Palladium Podcast Palladium Podcast 61: Viren Murthy on Japan, China, and an Asian World Order
Jul 4, 2021
Dr. Viren Murthy, an associate professor specializing in transnational Asian intellectual history, explores the philosophies shaping modern Japan and China. He discusses the revival of the Chinese concept of tianxia and its implications for global governance, contrasting it with historical Pan-Asianism. Murthy highlights key thinkers like Zhao Tingyang and Jiang Shigong, revealing how their ideas reflect contemporary debates about world order. The conversation dives into Japan's influence on these discourses, drawing parallels with American imperialism and aspirations for a less anarchic global framework.
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China's Nationalism Turned Global
- Chinese discourse shifted from inward-focused nationalism in the 1990s to outward-looking world-order thinking in the 2000s.
- Tianxia theories reframe ancient concepts as responses to contemporary global order debates.
Tianxia Is An Adapted Ancient Ideal
- Tianxia revives premodern Confucian ideas of universal order and applies them to modern international relations.
- Ancient Tianxia lacked a global system, so modern theorists adapt its ideals rather than its historical structure.
Tianxia Contains Multiple Schools
- Different Tianxia thinkers occupy varied positions: Zhao Tingyang proposes an idealist world-order model while Jiang Shigong leans realist.
- The diversity shows Tianxia isn't a single monolith but a contested theoretical program.
