ABSTRACT
In this chapter I look at the impact of colonialist and nationalist agendas on the selection and interpretation of East Asia’s cultural heritage, concentrating on the present day and centred around the role of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC), but framing this in the context of other examples in the region, particularly Japan and Korea. I will pay special attention to the multiple narratives of the Silk Roads used to further these agendas, especially those articulated around the PRC’s ‘Belt Road Initiative’ (BRI). I argue that, in the case of ‘the Silk Roads’, the narratives in this region are not so concerned with asserting a pan-Asian identity in reaction to a ‘European’ notion, but rather attempts to assert distinct identities within Asia both in reaction to the Sino-centric viewpoint developed by the PRC and by their own recent histories.
