Asia and European Imperialism
Ming Foreign Policy
Attitudes toward trade
Wanted to be self-sufficient
Refused to rely on foreign trade
Became the best sailors in the world
Built ships called Junks by Europeans
The northern frontier
Moved capital from Nanjing to Beijing
Strengthened Great Wall of China
Chose frontier defense over trade and sea travel
Confucianism was the official philosophy of govt
Founding the Qing Dynasty
Nurhachi unified tribes into Manchu
Adopted Chinese culture
Study of Philology
Similar to Renaissance study of the classics
Men wore a queue
Long braid symbolizing their submission to China and
the Qing
Kept Manchu people separate and distinct
from Chinese
Economy, Culture, and Society
Economy
Trade and manufacturing specialization
grew
Tea was the main reason the British and
Dutch came
Popular culture and society
Novels and plays in everyday language
Available for common man
Family was center of society
Decline of the Qing Dynasty
Population growth
Government inefficiency and
increases in taxes
Lead to the White Lotus Rebellion
Group of Buddhist protested
Weakened the Qing Dynasty
Order finally restored in the early 1800’s
More rebellions were to come
The Portuguese
Trade ties with China
Wanted to spread Christianity
Jesuit missionaries helped emperors
revise calendar
Gained great power with imperial court
Qing rulers became suspicious
Fearful of Jesuits’ intentions
The British
Free trade ideas
Great Britain abolished British East India
Company’s monopoly on trade with China
Opposite of the mercantilistic ideals of the
Chinese
The opium trade
Chinese demand for cotton didn’t match
British demand for tea
British India exported opium to China
Caused trade imbalance
The British
The Opium War
Chinese tried to forcibly stop opium trade
Treaty of Nanjing
Gave Hong Kong to British rule
Allowed British access to China
More concessions
Unequal treaties with France and United States
Unequal because they were signed under threat of force
Foreign embassies in Beijing
Extraterritoriality
Foreigners being allowed to live in another country under
the rules of their home nation
Rebellions
Taiping Rebellion
Christian Uprising
Started by a man named Hong
Claimed to be brother of Jesus
Wanted to start his own dynasty – Taiping
“Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”
Caused terrible destruction
Christian and Muslim teachings motivated
more revolts
The Boxer Rebellion
Who: China vs. Eight Allied Nations
U.K., U.S., Japan, Italy, France, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary
What: Violent anti-Christian and anti-foreign movement in
China
Empress Cixi authorized war on foreign powers
When: 1899-1901
Where: Northern China
Why: Growing anti-Christian sentiment following Taiping
Rebellion; Opposition to foreign imperialism
“Support the Qing, exterminate the foreigners.”
RESULT: Alliance defeated Chinese
Plundered capital
Executed everyone suspected of being a Boxer
China was humiliated
Founding the Tokugawa
Shogunate
Tokugawa rule
Combination of feudalism and central monarchy
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Attempted to conquer Korea
Tokugawa Ieyasa
Crushed rivals
Foreign Contact
The Portuguese in Japan
Christian missionaries
Jesuits
Closing the country
Saw Christianity and Western technology as
threats to Tokugawa rule and to Japanese
traditions and values
Samurai felt that the musket devalued Samurai
training
Japan angered many Euro nations by closing their
ports during storms
Life in Tokugawa Japan
Social classes
Confucian ideal
Class was determined by birth
The warrior class in Japan replace the scholar class in
China
This placed the Samurai at the top of the class system
Change and culture
Internal trade expanded
Artisans and merchants prospered
New forms of art, literature, theater
The End of Japan’s Isolation
Matthew Perry
Sent by President Fillmore of the United
States to negotiate a treaty for safe
trade with Japan
After a year the Japanese agreed
Treaty of Kanagawa
Similar treaties with Great Britain,
Netherlands, Russia