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The focus is on the rise of Asian nationalism. Embittered by the failure of the victorious powers to dismantle their imperial empires in the Pacific, their peoples racked by poverty, famine and cultural ferment, Asia's leaders sought new strategies for change. Chinese writer Lu Xun and Japanese right-wing philosopher Kita Ikki are profiled as intellectuals who sought to resolve the conflict between the national character and international standing of their homelands. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, there was a national awakening in China. The factors responsible for this rise of nationalism were the ruthless economic exploitation of the country by the European imperialists. Besides this, the social, economic and political exploitation of the Chinese by the reigning Manchu dynasty in collaboration with the Chinese landlords and the warlords resulted in great poverty in China. This aggravated the nationalist spirit of the masses. In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion broke out, with the aim of overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and of expelling all foreigners from the soil of China. However this rebellion was ruthle