“Mega-Asia”: The Asian Era and the Transformation of Perceptive Frames of Asia

Research Aims

In the 21st century—the Asian century—a “new Asia” is emerging as a megaregion through processes of political and economic integration and self-organization. In response to rapid changes in the global environment, Korea needs to move away from a Northeast Asian focus and find new opportunities for growth in the “new Asia.”

“New Asia” as a megaregion is developing into “one space of multiple spaces” with different but common historical experiences. Therefore, it is necessary to go beyond the perspective of viewing Asia as a “subtotal” of countries or regions and view the whole of Asia as a single, organic region.

The “Mega Asia Research Cluster” aims to establish new perspectives and perceptions of Asia by moving away from existing perceptions and approaches of looking at Asia by defining the concept of a Mega Asia.

Research Team
  • Kyung-Chul Jou (Prof. in Western History at SNU, Affiliated Researcher)
  • Oh Young Kwon (Prof. in Korean History at SNU, Affiliated Researcher)
  • Beomshik Shin(Prof. in Political Science and International Relations at SNU, Affiliated Researcher)
  • Ka Young Ko (HK Research Professor, Contemporary Western History)
  • Minjae Zoh(HK Research Professor, Cultural Heritage·Archaeology)
  • Dae-young Youn (HK Research Professor, History)
Cluster Research Publications
Phase I (2020-2023) Publications
Volume 1 The Continent and Mega-Asia

By studying the movement of people and goods, the formation of networks, and other related phenomena in the background of the Asian continent, this book aims to explore the possibility of establishing the whole of Asia as an analytical unit that can be investigated conceptually and phenomenologically.

Research on the network of the Eurasian continent formed through interaction between nomads and farmers provides the central theme of this book. As a study on the power and pathways of connection, “horses and chariots,” “movement of people, objects, and information,” “nomads,” and “envoys” are each explored. Moreover, through research on the Tang Empire and its surrounding networks, the networks of the Scythian culture, and the expansion of Russia and the Soviet Union, this volume will focus on the question of how networks were formed and operated to establish and reproduce “common value” that encompassed macroregions at a continental scale. Lastly, through consideration of research on phenomena such as the interchange of infectious diseases, genocide, and genealogical research on the concept of “Asia” as defined by Europeans, the possibility of regulating a “continental Mega Asia” will be carefully evaluated.

 

Contents

  • The Convergence of the Steppe and Agricultural Land, Oh Young Kwon (Department of Korean History, Seoul National University)
  • Horses and Chariots: Exchange on the Steppe, Jongil Kim (Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University)
  • The Convergence and Movement of People, Things, and Information: Exchange and the Mongol Empire, Baehwan Seol (Department of History, Jeonnam University)
  • Eurasia, Climate, and Nomads, Taewoo Go (Department of Korean History, Seoul National University)
  • The Kurgans of Central Asia and Steppe Networks, Byoungrok Yu (SNUAC_HK)
  • The Tang Empire and its Surrounding Networks, Jihui Kim (Department of Korean History, Seoul National University)
  • Networks of the Ancient Nomadic World through the Lens of Scythian Animal Patterns, Wuseop Lee (Cheongju National Museum)
  • Russian Expansion and the Soviets: Eurasia Bound by Ideology, Beomshik Shin (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University)
  • Asia and Europe in the Medieval Black Plague: Another Aspect of Exchange, Dongwon Sin (Department of Science Studies, Jeonbuk National University)
  • Genocide on the Asian Continent: Hindering Consolidation, Taegyun Bak (Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University)
  • Asia and the Orient: Is the Light from the East? European Perspectives of Asia, Ilhong Ko and Minjae Zoh (SNUAC_HK)
Volume 2. The Seas and Mega-Asia

By studying the movement of people and goods, the formation of networks, and related phenomena in the context of maritime Asia, the aim of this volume is to explore the possibility of establishing the whole of Asia as an analytical unit to be investigated conceptually and phenomenologically.

In general, the volume examines various characteristics of maritime exchange and trade. Through research on transit trade between Funan and Champa, the maritime propagation of Buddhism, and connection between steamships and different regions of Asia, the volume investigates dynamics and pathways of connection of the maritime world. In addition, by considering research on “small worlds” of the ancient maritime world, the maritime Islamicization of Southeast Asia, the East India Company, smuggling and pirates, and overseas Chinese and maritime Asian networks, the volume focuses on how networks were formed and operated to establish and reproduce “common values” that encompassed large regions in a maritime context. Finally, through case studies such as the trade of beads and Peranakan opium, the possibility of the concept of a maritime Mega Asia is explored in detail.

 

Contents

  • Characteristics of Maritime Exchange and Interaction: an Historical Summary, Kyung-Chul Jou (Department of Western History, Seoul National University)
  • Ports and Sea Routes, Oh Young Kwon (Department of Korean History, Seoul National University)
  • Steamships and Asia-Pacific Connections, Minyong Lee (Sogang University, American Cultural Studies)
  • International Maritime Networks in Ancient East Asia, Ilhong Ko (SNUAC_HK)
  • The Foreign Arab King and the Expansion of the Islamic Kingdom in the Malay World, Seungwon Song (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Malay-Indonesian Interpretation and Translation)
  • The Influence of the East India Company, Kyung-Chul Jou (Department of Western History, Seoul National University)
  • The Structure of Maritime Smuggling in 1940s to 1960s Southeast Asia: Celebes and Sulu Sea, Ungyeong Yeo (Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Seoul National University)
  • The Movement of Capital and Materials in the South China Sea Overseas Chinese Network, Jongho Kim (East Asia Research Center, Sogang University)
  • Maritime Exchange Seen through Beads, Gyuho Kim (Department of Cultural Properties Preservation, Kongju National University) and Junyeong Bak (Department of Korean History, Seoul National University)
  • The Chinese Diaspora and Peranakan Culture, Huijeong Gang (East Asia Research Center, Sogang University)
Volume 3. Neo-continentalism and Neo-maritimism: the Driving Force behind 21st Century Mega Asia

By acknowledging the 21st century “rise of Asia” as the driving force behind the formation of a “neo-continentalist and neo-maritimist Mega Asia,” this volume explores multi-layered phenomenological and conceptual research on the birth, power, networks, and case analyses of continental and maritime modern Mega Asia.

The general theme of this volume involves analyses of the meaning of macroscopic structural transformation and, in particular, analyses of the geo-economic strategies of countries driving this change. It deals with “regionalism,” “value chains,” and “transportation and logistics corridor” as driving forces that lay out various pathways for connection and give form to modern Mega Asia. Mega Asia is considered through both continental and maritime lenses as well as within the context of a point of access to the Arctic Sea to analyze Mega Asia as a network. In addition, as phenomena characteristically related to modern Mega Asia, topics such as the “Islamic economy” and the “Korean Wave” are investigated in depth.

 

Contents

  • Neo-continentalism and neo-maritimism and the emergence of Mega Asia, Beomshik Shin (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University)
  • China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Mega Asia, Changju Lee (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Ajou University)
  • Russia’s New Eastern Policy and Pan-Eurasianism, Wonyong Seong (School of Northeast Asian Studies, Incheon National University)
  • The Evolution of Japan’s Asia Strategy and Indo-Pacific Solidarity, Gyeongjun Chae (Social Studies Education Department, Jeju National University)
  • India’s Perceptions and Strategy for Asia, and the Formation and Dynamics of Mega Asia, Seongyong Gang (Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University)
  • From the Far East to the Indo-Pacific: American Perceptions of Asia, Ilyeong Kim (Kyungpook National University)
  • Inter-regionalism through the Expansion of Regional Cooperation, Kyunghee Choi (SNUAC_HK)
  • Asia’s Value Chain, Jungu Lee (Department of Business Administration, Hanyang University)
  • Arctic Distribution and Mega Asia, Seongu Lee (Korea Maritime Institute)
  • Mega Asia Connected through Islamic Finance, Chungyeol Lee (Department of Economics, Korea University)
  • The Spread of the Korean Wave and Mega Asia, Dubo Shin (Department of Media Communications, Sungshin Women’s University)
Phase II (2023-2027) Publications
Volume 1 The East Sea Rim Region and Mega-Asia
  • Overview

‘Mega-Asia’ is a new conceptualization and imagination of Asia that was created to focus on the diversity of Asia and on the direct and indirect connectivity existing between the regions of Asia, with the intention of identifying the spatio-temporal history of this connectivity, and with the expectation that this history of connectivity will provide the ideological foundation for Asian regions to jointly respond to common problems that the communities of Asia may face in the future. The methodology used to conceptualize and imagine Asia in this way involves an approach that adopts new units of analyses, alternative to the countries or individual regions of Asia, such as ‘Asia itself as the unit of analysis’.

 

What does it mean to approach ‘Asia itself’ or ‘Asia as a whole’ as the unit of analysis? The reason why ‘Mega-Asia’ research focuses on the ‘Asia as a whole’ is because there is a need to overcome the limitations of a segmented perspective on Asia, in which research in undertaken only at the level of countries and individual regions. However, approaching ‘Asia as a whole’ does not necessarily mean an analysis of ‘all of Asia’; rather, it involves a broader perspective that is not limited to seeing ‘only a part’ of Asia. In other words, it entails the overcoming of the existing framework of Asian studies, in which the unit of analysis was fixed to a specific country or individual region.

 

Based on the premise that the entirety of the phenomena observed throughout Asia can also be captured equally in smaller units (as in the case of fractals), our research has selected spatial units that can be regarded as such microcosms that best illustrate the ‘Asian present’ through the phenomena, dynamics, and connectivity that can be observed.

 

The ‘East Sea Rim Region’ is one such ‘microcosm’ that well illustrates the phenomena, dynamics, and connectivity of Asia. Since ancient times, the ‘East Sea Rim Region’ has been relatively less directly influenced by Chinese civilzation, compared to the ‘West Sea Rim Region’, and interactions and coexistence between equal entities that operate due to the heterogeneous distribution of natural resources can be observed in this region. This unique connectivity captured in the ‘East Sea Rim Region’ will also enable new ways of thinking about ‘Asian connectivity.’

 

  • Authors and Chapter Titles

Section 1

  1. Introduction – The ‘East Sea Rim Region’ and Mega-Asia (Ilhong Ko, Seoul National University Asia Center)
  2. Methods of Research on East Sea Rim Connectivity (Ilhong Ko, Seoul National University Asia Center)
  3. History of East Sea Rim Research (Ilhong Ko et. al, Seoul National University Asia Center)

 

Section 2

  1. The Tango Peninsula – A Hub of East Sea Rim Exchange Excluded from Mainstream Japanese History (Kwon Oh-young et al., Department of History, Seoul National University)
  2. Yonago (Kwon Oh-young, Department of History, Seoul National University)
  3. Kraskino (Kwon Oh-young et al., Department of History, Seoul National University)
  4. Najin (Shin Beomsik, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University)
  5. Ulleungdo (Ilhong Ko, Seoul National University Asia Center)

 

Section 3

  1. Conclusion – Particularity and Universality of East Sea Rim Connectivity (Ilhong Ko et. al, Seoul National University Asia Center)
Volume 2 Asia’s Colonial Heritage: At Large
  • Overview

This book sets out to examine, discuss, and question the various remnants and legacies of colonialism in post-colonial Asia today, and it will do so through the interdisciplinary concept and lens of ‘heritage.’ Although ‘colonial Asia’ and ‘heritage’ both appear to share the category of ‘the past,’ they are both very much embedded in and reoccur in and for the present, whether it be through narratives, oral legacies, memories, architecture, or artefacts. This is to say that, although varying in degrees and impacts, colonialism in Asia has had significant, lasting, and deep influences on present-day Asia and also beyond the borders of Asia. This book focuses on both the tangible and intangible legacies and lasting influences by exploring which parts have been intentionally preserved, commemorated, romanticised, promoted, fabricated, ignored, blurred, contested, tabooed, or politicised and for what purpose. Ultimately, this book is interested in underpinning which parts of Asia’s colonial past have been selected and presented as ‘heritage’ in the present day and which parts are being used or researched in the present for political, economic, or academic purposes. It is important to note that this book is not a historical reflection of colonialism in Asia; the driving motivation is to underpin the varying legacies and meanings of colonialism in post-colonial Asia today.

As a great mass of Asia’s grounds were colonised throughout different stages of history, this volume breaks down the various levels and stages of colonialism in Asia by typifying them into three categories. The first category refers to the early Asian countries that were colonised by Europe (namely Vietnam), and this category will be referred to as the ‘classical empires.’ This section in particular opens up the issues of 1) the lasting meanings and legacies of colonial literature; 2) the practices and remnants of colonial education; 3) the differing and evolutionary attitudes toward colonial material remains in the present; and 4) the heritage of language and vocabulary. The second category refers to the later colonisers and colonised, such as Japan in Korea. This second category will be referred to as the ‘latter empires.’ This section spotlights the issues of 1) literal and non-metaphorical forms and meanings in colonial politics and cultural heritage; 2) erasure and preservation of colonial buildings in the post-colonial context; and 3) the colonial deconstruction of social class systems. The final level looks at the atypical colonised relationship between the Bolshevik central government within the Soviet Union and Central Asia as an internal colony to shed light on the grounds between post-socialism and post-colonialism and will accordingly be referred to as an ‘atypical empire.’ This last section looks at how a museum exhibition has been used to depict certain narratives within the context of an ‘atypical empire.’ By approaching the topic of colonialism in Asia through three categories/timeframes, this volume endeavours to go beyond studying colonialism in Asia as a past phenomenon. The goal is to examine how remnants and legacies of colonialism in Asia are remembered and (ab)used in the present day.

  • Authors and Chapter Titles

Chapter 1. Introduction (Minjae Zoh, Seoul National University Asia Center)

 

Part I. Asia’s Colonial Heritage: The Classical Empires

Chapter 2. Vietnamese Political Heritage and Korean Society: The Case of Việt Nam Vong Quốc Sử (History of the Loss of Vietnam, 1905) on the Rove – (Daeyoung Yoon, Seoul National University Asia Center)

Chapter 3. The Legacies of the French in a colonial Vietnam: What remains? (Dung Nguyen)

Chapter 4. Comparing post-colonial attitudes towards ancient colonial heritage in Korea and Vietnam (Ilhong Ko, Seoul National University Asia Center)

Chapter 5. A study on the introduction of loan translations in the Korean language (Kyung Chul Jou, Deprtment of History, Seoul National University)

 

Part II. Asia’s Colonial Heritage: The Latter Empires

Chapter 6. Empire’s Ghosts (Heonik Kwon, Seoul National University Asia Center)

Chapter 7. South Korea’s attempts to break free from its colonial legacy: A focus on the Cultural Heritage Policy and the History of Liquidating Japanese Colonial Remnants (Yilsoon Paek, Seoul National University Asia Center)

Chapter 8. Colonial Experience: Its Impact on the Caste and Yangban Systems of India and Korea respectively (Hriday Narayan)

 

Part III. Asia’s Colonial Heritage: Atypical Empires

Chapter 9. Post-Colonialism in Central Asia: A Study of the Exhibitions of the Museum of Victims of Repression in Uzbekistan (Kayoung Ko, Seoul National University Asia Center)

Chapter 10. Concluding remarks: The Heritage of Colonialism throughout Asia (Minjae Zoh, Seoul National University Asia Center)