University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Anxious Dreams of Imperial Might in the City of Changchun

conference contribution
posted on 2023-05-24, 11:13 authored by Barbara HartleyBarbara Hartley
Established as the capital of the puppet state of Manchukuo and operated under the auspices of an administration obsessed with creating a model modern city that would convey the brilliance of the Japanese Imperial project to friend and foe alike, the north-eastern Chinese city of Changchun was the site of an intensive building program between late 1932 and the Japanese defeat in 1945. Japanese discourse on the puppet state and its capital—both uptopic and dystopic—repeatedly invokes tropes of ‗dream‘ and ‗fantasy.‘ Drawing on Freud‘s Interpretation of Dreams, this paper will ‗read‘ the architecture of the Japanese administrative buildings of Changchun as an attempt to give ‗wish fulfilment‘ to an imperial longing for ascendency and also as a mark of Japan‘s deep anxieties regarding its place as the ‗Other‘ in the global order. Particular emphasis will be given to the so-called ‗Eight Great Buildings,‘ the often chaotic architectural styles of which speak to a paradoxical alignment in the imperial space of the heterotopic and the hegemonic.

History

Publication title

ASAA Knowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century

Editors

ASAA

Pagination

95

Department/School

School of Humanities

Publisher

ASAA

Place of publication

Sydney

Event title

Asian Studies Association of Australia 19th Biennial Conference

Event Venue

Sydney

Date of Event (Start Date)

2012-07-01

Date of Event (End Date)

2012-07-01

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC