Asian – Manchester Historian

The liberation of Korea from its 1910 annexation by the Japanese Empire is officially recognised as having taken place in 1945 upon Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces of the Second World War. However, Korean civilian activism against the regime had a long-standing history, culminating in the 1919 March 1st Independence Movement, which saw more than a thousand individual demonstrations nationwide.

Dubbed ‘the bloodiest war in history’, the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) shook China, its scars both present and still healing today. In 1843, Hong Xiuquan was converted to Protestantism by Western missionaries and founded a God-worshipping society.

In the West, and indeed most other places, we often perceive rebellion as an act which aims to overthrow or change the ruling system. However, this conception may be altogether unhelpful, or at least misleading, when analysing Chinese history. For most of Chinese history, the act of rebellion was internalised in the overarching dynastic system.

Once home to the flourishing Indus Valley Civilisation and encompassing one of the most fertile regions on Earth, Punjab in South Asia is home to over 140 million people. Punjabis also make up one of the largest ethnic groups in the world and have large diaspora communities in Britain, the USA and Canada. Punjab has seen the armies of Alexander the Great, Ghaznavid garrisons, Mughal militaries and the British Raj. It is this complex history that has created a distinct Punjabi culture: it is a fusion of Indian, Arab and Persian traditions and religions.

Since the founding of New China on 1st October 1949, the social status of women in Chinese society has changed dramatically, with most women gradually moving from domestic spaces to the public spaces and gaining more rights and privileges themselves. However, many studies have also pointed out that the image of public womanhood in the media during this period was influenced by political motives and women were not yet free from feudalism.