Encounters in East Asia
Chapter 14 Section 4
European Contact With Ming
China
• 1514 the Portuguese ships reach China
• The Ming had no interest in Europe
Ming Limit Trade
• Portuguese wanted silks and porcelains
• Europeans didn’t have anything good to offer them
• Chinese only wanted gold or silver
• Let the Europeans trade at Canton under
supervision
• At the end of the trading season they had to leave
Seeking Converts
• Portuguese missionaries
came with the traders
• Jesuits also came (Matteo
Ricci)
• Chinese wanted to learn
about the Renaissance
??
• Why did Ming China demand that Europeans pay
for goods with gold or silver?
• European products were not as good as the Chinese
so they only wanted gold and silver from them.
The Manchu Conquest
• Invaders from the N
(Manchuria): went
through the Great Wall
• 1644 took Beijing and
made it their capital
Qing Dynasty
• Confucian system of gov- Chinese liked
• Each position had one Manchu and one Chinese
person
• Kangxi (1661-1722)
• Extended Chinese power
• Qianlong (1736-1796)
• Expanded Chinese borders (largest in history)
Spreading Peace and
Prosperity
• Economy expanded
• New crops came from America (potatoes, corn)
• Contributed to a population boom (more than doubled
in 60 years)
• Silk, cotton, and porcelain industries grew
• Demand from the rest of the world
Rejecting Contact With
Europeans
• Restricted foreign traders
• 1793 Lord Macartney headed a British diplomatic
mission (didn’t go well)
• British products weren’t good
• Wouldn’t bow to the emperor
• Talked about the superiority of the English
• Ignoring Westerners backfired on China who would
need their technology
??
• How did the Qing respond to Britain’s diplomatic
mission?
• He rejected their negotiations.
Korea: The “Hermit
Kingdom”
• Korea restricted contact with Europeans as well
• Confucian ideas had merchants at the bottom of
society so looked down on
• 1590s invaded by Japan
• 1636 invaded by Manchus
• Isolationism
• Europeans who came there were captured or killed
??
• Why did Korea become a “hermit kingdom”?
• Were invaded so much that they just wanted to be
left alone and withdrew from the rest of the world.
Foreign Traders in Japan
• At first liked Westerners
• Curious about Christianity
• Tokugawa Shoguns didn’t like foreigners however
• Kicked them out and killed converted Christians
• Isolation
• No large ships
• Only a little trade at Nagasaki Harbor with the Dutch
??
• Why did the Tokugawas turn against the Europeans?
• They saw them as threats to their independence.
New Christians would have allegiance to the Pope
instead of Japan.