German colonialism in China: A literary and cultural study

In this study, texts written about the German colony of Kiautschou, China (1897--1914) are read against the backdrop of sociocultural phenomena unique to the German Second Empire. Particular attention is given to changes in social stratification and how these alterations are visible in the colonial texts about the East Asian colony. Conversely, the way in which Kiautschou was a manifest component in the developing sense of German identity during the Second Empire is emphasized, especially in terms of how texts about this colony both reflect and effect transformation in the period sense of Germanness. In addition, reading these texts with these elements in mind reveals Second Empire Germanness to be a hybrid product of its times, one vitally connected to how it represents and interacts with the Chinese in the Far East. Departing from the premise that the colonial encounter uniquely reveals the intimate nature of defining identity, Kiautschou colonial texts are read in terms of their style and genre with sociohistorical factors in mind.