Asia
Chapter 19
China
The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)
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Chinese were the most skilled sailors in the world.
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Build large sturdy ships called Junks
 Some were more than 400 feet long.
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Ming emperor financed a fleet that sailed across Indian Ocean
 Fleet reached the Arabian Peninsula
 Chinese had ability to become a great seafaring power.
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Ming emperors had little interest in
 Sea power or foreign trade
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Stopped financing expeditions
Confucianism
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Official philosophy adopted by Ming government
 Righteousness in heart = Beauty in Character
 Beauty in Character = Harmony in Home
 Harmony in Home = Order in Nation
 Order in Nation = Peace in World
Four Classes under Confucianism
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Scholar-Gentry
 Highly literate class helped staff royal bureaucracy
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Farmers
 Produce food and paid taxes that supported empire
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Artisans
 Made beautiful useful objects
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Merchants
 Bottom of social order
 Sold objects that peasants and artisans produced
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In the minds of the emperor, foreign trade did not bring enough benefits to China to make it
worthwhile.
The Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911)
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In Manchuria, ( a region northeast of China), a chieftain named Nurhachi unified many tribes into a
single people, called Manchu.
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The Qing emperors were not Chinese but adopted Chinese culture and traditional techniques.
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Kangxi: became Emperor in 1661, a scholar and patron of the arts who supported intellectuals
• Expanded boarders beyond China
• New territories included Korea, Tibet, Taiwan,
Central Asia, and Mongolia.
Japan
Warring States Period (1467-1568)
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Old political structure fell apart – created power vacuum
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Powerful samurai seized control of old feudal estates
 Offered the people protection in return for their loyalty
 Daimyo meant “great name.”
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Under this system, security came from this group of powerful warlords.
 The emperor at Kyoto became a figurehead
Oda Nobunaga
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
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Took control of Kyoto in 1568
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Nobunaga’s best general
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Used firearms, used military forces to
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Continued his fallen leader’s mission.
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By 1590 he controlled most of the country.
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He invaded Korea in 1592
defeat enemies and maintain power
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Failed to unify Japan
Died in 1582 (seppuku) after a
 Fought Koreans and their Ming Chinese allies
general betrayed him
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When he died in 1598, his troops withdrew
from Korea
Tokugawa Shogunate
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One of Hideyoshi’s daimyo allies
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Completed the unification of Japan
 Became the Shogun (sole ruler)
 Moved capital to Edo – which became Tokyo
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Local daimyo still governed – created the “alternating attendance policy”
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Emperor as figurehead
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Founded a dynasty that lasted until 1867
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Heavy taxes on peasants
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Increasing population
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Merchant population gained importance
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Art and culture shifted due to urbanization
Factors in Asia’s
Development
Rice and Population
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Advances in rice cultivation:
 Quicker developing varieties (multiple crop yields)
 Drought resistant varieties
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More people survived, more children born
Two Rivers
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Yellow River (The Huang He) - Northern China
 Name from the yellowish silt left behind when it overflows
 This silt is actually fertile soil called loess which is blown by the winds from deserts
to the west and north
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Yangtze River (The Chang Jiang) - Central China
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Between the two are China’s most fertile plains
Isolationism
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China and Japan both:
 Sought to limit outside influence
 Retain power
 Retain cultural traditions
 Did not feel the need to seek out new trade partners
Isolationism
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Ming Dynasty:




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Only the government was to conduct foreign trade – minimize outside influence
Only through three coastal ports, (Canton, Macao, and Ningbo)
Smugglers were active all over the coast
Limited industrialization – favored agricultural economy
Qing Dynasty
 Continued to restrict trade and make demands of potential trade partners
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Japan
 Unable to limit initial interactions – power not as centralized
 Eventually created a “closed country policy”
 One semi-open port
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All sought to limit outside influence
Hinduism
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Collection of beliefs
Buddhism
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 Born a prince, sheltered
 Became Buddha ‘the enlightened one’
Polytheistic
 Family practices
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Reincarnation
 Caste system
Siddhartha Gautama
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Focus in internal, not on gods
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Reincarnation
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Karma
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Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path
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Upanishads
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Reach a form of understanding –
liberation for cycle
Reach Nirvana – release from
selfishness and pain