This book investigates public claims for the protection of weak groups and interests in Japan and China from the nineteenth century to the present day. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it engages with ongoing global debates whilst also providing an historically informed analysis of contemporary issues.

1. Introduction, Iwo Amelung, Moritz Bälz, Heike Holbig, Matthias Schumann and Cornelia Storz Part I: Historical and Conceptual Background Studies 2. Protecting the Weak or Weeding out the Unfit? Disaster Relief, Animal Protection, and the Changing Evaluation of Social Darwinism in Japan and China, Matthias Schumann 3. Processes of Appropriation: Welfare and Cultural Heritage in East Asia, Iwo Amelung 4. Shifting Relations between State and Social Actors: Ambiguous Strategies of Protecting the Weak in Japan and China, Heike Holbig and Moritz Bälz 5 Theories on Institutional Change: An Application to the Dynamics of "Protecting the Weak", Cornelia Storz and Heike Holbig Part II: Comparative Studies of Empirical Cases in Contemporary Japan and China 6. From Natural Hazard to Man-Made Disaster: The Protection of Disaster Victims in China and Japan, Elisa Hörhager andJulius Weitzdörfer 7. Employee Well-being in China and Japan: A Media Content Analysis, Markus Heckel, Stefan Hüppe and Na Zou 8. Animal Protection in China and Japan: The Ambiguous Status of Companion Animals in Rapidly Changing Societies, Kazushige Doi & Jean-Baptiste Pettier 9. Protecting the Weak? Tracing UNESCO's Influence on Intangible Cultural Heritage Regimes in Japan and China, Christina Maags and IoanTrifu Part III: Conclusions 10. Weak v Strong: Ambiguities of Protection, Iwo Amelung, Moritz Bälz, Heike Holbig, Matthias Schumann and Cornelia Storz