British Images of Asia in the Turn of the Century: Britannica, Reviews, Consular Reports <Symposium>

The purpose of this paper is to clarify British images of Asia, especially China and Japan in the turning point from 19th century to 20th century by using following documents; Britannica, Reviews, Consular Reports. In this paper, we focus on the industrialization of China and Japan. The images of Asia in these times were represented by "yellow peril". Economically it meant that the industrialization in Asia gave the serious threat to Western nations. As for as the data used in this paper are concerned, the reaction in Britain to the "yellow peril" wasn't conspicious. For Britain, the biggest problem was the maintenance and the defence of the empire. In this case, the relations with Europian countries were the most important. Relations with Asia which contained "yellow peril" were used to sanction the international situation and the policy of Britain, which reflected the crisis of the empire. Certainly the "yellow peril" had influence to some extent. But it was because of the fantastic image of China which emphasized its latent power combined with the real threatening power, that is Japan