. Taiwanese in Southeast Asia
Part 2: The Wartime Gateway
4. Mobilizing for War
5. Colonial Liaisons in Occupied South China
6. Advancing into the Southern Regions
Epilogue: Postwar Legacies