Civilians play crucial roles in building empires. Constructing Empire shows how Japanese urban planners, architects, and other civilians contributed to constructing a modern colonial enclave in northeast China, their visions shifting over time.
Before 1932, the northeastern city of Changchun was much like other Chinese treaty ports where the Japanese had established themselves in ways similar to other imperialists. But the Japanese thereafter endeavoured to surpass their rivals by transforming the city of Changchun into something much grander – a modern, Asian capital for the new puppet state of Manchukuo. Providing a thematic assessment of the urban environment, economic development, and social change in Changchun, Bill Sewell examines the key organizations involved in the development of the Japanese empire there. Including a discussion of the wartime and immediate postwar eras, Constructing Empire encompasses the entirety of the Japanese presence in Changchun. This book shows how Japanese activities in, and statements about, Manchuria were about more than simply building imperial outposts and enclaves – they were part of broader efforts to assert visions of Japan's evolving place in the world.
This engaging book sheds light on evolving attitudes toward empire and perceptions of national identity among Japanese in Manchuria in the first half of the twentieth century.
Constructing Empire will appeal to academics and other readers interested in the history of the Japanese empire, the origins of the Asia-Pacific War (the Second World War in Asia), Chinese history, urban history, and colonial studies.
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