Ancient History of Asia
Before & After the
Westerners Came
Outline
Ancient civilizations in Asia
Empires and dynasties
Qin Dynasty
tributary system
After Westerners came
Opium War
Meiji Restoration
Mesopotamia
First known civilization (7,000 B.C.)
Earliest cities (3,500 B.C.)
Became part of the
Persian Empire in
6th century B.C.
Indus Valley Civilization
Bronze Age culture (2500 B.C.-1700 B.C.)
Cities dominated by large public buildings
Invasion by Aryans
from the north in
1500 B.C.
Chinese Civilization
Shang Dynasty (1,600 B.C. - 1,047 B.C.)
31 kings of same family
weak central control
written record
Zhou Dyn. (1047-256 B.C.)
Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.)
Qin Shi Huang (``First Emperor of Qin”)
Unification
Centralized control
laws, measures, currency, roads, Great Wall,
thinking
Later Dynasties
Han (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.)
Jin (265 - 420)
Sui (581 - 618)
Tang (618 - 907)
Song (960 - 1279)
Yuan (1271 - 1368)
Ming (1368 - 1644)
China’s Tributary System
Traditional system for managing foreign
relations
The ``Central Kingdom” worldview
Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) had the most
extensive tributary system
tributes from East Asia, South Asia,
Southeast Asia, and even West Asia and
Africa
Zheng He’s fleet (1405-33)
Over 300 ships & 20,000 men
trade and commerce
Southeast Asia, South Asia,
West Asia, and East Africa
Zheng He’s expeditions
Ancient Southeast Asia
Buddhist kingdoms and empires
trade with East and South Asia
near continuous warfare
invasion by Mongols in the 1300’s
spread of Islam in 1400 - 1620
mosaic of small states
Cause of the Opium War
The Opium War (1840-42)
British navy captured Hong
Kong and defeated China
Historic Turning Point
Series of western invasions
Unequal treaties with Western powers
extraterritorial jurisdiction
tariffs subject to approval by Western powers
Shattered tributary system
Exacerbated domestic crises
Culminated in the fall of Qing dynasty
Japan’s Meiji Restoration
Similar challenges, different response
Japan’s 250-year seclusion
Commodore Matthew Perry’s warships
entered Tokyo Bay in 1853
Western Challenges
Series of treaties with Britain, France,
Russia, and the Netherlands
opening ports
low customs duties
extraterritorial jurisdiction
Domestic problems
Shogun (literally, ``general”) in Edo
(Tokyo) controlled the Emperor in Kyoto
Shogun’s government didn’t have strong
central control
Japan was divided into some 260
semiautonomous and mutually jealous
domains
Meiji Restoration - I
Broke down shogun’s polity
military coup
Created centralized national government
Used Emperor as focus of loyalty and symbol
of legitimacy
Incremental steps to replace the autonomous
domains with prefectures
Imperial Guard of 10,000 men
Meiji Restoration - II
Two most important constituencies:
samurai and farmers
samurai: privileges gradually removed
farmers: land-tax reform
eradicated payment in produce
basis for modern capitalist economy
109 million certificates of land ownership
Meiji Restoration - III
Education
established elementary schools
universal compulsory education
Military
universal conscription (citizen army)
Meiji Restoration - IV
Meiji Constitution of 1889
limited constitutional monarchy after
Bismarck’s Germany
male suffrage based on property rights
bicameral legislature with budgetary power
Emperor’s rights, prerogatives, and power
commanded the military
War Minister or Navy Minister from military
Self-modernization
Industrialization, technological
innovations, and growth of trade
New Imperialist Power
Japan defeated China in 1894-5
Japan defeated Russia in 1905
Theodore Roosevelt: ``if [the Japanese] win
out, it may possibly mean a struggle between
them and us in the future”
Japan annexed Korea in 1910
Asia by World War II