Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations, Past and Present

Dreyer, professor of political science at the University of Miami and former senior Far East specialist at the Library of Congress, traces the often strained relationship between China and Japan—currently the world’s second- and third-largest economies, respectively—through periods of turmoil, grudging recognition, and outright war. The narrative opens with brief historical notes, including the first direct contact between the Chinese and Japanese in the first century C.E. Dreyer spends the bulk of her analysis on the late 19th and 20th centuries, when the two regional powers came into conflict over territorial claims, trade, international alliances, and the legacy of Japan’s wartime empire. She argues that these contestations cannot be viewed as merely contingent on circumstances and thus easily resolvable; they stem from a long history of rivalry and resentment between the two nations. The book lacks the analytical sophistication of other works that have investigated the relationship between China and Japan from the perspectives of nationalism and nation-building, including Prasenjit Duara’s pivotal Sovereignty and Authenticity; instead it presents a bland, if thorough, recounting of crises and lulls in Sino-Japanese relations over time. Still, Dreyer’s authority on her subject is unmistakable, and the book provides an easily accessible overview of a geopolitical relationship too often overlooked. (July)