• Toshihide Takayanagi Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

• Rieko Kage Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Asian nations that wished to adopt Western thought and technology, including Japan, sent many students to Europe and the United States. Japan was so successful in this endeavor that, after the Russo-Japanese War, many Asian nations that admired its rapid modernization sent students to Japan. Of these, China was the nation that sent the largest number of students (thought to total tens of thousands by 1945). What did Chinese students learn in Japan, and what impact did they have on their home country? This presentation will examine the role played by these students once they returned to China, focusing on their legacy that remains today. Specifically, it will focus on how Western thought such as communism was brought back to China via Japan, creating the new academic field of Japan Studies along the way.

Toshihide Takayanagi is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, specializing in modern Chinese history and Sino-Japanese relations. His research interests include Japan Studies in modern China, as well as differences in how Japan and China perceive history.