CHAPTER 17
The East Asian World
China at its Apex
• Why were the Manchu’s so successful at
establishing a foreign dynasty in China?
• What were the main characteristics of
Manchu Rule?
• Banners
• Dyarchy
Ming Dynasty (1369 – 1644)
• Reign of Kublai Khan ended 1368
• Zhu Yuanzhang – Peasant rebellion
– Period of expansion
– Zheng He (1405-1433)
• Portuguese Contact
– Permitted to Occupy Macao
– Direct trade limited
– Strong Jesuit Influence
16th C Decline of Ming
• Factors
– Weak rulers
– Era of corruption – concentration of land
– English & Dutch disrupted silver trade
– Decline of economy
– decline of crop yields
– Starvation & Epidemic
– Peasant Rebellion
• LiZicheng, occupied Beijing
China and Its Enemies During the Late Ming Era
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
• Manchu's & Ming Military assumed the
rebellion founded the Qing in 1644
• The Reign of Kangxi (1661-1722)
• Stabilized imperial rule by pacifying the northern
and western frontiers
• Made the empire acceptable to the general public
• Active patron of arts and letters
– Supported scholars through projects
• Western missionaries were permitted to be active
Emperor Kangxi
The Era of Peace & Prosperity
© Hu Weibiao/Panorama/The Image Works
Signs of Internal decay
• The Reign of Qianlong (1736-1795)
• Military overextended
• Corrupt subordinates exploited their position
• Court corruption, siphoned off imperial funds to
family or favorites
• Led to unrest in rural areas (higher taxes, pressure
on land, population increase)
– White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1804) was suppressed at
great imperial expense
Qing Politics
• Factors of success for the Manchu's
– Ability to adapt to new environment
– Retained Ming Political system
– Established legitimacy as rightful rulers by
stressing their devotion to the principles of
Confucianism
Qing Politics
• Factors of conflict?
– Ethnically, linguistically and culturally different
from subjects
• Tried to protect unique identity (2% of population)
• Legally defined as distinct from everyone else
• Banners (stationed as separate units in various
strategic positions throughout china) the
bannerman were the primary fighting force of the
empire
• Dyarchy – all important administrative positions
were shared equally by Chinese and Manchu's
The Qing Empire in the Eighteenth
Century
Rise of European Dominance
• End of the 17th C English became the
dominant force in European trade
– East Indian Company
• trading unit and administrator of English territories
• First trading post in Canton in 1699
Canton in the Eighteenth
Century
European Warehouses at
Canton
•End of the 18th C England demanded they be allowed access to
other cities along the coast and that the country be opened up to
manufactured goods.
© The Art Archive/Marine Museum, Stockholm, Sweden/Gianni Dagli Orti
Changing China
• How did the economy and society
change during the Ming and Qing eras?
• To what degree did these changes
seem to be leading toward an industrial
revolution on the European Model?
Social & Economic Changes
• The Population explosion
– During Ming and Qing 70-80 million in 1390
• Era of peace and stability under early Qing
• Introduction of new crops – peanuts, sweet
potatoes, maize
• New species of faster growing rice
• Seed of industrialization
• Steady growth of manufacturing and commerce
• Commercial networks began to operate regionally
and nationally.
• Exports outpaced imports
Role of Women
• Daily Life in Qing China
– Subordinate to men
•
•
•
•
Secluded and virtuous (Spanish observation)
Could not divorce or inherit property
He could divorce her if she produced no male heirs
Patriarchal privilege: second wife or concubine for
pleasure
• Widows if they remarried , the in laws would
inherit all of her previous property and original
dowry
• Female sacrifice & infanticide
Tokugawa Japan
• How did the society and economy of
Japan change during the Tokugawa
era?
• How did Japanese culture reflect those
changes?
• Fudai Daimyo
• Tozama Daimyo
• Ronin
The Three Great Unifiers
•
Oda Nobunaga & Toyotomi Hideyoshi
– generals attempted to seize control and expand their rule.
• Tokugawa Leyasu
• named himself Shogun in 1603
• Most powerful and long lasting of all
• Tokugawa rulers completed the restoration of
central authority that previous rulers had begun.
Tokugawa
Japan
Open to
western trade &
religion
Restricted after
missionaries
acquired
territory & used
force to convert
The Tokugawa “Great Peace”
• Characteristics of Administration
– Centralized Rule
– Shogun ruled through Bakufu (coalition of
Daimyo & council of elders
– Shogunate’s dual role
• Set national policy on behalf of Emp. Kyoto
• Governed Shoguns domain
• Domains or Han ruled by 250 Daimyo
– Fudai (inside Daimyo subordinate to Shogun)
– Tozama (Outside Daimyo, independent)
Changes in Hierarchy
• Daimyo- supported by taxes on their lands
• Dual residence, family stayed in Edo to
ensure their loyalty to the Shogunate
– Reliance on rice cultivation - debt
• Samurai Class size limited, ceased to be a
warrior class but maintained class
distinction
Seeds of Capitalism
• Rise in commerce and manufacturing
• Tech advances in agriculture and
expansion of arable land
• Commercial expansion took place in major
cities and castle towns for the most part
– Merchants and artisans lived with samurai
• Banking & paper currency
• Merchants guilds established
Beneficiaries of Changes
• Emergence of a merchant Class
– Played a significant role in the life of the
nation
– Early indigenous form of capitalism
Non-beneficiaries of Changes
• Samurai – barred from commercial
activities
– Fell into debt
– “masterless samurai” or Ronin
• Farmers
– rice cultivation saw rising cost of living and
decrease in profits
– Transition to tenancy or wage labor
– Peasant revolts
Rigid Patriarchal Caste society
• Intermarriage between classes not
permitted
– (warriors, artisans, peasant and merchant)
• Eta –outcastes of society
– Hereditary Status
– Ruled by discriminatory laws
• (where they could live, how they could dress and
wear their hair)
Role of Women (Upper class)
• Women became more restricted than
previous
• (Confucian ideals more prominent in samurai
class)
• Patriarchs had broad authority over
property, marriage, divorce
– Wives were expected to obey on pain of
death
– Males took concubines or homosexual
partners (Females were expected to remain
chaste)
Role of Women (lower class)
• Women valued as child bearers and
homemakers
• Both sexes worked in the fields
• Coeducational schools (25% students
female)
• Infant daughters put to death or sold into
prostitution (poor families)
• patrilocal marriage
• If she did not meet expectations –she would be
divorced
Cultural Reflections of Change
• Popular literature written for townspeople
(urban fiction)
– Five women who loved love by Saikaku
– Homosexual liaisons among the samurai
• Kabuki – the rise of the theater
Korea & Vietnam
• To what degree did developments in
Korea during this period reflect
conditions in China and Japan?
• What were the unique aspects of
Vietnamese civilization?
• Yangban
• Chonmin
Similarities to Japan
• Entry into the bureaucracy was restricted
to members of the aristocratic class
– (Yangban “two Groups” civilian and military
classes)
• Peasants remained in serf like conditions
– worked on government estates or manors
– Chonmin – class of slaves
• served on government plantations
• occupations such as butchers and entertainers
(beneath dignity of the population)
Changes
• 15th C phonetic alphabet (Hangul)
– Allowed for private correspondence and
published fiction for popular audience
• A rising commercial class began to
displace the Yangban began to blur class
distinction
– (some became merchants, others peasants
as the rising commercial class grew in power
and strength)
Dai Viet (Vietnam)
• Isolated from maritime routes
– Peripherally involved in the spice trade
– Did not lose territory to European colonial
powers
• Followed an imperial path of its own
– Expanded into the state of Champa to the
south and into Old Angkor (Cambodia)
– 17th C civil war split Dai Viet into two territories
• Beginning of European involvement