Chinese Coins, Asian Muslims, and Japanese Agents: The Trans-Asian Networks to Modern Nationalism

A Global history perspective  brings light to transnational inter-connections between and sometimes  beyond inter-religious/ethnic/lingual  communal histories within a historic spatial and temporal setting. This paper critiques "Civilizations" perspective, on the contrary, the
"civilization" approach views cultures as sealed units of analysis which distorts the historical experiences of  inter-regional transnationality.  Whether ancient or modern, oceanic and land routes of communication along the Eurasian  Silk Road as a site provided a geographic setting with predictable routes of travel and emigration for economic, social, religious, and as we approach the “modern” era, for  political purposes of modernist debates and nationalist movements.  The paper will analyze two historical events which occurred in different conjunctures: the first is the fifteenth century case of  Zheng He expeditions; the second is the twentieth century political and economic inter-communal dynamics along with Japanese strategic links.  Its asserts the enduring nature of these TranAsian linkages. The same geo-political setting consequently constitutes the global map in the mind of Japanese agents, the actors of  Japan as a global power player in  the  game of imperialism via a collaborative scheme with Asian Muslim nationalisms. Here, the trans-Asian networks of modern nationalism will be traced through  the history of  an émigré Turkestani (Uigur) community from Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) roughly from  the time of Zheng He to the twentieth century in South Anatolia. Through local records and that of the Japanese  archives the paper discusses the economic, religious, and political transitions of modern nationalism in Asia as seen in this community  along this trans-Asian “highway” and its inter-laced history with Japanese geo-political intelligence strategies for empire.