HY461 One Unit
East Asia in the Age of Imperialism, 1839-1945
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Antony Best
Availability
This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MA in Modern History, MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in International and World History (LSE & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Students should write a short statement supporting their application to take a course. The Teacher Responsible will assign places on the course and their decision is final.
Deadline for application: Please apply as soon as possible. Applications close at 5pm on 10th October 2025, however spaces are likely to fill before this time.
For queries contact: The teacher responsible for the course, as indicated on the course guide. Staff e-mail addresses are listed at https://www.lse.ac.uk/International-History/People.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
There are no formal pre-requisites for this course, but some knowledge of the international history of East Asia would be useful.
Course content
The course looks at the origins and the political, strategic, economic and cultural consequences of the arrival of Western imperialism in East Asia. Subjects covered by the course include the clash between the Westphalian and Sinocentric international orders; the opium wars; the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate; the Japanese, Korean and Chinese responses to the arrival of the West; the history of Western imperialism in China and the rise of Chinese nationalism; the rise of Japanese imperialism; the Russo-Japanese War and its consequences; pan-Asianism, race and immigration; the Chinese revolution of 1911-12; the rise of intra-Asian trade; the effect of Wilsonian and communist internationalism; Japan's move towards aggressive expansion in the 1930s; the outbreak of the Pacific War.
Teaching
1.5 hours of classes in the Spring Term.
10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
10 hours of lectures and 13.5 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be required to write three essays over the academic year. One will be a mock examination.
Indicative reading
A detailed reading list will be issued at the start of the course, but the following provide a useful introduction to the themes, events and historiography:
- Shigeru Akita (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History (Basingstoke, 2002);
- Warren Cohen, (ed), Pacific Passage: The Study of American-East Asian Relations on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century (New York, 1996);
- Merle Goldman & Andrew Gordon, (ed.), Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia (Cambridge, Mass. 2000);
- Akira Iriye, Japan and the Wider World: From the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present (London, 1997);
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (1999);
- Chushichi Tsuzuki, The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 (Oxford, 2000).
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: International History
Course Study Period: Autumn, Winter and Spring Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 22
Average class size 2024/25: 11
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.