ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the difficulties faced by ‘East Asians’ themselves in conceptualising ‘East Asia’. It discusses various possible visions of the ‘East Asian’ identity, reasons why consensus over regional identity and history has proved so elusive and how this lack of consensus has influenced recent attempts to devise a common history textbook for Korea, Japan and China. The author considers the political backgrounds to inner-East Asian exchanges on history, focusing on the different historical experiences which frame perceptions in these societies. Particular attention is devoted to analysing Chinese ambivalence regarding the concept of an integrated ‘East Asia’, and to discussing what conditions would need to be fulfilled in order to bridge the gulf dividing Chinese, Korean and Japanese historical consciousness, and to render consensus over these countries’ common history achievable.
