Regions of the World Series:
East Asia, Part 1
Segment descriptions
Sampler –Regions of the World Series
East Asia, Part 1:
4’-10” (57’ lecture)
What is the nature of Filipino resistance to American
control after the Spanish-American War that is put
down brutally by America?
play sampler
Prelude to the Modern Industrial
Age.
1
China. China is the country with the
longest continuous history, 7,000
years. The positive and negative effects
of its sense of superiority and desire for
isolation. Achieves a much higher
civilization than Europe in the Middle
Ages. How stability and order are
promoted by its Buddhist religion and its
social class system and is the most
powerful country in the world in the
1500s. The absolute power of the
Emperor. How Europeans use a Chinese
invention to force it to open trade with
them in the 1600s. Why China declines
as Europe gains. The nature of the Opium
Wars as England imposes its power.
2
Japan. Japan, though adapting China's
religion, calligraphy and art forms, is also
isolated, mainly by its geography. How
Japan's large population, limited natural
resources its Samurai Warrior tradition,
and Shintoism, the deification of the
Emperor, set it on a course of conquest.
A strong resistance to the outside world in
the 1600s when Japan throws out all
foreigners. Later there is renewed contact
with the outside world, and enormous
changes in the 1800s.
The Late 18th-19th Century
3
China. Attraction of China as a vast
Regions of the World Series:
East Asia, Part 1
Segment descriptions
market for Europe's increased
industrialization. Too large for direct
takeover, spheres of influence are staked
out by European powers for economic
control and exploitation. China is
humiliated by many European practices
on its soil. Resistance by the
Chinese. The defeat of Boxer Rebellion
at the end of the 19th century.
4
Japan. U.S. Admiral Perry's gun ships
forcefully opens Japanese trade in 1864,
also causing Japan to recognize its need
to modernize. Although resisted by
traditionalists, Japan comes to terms with
modernity, with all its implications,
negative and positive. Japan becomes a
significant power by the late 1800s. How
European countries anger and frustrate
Japan by blocking its fruits of victory in its
wars with China in 1880s and with Russia
in 1905. On a wave of nationalism and
expansionism, Japan occupies Korea,
which resists but also sees Japan as a
path to modernization.
The Early 20th Century.
5
China. European spheres of influence is
altering with the U.S. now in the picture as
the American Empire begins with the
defeat of Spain in Spanish-American
War.
6
Philippines. U.S. sees the Philippine
Islands, gained in the Spanish-American
War, as a stepping stone to Asia, and
especially China. Philippine resistance to
American control continues for years and
is brutally put down by the U.S.
7
Vietnam. Resists domination by
China. Later Vietnam resists French
control and economic exploitation which is
carried out with harsh methods. After
World War I, Wilson calls for selfdetermination but colonial empires are
excluded. The rise of Vietnamese
nationalism with Ho Chi Minh leading a
Regions of the World Series:
East Asia, Part 1
Segment descriptions
Vietnamese communist party.
8
China. The fall of the last dynasty in
1911 and establishment of a
republic. Sun Yat-sen wants to
democratize and modernize, and be
independent of American control. Has
cordial relations with Bolsheviks in
Russia. War lords still control large
regions of China. The Communist Party
is created in 1921. Russia advises it to
cooperate with the ruling Kuomintang
Party, with disastrous results for the
communists. Chang Kai Check
suppresses the Communist Party which
survives by fleeing to the interior.
9
Japan. In the 1920s - 1930s, with its
growth, modernization, industrialized
militarism, Japan has become
expansionist. Its Samurai tradition is its
version of fascism, and allies itself with
the Axis. With its eyes on China to satisfy
its material needs, Japan invades
Manchuria in 1931, and launches a brutal
all-out war on China in 1937.
The Mid-20th Century
10
China. Mao leads the Communist
remnants on a one-year, 6,000 mile "Long
March" north to a safe haven. They
develop a positive relationship with the
peasants by strictly enforcing a close and
respectful participation in their lives. A
cease-fire is arranged between Mao and
Chang to combine against the
invaders. Later there are the issues of
who fought the better fight against the
Japanese, and the corruption of Chiang.
11
Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor and
Japan's formidable military force with its
major conquests of World War II in the
South Pacific and the building of its East
Asia empire. The resistance of
China. Vietnam (Indo-China) fights a
guerilla war and has a friendly relationship
with the U.S. The U.S. island-hopping
Regions of the World Series:
East Asia, Part 1
Segment descriptions
war. The tide turns and and U.S. forces
approach Japan in 1945.