Chapter 17 The East Asian World

Contact with the West

• Increased contact with the west

• China and Japan attempted to resist encroachment using different means and with differing levels of success

Ming Dynasty

• By 1368, the Ming Dynasty booted out the last Mongol rulers in China and restored power over the empire to the native Chinese.

• The Ming Dynasty ruled until 1644 and reestablished the following:– a strong centralized government based on traditional

Confucian principals– reinstated the civil service examination, – removed the Mongol influence by reinvigorating

Chinese culture.

 Ming Interactions

• Emperor Yongle sponsors voyages in the early 1400’s–The voyages led by Zeng

He, a Chinese navigator sailed throughout S.E Asia and the Indian Ocean, all the way to East Africa, a century before the Europeans did the same.

 Ming Interactions

– The Chinese abruptly stopped their naval voyages due to the cost.

– After Emperor Yongle’s death Chinese increasingly, turned inward.

• By 16th century, Chinese trading with the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch.

The Ming Dynasty and Silver

• The Ming government attempted to prop up the failing economy by changing easily counterfeited paper money to a “single-whip” system based on silver currency.

• Initially, the silver came from Japan, but with the discovery of American silver sources.

• China establishes trade relations with the Spanish through the Philippines

Silver

• This exchange fueled a period of commercial expansion.

• The silver flooded the Chinese market and the government was unable to control the resulting inflation.

Problems Persisted

• Many factors contributed to the Ming Dynasty's decline: – By the sixteenth century the Ming dynasty was

already in decline. – Pirates increasingly raided port cities. – The Chinese were able to keep the Europeans at

a safe distance.

Problems Persisted

– However internal problems persisted.• Weak rulers• Crop Failures• Inflation led to unrest

Qing (Manchu) Dynasty

• By the seventeenth century, famines crippled the Chinese economy, and peasant revolts erupted against increasingly powerless Ming rulers.

• In 1644, the Ming emperor invited a group of Qing warriors from nearby Manchuria to help him with peasant uprising.

• The Qing ousted the emperor. With that act, the Ming Dynasty ended.

• The Qing (Manchu) Dynasty began. The Manchus ruled China until about 1912.

Changes in China

• The Qing made many changes in China.– Forbid the Chinese to learn the Manchu

language or marry Manchus (3% of population)

– civil service gained new heights– Banned Christianity in 1724– Impose Manchu dress and customs on

Chinese

Qing Rulers• Two long-ruling emperors, Kangxi (1661-

1722) and Qianlong (1736-1795) allow for stability and acceptance.

• Both of these emperors supported the arts but also expanded the empire– Kangxi ruled from 1662-1722 was a Confucian

scholar, and conquered Taiwan and Tibet– Qianlong ruled from 1735-1795 and added

Vietnam, Burma, Nepal as vassal states to China

Qing and Commerce• In 1757, restricted Europeans to trading in the port

city of Canton.– Europeans bought large quantities of tea, silk, and

porcelain– In exchange the merchants received huge sums of silver, which created a

new rising class of merchants in the coastal cities

– British pressure for more balanced trade (pottery & tea)

– China remained agrarian, with trade and industry controlled by state

– Maintained negative attitude toward industry, unequal taxes

Qing andSociety

• Continued focus on family• Arranged marriages, male dominated• Women not educated, in charge of the home• Practice of female infanticide

Japan and the Shogunate

• Warring states period in late 1400’s, after decline of Ashikaga Shogunate

• Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu helped unify Japan

• Tokugawa, the daimyo of Edo, names himself Shogun in 1603.

Tokugawa Shogunate

• In 1600, Tokugawa Ieysau established the Tokugawa Shogunate, a strict and rigid government that ruled Japan until 1868

• Emperor is largely a figurehead.• Power was given to the daimyo (feudal lords)• Ieysau took ownership of all the land and instituted a

rigid social class model. – More like a caste system – Four classes (warrior, farmer, artisan, and merchant) were

established and movement in classes was forbidden.

Japan and Christianity

• In 1542, the Portuguese established trade with the empire (they also introduced guns to the Japanese).

• Within a decade, Christian missionaries streamed in. • By the end of the century, a few hundred thousands

Japanese converted to Christianity• Missionaries destroyed Shinto shrines.

Japan and Christianity

• The Jesuits took control of the port city Nagasaki and trade flourished.

• Christians were persecuted• Hideyoshi expels missionaries in 1587, but allows

merchants to stay.• Tokugawa finalized expulsion in 1602.• Merchants evicted as well, except Dutch, who

were given limited rights

Edo Period

• Shogun moved capital to Edo (modern day Tokyo)• In 1635, National Seclusion Policy prohibited

Japanese from…– traveling abroad

– prohibited foreigners from visiting Japan (kept relations with China, Korea, Netherlands)

– lasted for 200 years – This was passed to curb foreign influence

Daimyo

• Daimyo were forced to maintain two residences to allow for control

• Strain on finances led many to take back fiefs from samurai and make them into salaried workers

• Samurai role as warriors declines• Revolts by ronin (masterless samurai) or peasants• Large population increase

Japanese Economy

• New technology and exposure led to industrial & commercial revolutions

• Development of paper money

Japanese Culture

• Buddhism and Shinto remained at the center of culture

• Kabuki theater and haiku poetry

became popular