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Pan-Asianism (also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism) is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian people peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asianism have been proposed, particularly from East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The motive for the movement was in opposition to the values of Western imperialism and colonialism, and that Asian values were superior to European values.
The concept of Asianism in Japan and China has changed during the early 20th century from a foreign-imposed and negatively received, to a self-referential and embraced concept, according to historian Torsten Weber.
Originally, Japanese Pan-Asianism believed that Asians shared a common heritage and must therefore collaborate in defeating their Western colonial masters. However, Japanese Asianism mostly focused on East Asian territories, with occasional references to South East Asia and West Asia.
The first lasting pan-Asianist organisation started in Japan. In 1877, inspired by Ōkubo Toshimichi's promise to Chinese premier Li Hongzhang to promote Chinese-language schools in Japan as a channel of mutual understanding, a Pan-Asianist body was established in Japan known as Shin'akai (Promoting Asia Society), followed by the more successful Kōakai (Raising Asia Society) in 1880. Both focused on the promotion of mutual understanding through providing language education, setting up schools in Japan for teaching Chinese and Korean languages, as well as branches in Korean and Chinese cities. China's envoys to Japan and Korean reformers held membership, and even two diplomats from the Ottoman Empire. The Society used Classical Chinese as the common language of East Asian Pan-Asianists. Japanese Pan-Asianism before 1895 was characterized by an egalitarian view on relations between China, Korea and Japan; in order to avoid the accusation that Japan sought to 'lead' Asia, the Kōakai changed its name to the "Asia Association." (2025). 9781442205987, Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442205987
Pan-Asianist ideologues included Tokichi Tarui (1850–1922) who argued for equal Japan-Korea unionization for cooperative defence against the European powers,Tarui, Tokichi (1893) Daito Gappo-ron and Kentaro Oi (1843–1922) who attempted to push social reforms in Korea and establish a constitutional government in Japan. Pan-Asian thought in Japan was further popularized following the defeat of Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). This sparked interest from Indian poets Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo and Chinese politician Sun Yat-sen.
The growing official interest in broader Asian concerns was shown in the establishment of facilities for Indian Studies. In 1899, Tokyo Imperial University set up a chair in Sanskrit and Kawi language, with a further chair in comparative religion being set up in 1903. In this environment, a number of Indian came to Japan in the early twentieth century, founding the Oriental Youngmen's Association in 1900. Their anti-United Kingdom political activity caused consternation to the Indian Government, following a report in the London The Spectator.
Okakura Kakuzō, a scholar and art critic, also praised the superiority of Asian values upon Japanese victory of the Russo-Japanese War:
The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world, and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out the means, not the end, of life. Okakura, Tenshin (1904) Ideal of the East
In this, Kakuzō was utilising the Japanese concept of sangoku, which existed in Japanese culture before the concept of Asia became popularised. Sangoku literally means the "three countries": Honshu (the largest island of Japan), Tang dynasty (China) and Tenjiku (India). (2025). 9780804767644, Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804767644
However, Japanese Pan-Asianism evolved into a more nationalist ideology that prioritized Japan's interests. This was evident by the growth of secret societies such as Black Ocean Society and the Black Dragon Society, which committed criminal activities to ensure the success of Japanese expansionism. Exceptionally, Ryōhei Uchida (1874–1937), who was a member of the Black Dragon Society, was a Japan-Korea unionist and supported Filipino and Chinese revolutions. In addition, Asian territories were seen as reservoirs of economic resources and outlets for the Emperor's "glory" to be displayed. These were evident in government policies such as the Hakkō ichiu and Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere agendas.Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan p 11 Even Kakuzō was critical of Japan's expansionism after the Russo-Japanese War, viewing it as no different than Western expansionism. He expected other Asians to call them "embodiments of the White Disaster".
Historian Torsten Weber compares these contradictions to the Monroe Doctrine, which opposed European imperialism to foster the unimpeded growth of American imperialism.
From a Chinese perspective, Japanese Pan-Asianism was interpreted as a competing ideology to Sinocentrism as well as rationalization of Japanese imperialism (cf. Twenty-One Demands). Nonetheless, Chinese Pan-Asianism emerged and was equally as self-centered as its Japanese counterpart. Its success was limited by China's political instability and weak international status.
Since the 2000s, Chinese scholars have a more nuanced view of Pan-Asianism, especially those of the Japanese variety. Historian Wang Ping proposed an evaluation system based on chronology: co-operative Classical Asianism (until 1898), expansive Greater Asianism (until 1928), and the invasive Japanese ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ (until 1945).
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek stated that China has been following pan-Asianism for over a century. He regarded Chinese thinker Wang Hui as the main promoter of a communist pan-Asianism. Wang Hui advocated that if social democracy is grounded in Asian civilizational traditions, it renders it possible to avoid the Western type of multi-party democracy and enact a social order with much stronger people's participation.
The 1951 founding of the Asian Games, now the second-largest sporting event behind the Olympic Games, was partially inspired by a newly independent India's vision for Asian solidarity and the emergence of the post-colonial world order. However, Indian pan-Asianism faded away after the fallout of the 1962 India-China War.
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