Call for Papers

The Cold War in Asia

A workshop organised by
Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Manchester (Liu Hong & Zheng Yangwen)
East Asian Languages and Civilisation, Harvard University (Michael Szonyi)
School of Humanities, Zhongshan University (Chen Chunsheng)

To be held on 1 – 2 November 2007 at
Zhongshan University, Guangzhou (Canton), China

The United States and Soviet Union carved out their respective spheres of influence at the end of the Second World War. The contest of these two global powers was a matter of ideological conflict, intermittent with arms race and economic warfare, rather than direct military confrontation. The invention of nuclear weapon made many believe that the arms race could escalate into another world war. This did not materialise and the contest ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
The study of the Cold War has flourished in the West as we can see from the works of John Gaddis and others. But scholars in the Asia region and around the world have just begun to explore its Asian variations as archives have slowly become available. The Cold War in Asia was different than in Europe because it became hot with real wars in Korea and Vietnam. As Chen Jian has argued, Asia, and specifically, China was at the centre of the Cold War. The Asian theatre was complex and dynamic as geopolitics and ideological differences were intertwined with historical links and cultural ties. Since Akira Iriye pioneered the field, too few scholars have explored the Cold War in Asia from Asian perspectives and more importantly the “soft” side of this global as well as regional conflict. The goal of this conference is to challenge the conventional wisdom on the Cold War and launch the study of the Cold War in Asia from an Asian perspective first with a conference that will include the following major themes:
1. The propaganda and print war, anti-communist and anti-imperialist
2. The ping pong and other styles of “soft” diplomacy
3. The social and material legacy, civilian mobilisation for example
4. The ideological war/alliance, the Bandung conference for example
5. Americanisation/Westernisation of Asian popular culture, movies for example
6. The continuing Cold War in Asia, continued American presence in the region

The organisers of the conference aim at publications in English with a major North American University Press and in Chinese with a major Chinese University Press. Inquiries and abstracts of no more than 250 words, plus 5 lines of biographical data, should be sent to: Miss Catriona Dobson: catriona.dobson@manchester.ac.uk no later than 15 April 2007. Selected paper givers will be notified by 1 June 2007.