Impact! Asian Views of the West
JoAnn White
Hardcover
(Julian Messner, Inc, March 15, 1971)
A vivid picture of the tremendous impact of Westerners and Western civilization upon Asia- from China and Japan to India and Southeast Asia, from early 1800's to the present day. The writers come from many different countries and many different backgrounds....Chinese Emperor Chien-lung's commenting about the behavior of the English barbarians.....Japanese princess Kartini, caught between East and West...Burmese leader Ba Maw reflecting on the nationalist struggle.... Westernized Indian author Dom Moraes realizing that he doesn't "know what these Asians are like"...Japanese poet Uuzuru Katagiri protesting the U.S. - Japanese Security Treaty....and many more. Some of them are confused by their experiences, others are bitter. Some urge that their people copy the West slavishly; some savagely reject unfamiliar ideas and technology; some are searching for a balance between their own traditions and Western values. Whatever these Asian reactions, they reveal Asia in a way that writings about Asia by Westerners never can. often they are quite different from what the Western reader might have expected. In these critical times, as the world becomes increasingly interrelated, it is important that we try to understand them.