New working papers added in 2010:

Cambodian Constitutional Provisions on Treaties: A Story of Constitutional Evolution Beyond Rhetoric (KUONG Teilee, Nagoya University; HYI Visiting Scholar 2009-2010)

Displaying Chinese Folklore to the World: the 2008 Olympic Games and International Folkloric Tourism in Gaobeidian Village, Beijing (YANG Lihui, Professor, Institute of Folklore and Cultural Anthropology, Beijing Normal University; HYI Associate, 2006-07)

Assessment of the Social Functions and Vitality of the Yi Language from the Perspective of its Domains of Use (HU Suhua, Minzu University of China; HYI Visiting Scholar 2009-2010)

Cambodian Constitutional Provisions on Treaties: A Story of Constitutional Evolution Beyond Rhetoric (KUONG Teilee, Nagoya University; HYI Visiting Scholar 2009-2010)

Displaying Chinese Folklore to the World: the 2008 Olympic Games and International Folkloric Tourism in Gaobeidian Village, Beijing (YANG Lihui, Professor, Institute of Folklore and Cultural Anthropology, Beijing Normal University; HYI Associate, 2006-07)

The Military Establishment and the Integration of the People:  From the Sino-Japanese War to the period of the Manchurian Incident, by YUI Masaomi  (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2009)   由井正臣　『軍部と民衆統合：日清戦争と満州事変期まで』（岩波書店、２００９）

Reviewed by Okamoto Koichi, Professor of the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University, Japan

YUI Masaomi [1933-2008], Professor Emeritus at Waseda University, was a comprehensive historian of modern Japan.  His works ranged from a trans-war history of 1940s to a study of the establishment of modern Japanese armed forces in the early Meiji period, to a biography of Tanaka Shojo.  Moreover, he was an editor of the canonical 15-Volume Encyclopedia of National History [国史大辞典] throughout the 32 years of its publication.  And in his youth, as a librarian at the National Diet Library, he collected and catalogued the TERAUCHI Masatake Papers and the SAITO Makoto Papers.

One of Yui’s main research topics was the political history of the military establishment.  His posthumous book, The Military Establishment and the Integration of the People is a collection of essays originally published as articles which first appeared mainly in the 1970s.  Although the author selected the six articles and organized the structure of the book immediately before his death, the final editorial work was left to one of his former students, UTSUMI Takashi.

The six essays, which are ordered chronologically, present vividly the emergence of Japanese militarism.  By a painstaking analysis of primary sources, Yui shows how Japanese militarism developed, and gained significant power in the policy-making process from the period of the Sino-Japanese War to the Manchurian Incident.  The author examines the military not as a state apparatus of war, but rather as a political agent of the state seeking the national integration of the people.

Although the independence of the supreme command and the right of direct appeal to the emperor institutionally guaranteed the privileged position of the military in Japanese politics, the power and privilege of the military were still determined in relation to other state apparatuses, such as the Cabinet and Privy Council. Yui demonstrates how the military establishment took advantage of opportunities produced by external crisis, such as the Russo-Japanese War, the 1911 Revolution in China, and World War I, to steadily strengthen its political influence by integrating the people through the National Legion and Youth Association.  Although the Taisho Political Crisis of 1912 temporarily deterred the arbitrary intervention of the military into politics, Yui makes clear that in the post World War I period, the military establishment seized every opportunity to gain more power.

Although comprised of six separate essays, the book offers a consistent picture of the development of the military establishment as a vital political actor in prewar Japanese politics, and provides an essential prologue to the story of wartime Japanese militarism in the 1930s and early 1940s.  Even though the essays were originally published several decades ago, they remain vital works for understanding the politico-military history of modern Japan.  As military and political history have gone somewhat out of fashion, the freshness of Yui’s work will lead us to recognize again its importance and encourage historians to return to the subjects and approaches he helped to pioneer.

At the end of the book, the editor has appended an autobiographical sketch of the author.  This postscript is itself very interesting, as a source for the study of postwar Japanese historiography.  In also helps us to understand what motivated Yui to pursue the subject of Japanese militarism with such tenancy. As E.H. Carr said, “Before you study the history, study the historian.”

Assessment of the Social Functions and Vitality of the Yi Language from the Perspective of its Domains of Use (HU Suhua, Minzu University of China; HYI Visiting Scholar 2009-2010)

Taste of Luxury: Consumer society and the scholar-literati circle in the late Ming dynasty (品味奢華: 晚明的消費社會與士大夫),  by WU Jen-shu 巫仁恕.   Taipei: Academia Sinica, Lian jing chu ban shi ye you xian gong si, 2007 (台北市: 中央研究院, 聯經出版事業有限公司, 2007).

Reviewed by Sylvia Wun-sze Lee (Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; HYI Visiting Fellow, 2009-2010).

To date, many studies about society in the late Ming dynasty have discussed the fact that consumer culture and a consumer market existed particularly in the urban centers of Jiangnan (江南).  This book further elaborates this theme and investigates how the consumer culture and market influenced the scholar-literati circle by studying different social practices in everyday life.

The book consists of an introduction, six empirical chapters, and a conclusion.  The first chapter gives the reader a brief overview of the development of consumer culture in the Ming dynasty. In chapters two through six, the author studies particular social practices to illustrate how the scholar-literati circle reacted to the changes in consumer culture and market in the late Ming dynasty.  In chapter two, the author uses the example of the sedan-chair to illustrate how some consumption could be politicized, demonstrating the status and power of the consumer.  In chapter three, the author uses clothing and accessories as an example to illustrate fashion trends in the consumer market of the late Ming, challenging the arguments of Fernand Braudel and S.A.M. Adshead in regard to the development of consumer culture in China.  In chapters four and five, the author illustrates how the scholar-literati circle differentiated itself from the mass public with examples of travel and furniture.  The idea of distinction of social status in the Ming was discussed by Criag Clunas in his book Superfluous Things. Here the author extends and expands Clunas’ discussion of art objects to everyday practices.  Finally, the author suggests in chapter six that such consumer culture continued from the Ming to the Qing dynasty through the example of fine dining.

The author demonstrates his points with numerous textual and visual materials, providing a convincing picture of consumer culture in the late Ming dynasty with telling examples.

A Historical Outline of Daoist Rituals before the Tang Dynasty (Tangqian Daojiao yishi shigang 唐前道教儀式史綱), by Lü Pengzhi. (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Press, 2008, 314 pages)

Reviewed by GUO Wu, professor of the Institute of Religious Studies, Sichuan University; Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2007-08.

A Historical Outline of Daoist Rituals before the Tang Dynasty is a thoughtful scholarly book about the historical development of Daoist rituals before the Tang (A.D.618-907), written by Lü Pengzhi 呂鵬志, an associate professor in the Institute of Religious Studies, Sichuan University. The book is divided into 15 chapters, discussing circumstances and interrelationships of various Daoist Sects’ rituals in different periods, from the establishment of Daoism in the late Han (B.C.25-A.D. 220) through the Tang dynasty. The author believes that there were three traditional rituals in Daoism before the Tang, namely the ritual of the Way of Celestial Masters (tianshidao yishi 天師道儀式), the ritual of Fangshi (Fangshi yishi 方士儀式), and the ritual of Lingbao (Lingbao keyi 靈寶科儀). The ritual of the Way of Celestial Masters was founded in the late Han when this Daoist sect rose in Southwest China, then spread into North and South China in the Six Dynasties (A.D.220-589). The ritual of Fangshi was founded in the Warring States Period (B.C.475-B.C.221), then became an important component element of Daoism and spread widely across South China. The ritual of Lingbao was founded during the Eastern Jin dynasty (A.D.317-420). It was the result of an accommodation among the Way of Celestial Masters, Fangshi tradition, and Buddhist teachings, and could be found in the ancient Lingbao scriptures around the period of the Liu-Song dynasty劉宋（A.D.420-479. It became the most influential ritual in Daoism after the revision of the famous Daoist Lu Xiujing 陸修靜 (406-477).

The book describes the concrete situations and interrelationships of these various traditions. The author concludes that, after five centuries, many Daoist sects had adopted the ritual of Lingbao, and “Lingbao-nization” was the main trend of Daoist ritual development. With this general and crucial conclusion on the development of Daoist rituals before the Tang dynasty, based on secondary work in this field, the book also revises some existing academic viewpoints. The author also illuminates the relationship between Buddhism and Daoism at that time, from the new point of view of “ritual”. In his preface to the book, Professor John Lagerwey, Director of Research of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) claims that this book is “a work that the whole field of Daoist Studies will welcome as the first mature study of Daoist ritual in its foundational period”.

Minjungeseo Simineuro (From People to Citizens), by Choi Jang-jip.  Seoul: Dolbegae, 2009.

Reviewed by Prof. Park Tae Gyun, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University

Choi Jang-jip is the most prominent political scientist among progressive academics in Korea.  Since the 1990s, he has continuously suggested the kinds of politics needed to build a progressive Korean society.

As he wrote in the prologue to “From People to Citizens” the book is a collection of his lectures about Korean politics delivered in 2008. It is more like an essay than a scholarly monograph. But this essay is not inferior to more academic writings in terms of its profound analysis of the current Korean political and social situation.

In “Democracy after Democratization”, published in 2002, Choi criticized Korean politics for being only an empty frame, at a time when many other social scientists praised Korean democratization as a politically progressive breakthrough. In this book the author suggests a new critical perspective on generally accepted ideas in Korean society. He focuses on the past twenty years of experience of Korean politics rather than on theories of democracy or examples from other countries.

Choi acknowledges the benefit of conflict between progressives and conservatives for democratic advance, whereas many intellectuals emphasize the need to ‘communicate’ between them in order to resolve conflict. According to Choi, Korean conflicts can be divided into ‘reconcilable ones’ and ‘irreconcilable ones’, with the unification and nationalism issue belonging to the latter category. The problem is that this ‘irreconcilable conflict’ hinders the resolution of ‘reconcilable ones’.

Choi defines neo-liberalism as the product of politics as well as economics. The worsening bipolarization and poverty in Korea is the consequence not only of neo-liberalism, but also the lack of alternative policies. We should not irresponsibly criticize neo-liberalism, which is now generally taken for granted in Korean society, until we can offer superior policies to promote democratization. Such opinions provide us the insight to retrospect the post-democratization twenty years Korean society.

Choi’s analysis is a valuable retrospective on the past twenty years of Korean democratization.  Although one would have liked to see greater discussion of generational change—in terms of age, class, gender, internet use, etc.—this important book nevertheless provides a sharp analysis of contemporary Korean society and a blueprint for future investigation.

HYI is pleased to share some recent news about Professor Tu Weiming, former Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute (1996-2008).

Professor Tu was conferred an honorary degree by Macau University on November 7, 2009.  He was also elected to the Steering Committee of the Federation of International Philosophical Societies (FISP) in 2008 and played an instrumental role in persuading the Federation (which organizes the World Philosophical Congress once every five years) to formally accept Chinese as one of its official languages.

HYI sends our congratuations and best regards to Professor Tu!

Collectivism, Individualism and “the self” of the Vietnamese Today.  Edited by DO Long
and PHAN Thi Mai Huong. 316 pages, 2002, Hanoi: Chinh Tri Quoc Gia Publisher.

Reviewed by Hoang M. To Nga, Lecturer in Psychology, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City; Harvard-Yenching Institute Doctoral Scholar.

This book presents research findings on collectivism, individualism and the self in the Vietnamese context. Although these topics have long been a subject of interest to researchers in North America and Europe, they have engaged Vietnamese psychologists’ interest only recently. This book was the first study of collectivism, individualism and the self from a psychological perspective in the context of Vietnamese culture. Since personality and social psychology had previously been studied from a Marxist angle, this work marked a major innovation, opening the door to a much wider range of theories and findings.

The first part of the book reviews personality and social theories of the self from psychodynamic, Adlerian, existential, humanistic, cognitive, social learning and behavioral perspectives. From these perspectives, the authors discuss the concepts of collectivism and individualism in cultural psychology, the importance of studying collectivism and individualism in the Vietnamese context, and the methodology typically chosen to conduct research in this field. Collectivism and individualism are seen on a continuum in talking about the self, not as two polar opposites. The second part shifts the focus to the points of view on collectivism and individualism in the research studies on Vietnamese literature.

The next section presents research findings by psychologists at the Hanoi Academy of Psychology. Their findings show that despite cross cultural interactions, collectivism still prevails over individualism among Vietnamese as compared with other nationalities such as Americans, Japanese, and Koreans. However, the dimension of collectivism and individualism varies according to gender, situations and sub-cultures of geographical regions. Generally speaking, Vietnamese women are found to be more collectivist than men, but these two variables are complicated when it comes to different sub-cultures of the North and the South, rural and urban areas, the King (the main race of Vietnam) and other minority people. Moreover, collectivism and individualism in the Vietnamese value system differ substantially from behaviors in actual situations.

The book closes with practical recommendations for further study and suggests a rational view of collectivism and individualism as complementary dimensions in the same person, provided that each dimension is positively developed.

The principal limitation of the book lies in the process of sampling and generalizability of the study, which is also acknowledged by the authors. Nevertheless, the book is a very helpful reference for scholars in the field of psychology and related research domains.