Reasons for the Study of Asia

1) Magnitude
2) Population
Populous countries imply important
economic, political and demographic
considerations
3) Racial, linguistic and social complexity
Depth and variety of its cultural history
Indic and Sinic culture
4) Tradition
Engrained in philosophies and religion

Problems in Asian Studies/ Writing of Asian

History

1) Magnitude
It is hard to put into a single history a vast
continent
2) Perceptions
Cultural gaps between the East and the West
Asians look at Westerners as materialistic,
imperialistic, expansionistic and ungenerous
while Asians regard themselves as spiritual
in nature and inheritors of ancient traditions
 (which they are proud of) therefore the
Westerners think that Asians are very
confined and restricted (or not open-minded)
3) Coexistence of the old and the new
To what extent has modernization during the
past century affected traditional values?
Urban-rural great divide
4) Colonialism and Power Relations
Who writes our History?
Whose interest is being forwarded?

Comments on Sources of Asian History

1) The Chinese have an exhaustive literate

tradition extending over 3500 years. The
characters they use today can be traced back to
analogous forms in use around 1500 BC. Over
the centuries, private and official Chinese
historians wrote voluminously. Basic works of
history, literature and philosophy were copied
and recopied to be transmitted sown through the
ages. A sense of history preoccupied the Chinese
intellectuals who took pride in their long
continuous heritage.
2) 300-400 AD, the Japanese and Koreans were
borrowing Chinese script therefore began their
own literate traditions.
3) India had works of history dating from 2000
BC using Sanskrit. It reconstructed some aspects
of ancient life using old hymns, epics,
genealogies of royal families, poetry and the
like.

4) In SEA, indigenous written sources came

much later with the arrival of Indic traditions.
900 AD-1000 AD, local chroniclers intermingled
fact and fiction in their accounts of Burmese,
Thai and Malaysian life.

5) Asian folklore and legends

6) Writing of Asian travelers like traders and

their diaries, Buddhist pilgrims, etc.

7) Islamic historians

8) Bible and the Quran

9) European traders, missionaries and writers

10) The colonial powers kings orders and
decrees, official documents, etc.

11) Recently, native nationalistic writers with

anti-colonial sentiments and trying to bring back
the old glory years.

Topography of Asia

Boundaries
North Arctic Ocean
East Bering Strait and the Pacific Ocean
South Indian Ocean
Southwest Red and Mediterranean Sea
West Ural Mountain Range

45 million sq. km. (1/3 of the worlds land mass)

E-W (8500 km)