• How was Henry Puyi's day-to-day life when he ruled the Manchukuo under Japanese in Tianjin? What kind of duties did he do? What kind of freedom was allowed him?

• A lot of Chinese migrated from Meixian to my country in 1930s, my grandfather included. My mom always said it was because a lot of people wanted to avoid 当兵 (dunno what the English term is), is it true or is there any other cause?

Sorry if my question is too far away from the permitted topics but I'm curious nonetheless. Thanks in advance!

Do western, professional historians specialized in modern Chinese history actually consult works by Chinese historians based in China, and if they do, to what extent?

Why does it seem like Taiwanese don't feel the same animosity towards Japanese as say the Chinese or Koreans? My family (Taiwanese) seem to have always said things like "even though the Japanese were strict and harsh, they were fair."

Also, how integrated was Taiwan into Japan at that time, economically and politically. Would the average Taiwanese person think of themselves as Japanese/would the average Japanese think of a Taiwanese person as a true Japanese?

Why did pan-East Asian nationalism decline? It appears to have been more common at the turn of the century (i.e. the 1900s) than today. Even An Jung-geun, the Korean who assassinated the former Prime Minister of Japan in 1909, was an advocate for a pan-East Asian monetary union and combined armed forces.

What was life like for a foreigner in Shanghai's International District from 1937-1941? Were they directly impacted by the war at all? Were there Chinese or Japanese actions taken against them? Were they encouraged to return to their home countries?

1. In China: a new History Fairbanks quotes a defector from the CCP as saying that Mao's strategy in WWII was to focus 70% of his efforts on building power bases, 20% on fighting the Nationalists, and 10% on fighting the Japanese. Does this claim hold up?

2. Why did the CCP move the capital back to Beijing? It was and still is a terrible location.

3. What were major differences between the actions and operational proceedings of the Eight Nations during the Boxer Rebellion? I have heard, for example, the American leaders tended to be less rapacious.

4. Do you think Cixo really murdered the Guangxu Emperor? If so, why do you think she did so?

5. There are significant elements that believe that the CCP reforms implemented after 1949 were responsible for the enormous economic progress of the 1950s. Others believe that it was merely a continuation of trends seen during the Nanjing Decade before they were interrupted by war. Do you believe that the KMT government was making the sort of real progress seen in the 1950s?

6. How did ethnic tensions play into the convulsions of the early twentieth century? For example, did ethnic minority groups tend to favor one or the other side in the civil wars?

What's the history behind the development of zaibatsu? Did they form as organically in the private sector then became coopted as vehicles of policy or did government policy explicitly facilitate their formation in the first place? What is the intellectual history behind the idea? Why did people think it was good to have an economy dominated by large conglomerates, and, to the extent possible, what do we know about their actual effects on the economy?

I have several questions (mostly on China in the '20s and '30s), so this might take a bit:

1. How widespread (outside of student and intellectual circles) were the ideas of the New Culture and May Fourth movements?

2. What allowed the Chinese Communist Party to grow so quickly in the '20s? Was it a result of the United Front with the KMT, or was it something else?

3. How important was the Chinese market for the foreign powers? It looks like the Chinese economy essentially collapsed during the warlord period, but it somehow remained a big consumer of imported goods. Was this just because of sheer population size, or what?

4. What allowed the KMT to be so successful in the Northern Expedition?

5. How on Earth were the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army able to gain so much autonomy and power over the Japanese government? Half the time, it looks like the military were the ones running the show.

6. How effective was the KMT's rule up until the Sino-Japanese war? On the one hand, it does look like there were genuine efforts to industrialize and modernize the army, but it seems that quite a few of the Warlords stuck around and stayed in power, and Chiang's rule seems dictatorial.

What is special about the May 4th movement exactly? As I understand it, it's a backlash against western betrayal at Versailles, but I don't quite understand why it has such cultural gravitas. Surely, after all the various defeats suffered since the first Opium War, educated folks understood that something was very seriously wrong with the country, right? What is so special about the 1919 movement? What differences did it have with reformist / revolutionary thoughts and movements that came before? Why did it take Versailles to instigate such a radical departure (if it indeed is one) ?

How did the late Qing and early republican government and military overcome the various dialect/language differences? If I was an aspiring foot soldier from Fujian or Guangdong would I have to take courses in Mandarin before joining the military?

How much did General Joe Stillwell's dislike of Chiang Kai-Shek influence the outcome of the Civil War? He seemed to really hate Chiang (calling him nicknames like "Peanut"), but would a theater commander with a more positive opinion have helped the KMT win, or were their institutional problems likely too much to prevent the CCP's victory?

Did the discontinuation of the imperial exams in China (and elsewhere, for that matter) have a noticeable effect on the quality of Literary Chinese writing thereafter? I know it was in general abandoned and replaced with vernacular writing, but in cases when people educated in post-exam East Asia did write in Literary Chinese, is there a noticeable difference in quality or style?

The Russo-Japanese war is sometimes cited as an example of the brutal effect of modern industry and weaponry upon warfare. How violent was the Russo-Japanese war?

What are some good books on the Japanese student protest movements during the early 20th century which eventually lead to the formation of the All-Japan Federation of Students' Self-Governing Associations and widespread violent conflict between students and police in the latter 20th century?

Can I just ask each of the panelists to give a book list that would be a good "101" into thier respective areas of studies? Also let me state my profound admaration and gratitude for all you posters of knowledge. I have learned more in the past year of lurking on this subreddit than I ever did in public school. You guys rock!

How does Japanese feels about the independance of their ex-colony after the war?

If it is possible, I want to ask about Konfrontasi. This video said that Indonesia reason to start the low intensity war is more about pumping nationalism rather than gaining new territory. What is your thought about that and konfrontasi in general.

Would you consider Ho Chi Minh more of a nationalist or a dedicated Communist? Or did he evolve his philosophy over time?

What led to the cooling of German-Japanese relations in the beginning of the 20th century, culminating in the Japanese entry into the Entente? Our two countries had had largely friendly relations up to that time, the Japanese even adapting our civil law (BGB), if I understand it correctly. Did Wilhelm II's chauvinistic rhetoric ("Gelbe Gefahr", the Yellow Peril) have much impact (another thing that interests me, how was that received in Japan and China at the time?), or was it mainly power politics?

To what extent after Sino-Japanese war was the Qing reform movement doomed to failure? In a number of the narratives of I have read, the defeat created the impetus to finally overthrow the Qing. Were all attempts at reform, after 1895 merely delaying the inevitable?

Did the idea of a rural "village" as an intermediary between the family farm unit and the market exchange hub of town/city still exist in early 20th century China? Or was there now only the hub and the family farm? Or was the rural economic structure dynamic something completely different?

If possible, can you compare with the situation now, or if too recent, at least post-cultural revolution?

Have any of the Austronesian languages left a substrate in the Sinitic languages of Taiwan? If so, what does this substrate tell us about culture, history and influence in the island?

How much did American policy such as the arms embargo contribute to the loss of the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War?

Japan stands out in this period as the most rapidly modernising state, with the power to challenge Western nations. How did other countries in the region view Japan? To what extent did they see a difference between Japanese and European imperialism?

To take a specific example, what was the reaction to Japan's victory over Russia in 1905?

When Japan took over Korea after the Russo-Japanese War, I never hear anything about it. What was the conquest and subsequent occupation like? Was there a resistance? How brutal were the Japanese? Was Korea treated as a province or as an extension of Japan?

Thanks! :)

What is national language policy and where and how was it developed and used?

What is warlordism?

Maybe it's a little outside of the discussion dates, but can you talk about the lead-up to the Malayan Emergency, the causes of the conflict, what British policy in Malaya was prior to the war, how the Japanese occupation changed the situation, and the impact (if any) of the Chinese Civil War?

How much influence does the work of Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, or Mozi have on modern China? How Confucian are modern Japan and Korea?

I'm not sure if this is a little beyond the period we're considering, but I've always wondered: how exactly did Emperor Meiji centralize authority and transform Japan from a feudal state to a world power in 40 years?

How much effective political power did the Meiji Emperor wield? Was he a puppet of the Genro?