Writing the war in Asia: a documentary history - website

What we might term Asia?s ?Great War? began in earnest with Japan?s invasion of China in 1937 (although the roots of the carnage went back to 1931 and perhaps earlier). What followed was the most intense, complex and widespread conflict the region had thus far experienced ? the ultimate consequences of which would transform the world forever. Taking a pan-Asian perspective, this international research partnership seeks to recover the wartime voices and experiences of those involved in this conflict: soldiers and civilians; men, women and children; Asians, Eurasians and Europeans; correspondents, authors, propagandists and artists. It makes available in English translation a selection of primary sources with expert commentary that will enable a regional and comparative appreciation of the social traumas and transformations that Asia?s ?Great War? generated. This project also examines this war?s historical role as a motor of cultural production and circulation, both during the conflict and in the decades since. It looks at the regional circuits of people, ideas, memories and practices that the war generated, all of which have exerted a powerful influence on the formation of Asian identities.