I am interested about the development of nationalism in East Asia, specifically China, but am totally unfamiliar with non-European nationalism. Is it fair to categorize the nationalism of China as existing prior to the introduction of a European-style nationalism or do most historians find that nationalism as a phenomenon was 'developed' in 18th century Europe and then spread outwards in its forms by cultural contact?
Specifically, I am interested in the use of Chinese nationalism as an anti-colonial tool. Is it safe to describe Chinese nationalism as something existing prior to contact with Europeans and the challenge to China's view of itself as a center of power in East Asia, with Chinese nationalism adapting to combat this new threat?
Or is Chinese nationalism something more like German nationalism, which really gained impetus as a result of the Napoleonic occupation of German territories. That is, was Chinese nationalism as a modern force largely a reaction to and a result of European contact?
I think your focus on colonialism as an anti [European] colonial tool is a bit limiting, especially since you're looking for sources of nationalism prior to contact [which is when? Jesuits were an important part of Imperial courts since the 17th century].
One episode that Europeans at one point interpreted at first as a kind of pro-European Chinese nationalism was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864), though eventually they joined the war to defeat them. From 1644 to 1911, China was a region subject to the Qing dynasty, who originated among the Manchu people from north of the Great Wall, outside the traditional Chinese cultural sphere. As a result, there was widespread resistance to the 'barbarians', especially when they imposed cultural practices that ran contrary to Chinese tradition. The most resented of these practices was the cutting of one's forehead hair; traditionally, men wore their hair long and in topknots as a sign of virility and gratitude for the body their parents had given them. It was remarked by one Jesuit during the Qing conquest that more Chinese died for their hair than for the Emperor. Refusing to shave their foreheads like loyal subjects earned the Taiping the nickname 'longhairs', and it became a symbol of rebellion against the Emperor. When the Taiping attempted to lead China in secession from the Qing empire, the strongest appeal they had was resentment by the people of their barbarian rulers; when they take cities in the early stages of the civil war, the Manchu population (who usually had a separate quarter wherever there were substantial numbers) is usually massacred, or else commit suicide en mass. The reason I use the word secession is this: Hong Rengan at least did not lay claim to all the lands held by the Qing, which included much of Central Asia, Mongolia, and Manchuria. The Taiping Kingdom he envisioned would be coterminous with the borders of Chinese civilization, ending at the Great Wall in the north and Tibet and the Central Asian steppe in the west.
It's unlikely that this brand of Chinese nationalism was adopted from Europe; the founder of the Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan, did not have extensive contact with Europeans like his cousin, Hong Rengan did, and in both of their cases, the contact was limited to Christian texts and missionaries, neither of which really stoke the flames of homespun Chinese nationalism, and certainly didn't result in nationalist anti-colonialism. Hong Rengan, as leader of the civil government and commander-in-chief under his cousin, wanted to grant the Europeans unrestricted freedom of travel and trade across the empire, and to hire western experts to help China transition to a modern industrial power; he wrote at length about the possibilities of steamships, railroads, modern banking and insurance companies, and even took a liking to local democracy, while viciously opposing the venal foreign Manchus who held China in their clutches. People tend to wring their hands over precise definitions in the case of nationalism, but the Taiping provided a potent antecedent for future nationalist revolutionaries, including, ironically, anti colonial nationalists. The British at the time also viewed the Taiping as the 'National Party' of China, standing up to their foreign Tartar overlords in the name of a Chinese nation.