New Books in East Asian Studies

In Occult Hunting and Supernatural Play in Japan (Hawaii 2024), Laura Miller examines the intersections of ludic capitalism with formal and informal religious practices and beliefs in contemporary Japan. Miller shows that women―often younger women―are the primary drivers of industries of religiously flavored entertainment that offer avenues of self-exploration and spiritual capital that are marketed to appeal first and foremost to women “hunters” engaged in supernatural play. Miller’s eclectically interdisciplinary analysis reveals the ways that supernatural play, incorporated into the fabric of everyday life in contemporary Japan, can contribute to social and personal wellbeing for these seekers. The book will appeal to readers interested in religion, material culture, media, gender, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

How did young boys in premodern China learn? What educational texts did they use? What values informed their education? Katherine Ngo’s new book Unlocking the Treasury: Elementary Learning for Boys in Qing China (Lever Press, 2025) explores these questions through a focus on a Qing-dynasty textbook: Treasury of Elementary Learning (Youxue qionglin 幼學瓊林). One of the most popular textbooks in the Qing, Treasury is packed to the brim with allusions, references, exemplars, and much more. Katherine deftly unpacks Treasury, showing how it is at once a handbook for practical learning, a child-friendly version of the school of heart-mind, and an introduction to training for the civil-service examination.In addition to being a wonderfully rich and careful introduction to Treasury, this book highlights how education in the Qing was complex, eclectic, and anything but focused exclusively on rote learning. Unlocking the Treasury should be of interest to scholars of China, historians of the early modern world, but also anyone interested in the history of education, pedagogy, and different ways of learning.Unlocking the Treasury is also available as an Open Access ebook here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Chinese travelers first made their way to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean in the 14th century, looking for goods like coconuts, cowries, and ambergris. That started centuries of travel to the islands, including one trip by famed sailor Zheng He. Then, quickly, the Maldives—and the broader Indian Ocean—vanished as Ming China turned inward.Bin Yang writes about these linkages between China, the Maldives and the Indian Ocean in his recent book Discovered but Forgotten: The Maldives in Chinese History, c 1100-1620 (Columbia University Press: 2024)Bin Yang is a professor of history at City University of Hong Kong. His books include Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Columbia University Press: 2008) and Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money: A Global History (Columbia University Press: 2019).You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Discovered But Forgotten. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia.Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

John Alekna, Assistant Professor of the History of Science at Peking University, delves into the impact of communication technologies on modern Chinese society. He discusses the historical role of radio, highlighting its influence during critical movements like the May Fourth and the Cultural Revolution. Alekna uncovers how news shaped political geography and social dynamics, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices and experiences. Through a fresh perspective on propaganda and media practices, he illustrates the complex evolution of information flow in China.

Have you ever heard of the Chinese gay god, the Rabbit god? How did queer Chinese artists use this icon in reclaiming their own stories, while resisting and persisting through Covid-19? And, how can art be a space for fighting back against national hegemony? In this episode, Hongwei Bao discusses these questions with Kukasina Kubaha.Hongwei Bao is associate professor of Media studies at the University of Nottingham. Bao is the author of several books including Queer Comrades: Gay Identity and Tongzhi Activism in Postsocialist China, and Queer China: Lesbian and Gay Literature and Visual Culture Under Postsocialism. Alongside his academic work, Bao also writes poetry and curates film festivals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

How do individuals address serious challenges in a context where organized gatherings are subject to strict government control? This new edited volume brings together a diverse group of scholars to explore the many ways people in China self-organize and create varied forms of coordination to solve important problems.Through compelling, detail-rich case studies, The Extraordinary in the Mundane (Columbia UP, 2024) shows that family structures and networks deeply shape these modes of association. Because the public-private dichotomy does not resonate with many people in China, they rely on informal social ties, not formal organizations or state agencies, to confront personal challenges. Chapters present vivid ethnographic portraits that consider both positive and negative aspects of community formation. A woman with an autistic child creates an organization to advocate for inclusion of neurodivergent children in public schools. A trainee in a psychological counseling course finds mutual support among other participants. A boy is taken by his father to an internet addiction treatment camp that aims to restructure family interactions. A woman in her seventies shows off the burial clothes she prepared for herself, to the admiration of a group of friends. Offering a glimpse into the unofficial realities that often remain off the record, this book provides a wide-ranging and timely examination of the varieties of civic action in contemporary China.Becky Yang Hsu is Associate Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Her research interests include morality, institutions, and culture, and is currently studying happiness and mourning in China. More details about her research can be found here.Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, medical anthropology, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

During the closing months of World War II, two military giants locked in a death embrace of cultural differences and diplomatic intransigence. While developing history’s deadliest weapon and weighing an invasion that would have dwarfed D-Day, the US called for the “unconditional surrender” of Japan. The Japanese Empire responded with a last-ditch plan termed Ketsu-Go, which called for the suicidal resistance of every able-bodied man and woman in “The Decisive Battle” for the homeland.In 140 Days to Hiroshima (Diversion Books, 2020), historian David Dean Barrett captures war-room drama on both sides of the conflict. Here are the secret strategy sessions, fierce debates, looming assassinations, and planned invasions that resulted in Armageddon on August 6, 1945. Barrett then examines the next nine chaotic days as the Japanese government struggled to respond to the reality of nuclear war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Xiaolu Ma, a Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, discusses her book detailing the intricate cultural exchanges between Russia, Japan, and China from 1880 to 1930. She shares her personal journey studying Russian literature and highlights Japan's pivotal role as a cultural mediator. The conversation delves into the complexities of translation, showcasing how Russian narratives were transformed in Japan before reaching China. The themes of nihilism and literary reform anchor the dialogue, revealing rich intercultural dynamics that shaped modern identities.

From the second half of the nineteenth century, Japan has been a particularly enthusiastic user of exhibitions. Large-scale international exhibitions, including Osaka 2025, form only the tip of an iceberg comprising over 1,300 industrial, regional, and local exhibitions held in Japan over the past 150 years. In Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development (Cambridge UP, 2025), Angus Lockyer explores how and why these events have been used as catalysts of development and arenas for fostering modern industry, empire, and nation. He traces their complicated genesis, realization, and reception, demonstrating that although they rarely achieve their stated aims, this does not undermine their utility - Japanese expos have provided a model subsequently adopted around the world. The history of this enthusiasm provides a more nuanced understanding of development in modern Japan, and emphasizes the shared experiences of global modernity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Four decades of Japanese colonialism in Korea ended abruptly in August 1945. It took three weeks for U.S. troops to arrive, which started almost three years of U.S. military occupation. By the end of the occupation, Korea was permanently divided into North and South, with Seoul set on an authoritarian path that would persist for decades.Kornel Chang covers these tumultuous three years in A Fractured Liberation: Korea under U.S. Occupation (Harvard University Press: 2025), and describes how the U.S.’s increased fears of Communism and the Soviet Union ended up puncturing Korean political aspirations.Kornel Chang is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Rutgers University-Newark. He is a scholar of U.S. immigration and foreign relations, focusing on U.S.-East Asian relations. His first book Pacific Connections: The Making of the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands (University of California Press: 2012) is a history of Asian migration to the Pacific Northwest, revealing how their movements sparked some of the first battles over the border in North America. It won the Association for Asian American Studies History Book Prize and was a finalist for the John Hope Franklin Book Prize.You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of A Fractured Liberation. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia.Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies