Gateways to Globalisation makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the emerging East Asian regional system of financial centres within the broader global context and how they interact within the global circuits of finance. In particular, it focuses on the emergence of the financial centres of Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore and the attempts by both national governments and the private sector to position them so that they become more competitive in the global and regional context. The volume shows much historical sensitivity showing that while the increase in the importance of these financial centres is principally post 1945, their emergence has been aided by the deep historical roots that go back several centuries. The book will be of great value in the interpretation of the role of East Asia in what many commentators have called the ''Asian Century''.
- Terry McGee, The University of British Columbia, Canada

Asia's trading and financial hubs have become global cities which frequently have more in common and closer linkages with each other than with their corresponding hinterlands. As this book expounds, these global cities illustrate to what extent world trends deeply penetrate and permeate the national territorial interiors and processes that were otherwise presumed to be controlled by the State.

Gateways to Globalisationis soundly based on accurate and extensive research (including perspectives from historians, economists, geographers and sociologists) from China, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, in order to grasp the regional character of trade and finance, beyond national borders and traditional academic frameworks. The book documents that today, major urban centers such as Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai situated on the periphery of the maritime corridor of East Asia, form a system characterized by the intensity of their economic linkages and integration into the world economy. Since the mid-1980s, these major Asian cities have become the worldwide-oriented centers for production, trade, finance and research. This collective effort offers, in addition to its regional framework, up-to-date information that strengthens an original trans-disciplinary analysis of a region and its economic characteristics, which will be of interest to readers within academia and beyond.

This well-detailed and thorough work will be of interest to academics and post-graduates students in economics, geography, finance, history, regional studies and Asian studies, as well as those who have a general interest in globalization.

Contributors include:L. Bastide, P. Carioti, P. Daniels, D. Du, A. Ekman, F. Gipouloux, R. Hisasue, Y. Hu, C. Hung, J. Meng, P. Miege, C. Smith, Y.-W. Sung, J. Wang, X. Xu, Z.Yuan, L. Zhang, S. Zhao