In today’s world characterized by freedom of movement and the uninhibited flow of ideas, there are unparalleled opportunities, not least in a scholarly context, to explore the rich diversity of East Asia. Essential to maximising such possibilities is an in-depth understanding of the trans-cultural networks that have shaped this region’s past. These networks have impacted on all levels of human activity, from language, travel, trade and religion to technology, medicine and art.
Much of this activity has until recently been masked by state-imposed borders and ideologies, but now a transnational perspective can help to bring into view the seminal roles played by key urban centres and hinterlands as hubs of such wider cultural networks - revealing their features, commonalities and new layers of contested meaning.
This series begins with a spotlight on the ancient port of Hakata (present-day Fukuoka), located on the edge of Japan, but once a centre of maritime trade in East Asia. The aim, therefore, is to create a platform to demonstrate how cultures and identities across East Asia have evolved and interacted over time, challenging many of the assumptions that have conditioned and confined our outlook and understanding in the past.
Much of this activity has until recently been masked by state-imposed borders and ideologies, but now a transnational perspective can help to bring into view the seminal roles played by key urban centres and hinterlands as hubs of such wider cultural networks - revealing their features, commonalities and new layers of contested meaning.
This series begins with a spotlight on the ancient port of Hakata (present-day Fukuoka), located on the edge of Japan, but once a centre of maritime trade in East Asia. The aim, therefore, is to create a platform to demonstrate how cultures and identities across East Asia have evolved and interacted over time, challenging many of the assumptions that have conditioned and confined our outlook and understanding in the past.
