Date: May.28, 2021

Time: 13:30-15:30

Speaker: Karl Yan

Venue: Room 1127, the Creative Building A, the West District, Zijingang Campus 

[Speaker Intro]

Karl Yan is an assistant professor in sociology at Zhejiang University. Karl received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto. Karl’s research sits at the intersection of international and comparative political economy with a particular focus on railway development and the transformation of China. Karl's current research looks at China’s post-1949 industrial restructuring and railway modernization, and the geopolitical and geoeconomic implications of China’s globalizing high-speed rail industry. Relevant research papers have been published in the  British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Journal of Chinese Governance, etc. 

【Abstract】

War and change were the leitmotif of the late 19th and the early 20th century. Japan’s rapid ascent in East Asia fundamentally changed the Tianxia system. After the Meiji restoration, Japan became an industrialized country capable of raising a modern army—defeating Czarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. Together with Japan’s ascent as the new regional hegemon in East Asia was a new way of organizing inter-state relations. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the following analytical questions. First, why did Japan overthrow the regional architecture, which had been established for centuries and undergirded by Chinese superiority. Second, what were the crucial factors that determined not only a hegemonic change, but also changes to the Chinese hegemony. Third, what lessons can we draw from Japan’s ascent to understand today’s changing world. Truly, the ‘Celestial Dynasty’, with its small agrarian economy, collapsed in the advent of modern, capitalist production. More importantly, Japan supplanted the rules of the game because its rise was outside of the Tianxia system. A different mode of production led to a different understanding concerning how interstate relations ought to be organized. Therefore, Japan not only challenged China’s position as the hegemon, but also challenged the very hegemony that China had created. The key lesson is that, considering debates on the rise of China and the future of the liberal international order (LIO), we must gauge whether China is trying to change the core values of the LIO or its position within the LIO.