This book examines, discusses, and questions the various remnants and legacies of colonialism in post-colonial Asia today through the interdisciplinary concept and lens of ‘heritage’. It shows that although ‘colonial Asia’ and ‘heritage’ both appear to share the category of ‘the past’, they are both embedded and reoccur in and for the present, whether it be through narratives, oral legacies, memories, architecture, or artefacts. While varying in degrees and impacts, colonialism in Asia has had significant, lasting, and deep influences on present-day Asia, and beyond. This book focuses on both the tangible and intangible legacies and lasting influences by exploring which parts have been intentionally preserved, commemorated, romanticised, promoted, fabricated, ignored, blurred, contested, tabooed, or politicised and for what purpose. Ultimately, this book is interested in underpinning which parts of Asia’s colonial past have been selected and presented as ‘heritage’ in the present day, and which parts are being used or researched in the present for political, economic, or academic purposes. It is relevant to researchers across the disciplinary spectrum of Asian studies.

Minjae Zoh is a research professor at Seoul National University Asia Centre. Her research examines the shifting heritage discourse and the socio-political factors that affect how heritage is managed and communicated. She is the author of The Impacts of Dictatorship on Heritage Management (Vernon Press, 2020), The Story of UNESCO World Heritage through Three Keywords: War, Cooperation, and Industry (Tongdokwon, 2021), and the co-editor of Asia’s Heritage Trend: Examining Asia’s Present through Its Past (Routledge, 2023).