Cultural Blending/Echoing History
No, this is not OK, not because of the level of cultural blending, but because it echoes a very painful part of Chinese history (and, to be honest, Asian history) that is still considered very recent.
Japan did in fact invade China, and it’s something that still has repercussions to this day. Your omission of that historical invasion in your story is something I would find dismissive and callous, despite your countries being fictional.
I strongly suggest you reconsider this. Is there any reason why the emperor’s historical role has to originate from Japan, despite being in a Chinese-coded country? Especially if you’re not planning to explain this in your story? At best, this is going to look like you didn’t do your research. China had their own emperors, and a great cultural history behind them, so I would look at that instead.
–mod Jess
If you cannot explain a problematic set-up in your narrative, you do not do that problematic set-up. If you cannot explain it, you’re presenting it for your own personal enjoyment and potential monetary gain, and you’re also someone who wouldn’t be affected by that problematic set-up if it happened in the real world and thus don’t care about the repercussions about it being read and assimilated into the way people think or react to those situations.
-Mod Kaye
At WWC, we often resist answering “Is this okay?” with a simple “Yes” or “No” because we truly can’t rubber-stamp projects. We have no idea how this will actually play out in your work; we can only give you our perspective based on what you’ve told us. My instinct here, particularly with a Japanese emperor in a Chinese-coded country is “Absolutely not okay.”
First, I think you need to ask yourself why you feel the need to bring in influences from other cultures. I’m not saying cultures don’t evolve in real life, or that they are perfect the way they are, but a culture’s history can be immense, particularly in areas like East Asia or Northeast Asia. So, there are a lot of different things you can choose from that are still respectful to a culture. Remember, even if you’re pulling from a historical period of a specific country or culture, those people still exist today. Please keep in mind that part of writing diversity is to support the people you’re writing about.
Please don’t pull in influences from other cultures because it’s “easier” or “more interesting,” because that basically implies a lack of respect or understanding for the culture you’re writing about. Think about your motivations here.
As for a Japanese emperor in a Chinese-coded country, this is really, really problematic.
Japan’s current PM (Shinzo Abe) as well as the political right, still deny their actions during WWII, and the impact of Japanese Imperialism. They still refuse to admit to how Japanese imperialism brutalized and oppressed. Shinzo Abe recently made a speech about how the atrocities Japan committed were in the interest of keeping Asia safe from Western invaders. They invaded Korea, China, the Philippines and so on to “prevent” the Allies from “invading” Asia. Many politicians in Japan still refuse to own up to what Japan did.
Look up comfort women. Look up the Rape of Nanking. Look up the Annexation of Korea. Do you know how many countries Japan occupied during its regime?? Did you know that Japan still denies the existence of comfort women, and instead choose to point the finger at those women and say they were women of loose morals rather than rape and assault victims during a brutal regime?
I can’t speak for anyone else, particularly Chinese people and Chinese diaspora, but I can say that I’m descended from Koreans who resisted (and were severely punished) for their efforts in resisting Japanese occupation. That’s my history. Those are my ancestors. So if you wrote a story where there was a Japanese emperor of Korea, I would be more than just offended.
If you’re going to write about something that’s relevant and painful to people, side with the marginalized. Do it in support of those who were and are oppressed, in ways they find respectful and meaningful. That can be hard! Sometimes an author will think they’re being respectful or supportive only to find that they’ve been silencing or ignoring the voices of the very groups they say they’re speaking in support of.
If you don’t want to do that in your work, don’t write about things you don’t understand or don’t want to get into. It’s as simple as that. Whether you want to open that can of worms or not is solely up to you. If you’re going to do it, do it right. And finding ways that are respectful and supportive is something you’re going to have to struggle through as a writer. Find good betas, read more works or watch movies by Asian creators (not only Asian American but Asian) who write in fantasy settings in Asia.
As an author, you can absolutely find ways to allude to your setting’s history. Finding ways to put in what’s necessary (and what isn’t!) is part of the work of writing, right? I would say that making sure your work doesn’t continue to support past oppression is a pretty important thing to do. Hope that helps!
~mod Stella
Also I think there’s such a huge difference between a genuine cultural blending and just cherry picking. Like in my own (Asian-based) fantasy, my character’s region is genuinely at the intersect between multiple countries, namely my India-analogue (Hindu based), Persian/Arabic empire that’s recently conquered the place (Mughal, with Islam removed), a Mongolia-analogue, and a Tibet-analogue (the 1600s empire, so the region is much larger than modern day), therefore there is cultural sharing everywhere because that is what happens at borders (the region’s real life equivalent is the Kashmir valley). So my character does a Tibetan sand medallion to relax and her best friend is a Mongolian-Indian mixed warrior while her choice of clothing includes saris and the market has gods from regions miles away because the empire insists. This is literally me sitting down and going “okay, in this historical time period, here are where places intersected, and here are common trading partners, and here’s what is likely to be shared” along with “here is what I’ve had to modify to fit the fantasy world, how will that change things?”
Blending— where you think about what you’re doing— is alright. When you look at borders and power plays and diffusion. Taking each culture as its own unique whole and placing them beside each other to see what’s likely to cross over. Cherry picking, on the other hand, where you take roles and attitudes from different empires and merge them together haphazardly, is very much not.
–mod Lesya
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