It was a time when seafaring European nations were actively seeking a route to the wealthy and powerful Asian civilizations. After Vasco da Gama’s expedition in 1498, Europe was linked to the East Asian nations. Lacking in resources and needing new markets, Europe eagerly began a quest to regulate and dominate the sea trading network. With ships and guns they forced their way into the trading network. Other Europeans were looking to gain Christian converts. Subsequently, also during this Early Modern Period of 1450-1750 the East Asian countries of China and Japan employed a variety of empire/state building strategies that proved to fend off the West.
First, China was a country covered with an intersecting network of rivers and canals
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China was under the Ming dynasty from 1368-1644. During this time China underwent many changes. The emperor, Hongwu rid the empire of every aspect of the barbarian Mongols. Then as described in Document One, the Chinese sent officers to all foreign kingdoms with a Manifesto to declare their intention that they wanted to maintain peace within the four seas. The emperor was poorly educated, however, he realized the importance of education to revive the Chinese civilization. Consequently he decided to restore the Confucian education traditions. Therefore, scholars who were well educated were appointed to the highest positions in the imperial government. Graduates of the second degree were elected in each province, and a certain number … ascend to the highest pitch of dignity (Document 6). The silkworm spins silk, the bee gathers honey; if men neglect to learn, they are inferior to brutes is a comparison by Pere du Haide as he acknowledges the importance of the Chinese Educational System (Document 3). In conclusion, a few empire/state strategies implemented in China included the Manifesto stating the intentions of maintaining peace and the implementation of an educational system that led to well educated scholars in high positions and a stronger …show more content…
Hongwu introduced some ways in which to eliminate the conspiracies that eroded the power of former dynasties. In Document 7 the specific duties of each class of people are listed. Examples of these duties include compassion, sincerity, and fairness in dealing with other people. The Europeans tried to convert the Chinese to Christianity. Document 4 shows how the Europeans adopted the style of dress of the Chinese so they could convert more easily. Mattco Ricci (Document 4) and Adam Schall were Jesuit scholars that won a few converts, however most of the Chinese officials were suspicious of their motives and limited their contacts. Thus, ethics returned to the Chinese empires and they keep their religious ideas despite efforts from the
One political goal that China had is that protection was a must. Protection was important because China has been in battles many of times. For an example in 221 CE to 222 CE there is the battle of Xiaoting where Wu defeats Shu. For protection purposes the Chinese had built a structure known as The Great Wall of China. This is considered a political continuity because the ruler wanted to keep the Chinese protected back in those years and they still do now.
East Asia from 1450-1750, including China, Japan, and Ming China, used many different strategies for empire and state building including taking voyages around the world to get ideas for their empire, having a good educational system and a strong, powerful government, including women in schooling and political events, having different views on religious freedoms and having a tough military.
As new ideas traveled main trade routes, such as the Silk Road and the Mediterranean, the effects of such were felt through an influx of contact between countries due to increased desire for new information and countries gaining a larger presence on the world stage. This phenomenon can also be seen through the lens of cultural exchange that took place during this same time period in Eurasia. A major component of the Eurasian trade networks, such as the Silk Road and Indian Ocean, was that they fostered interregional contacts that had ceased to previously exist. When a country had a desire for study or technology, they earned more respect on the global stage. This can be further examined by looking at Marco Polo’s voyage into Asia.
During the 15th century Europe had numerous changes. The population expanded rapidly which gave rise to new classes of merchants. European nations were very wealthy when it came to spices. Therefore, they traded them on the land route from Asia. These land routes were controlled by the Turkish Empire, which lead to many problems for the countries who were trying to trade these spices and acquire other valuables. This then steered them to begin searching for other routes of trade to essentially cut out the “middle man”. A race then began to erupt between many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England. These four countries all wanted to be the first to discover new land. However, Portugal pulled ahead and sailed along
empire must be able to up-hold these five key things to survive. These five all important
As in terms of economics, China grew prosperous through trade, military expansion, invention of tools and other means of convenience and through the market economy. From the Han Dynasty China began to build again. The Sui Dynasty constructed the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal was an artificial canal that extended 1,240 miles. It enabled merchants and farmers to travel by water, selling an abundance of rice and other crops. This canal was extremely expensive but throughout the years paid itself off by providing travel routes north and south of China. The Sui Dynasty also built palaces, granarie...
During the early Ming Dynasty, China was one of the most economically and technologically advanced countries in the world. As Ebrey pointed out, “Europe was not yet a force in Asia and China continued to look at the outer world in traditional terms.” China was regarded as the center of Asia at the beginning of the 15th century and the idea of “Middle Kingdom” (Zhong guo) began to take off at that time. The early Ming Emperors were not interested in promoting commercial trade at all. Emperor Hongwu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, implemented the Hai jin policy which forbade maritime shipping and private foreign trade outside of the tributary system (Ebrey, p. 209).
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
More than two thousand years ago, two great empires arose. The Chinese and the Roman Empires. Having different locations, there were obvious differences from the start, assembly and the collapse of the empires, but there were also astonishing similarities. Located in modern time Asia and Europe, the Chinese and Roman empires were revolutionary with their ideas and accomplishments in their time from the start to the end of their empires.
An ocean route was sought to the countries that were believed to contain riches beyond European comprehension, thus avoiding having to pay hundreds of miscellaneous middlemen involved with trade, also making for a shorter journey. These motivations were accompanied by the desire to convert the heathen to Christianity, which had been declining since the rise of Islam. By uniting some of the Western Asian countries with Christianity, Europeans hoped to form a formidable team against the Turks and recover the valuable Holy Land (Morison, p.55).
Japan had to open ports to foreign commerce when they lost the fight against Europe and America in Tokyo Bay (Bentley 508). After losing, Japan began industrializing and soon enhanced their military by investing in tools from western empires, who had very strong and powerful militaries. Once Japan had built a strong military they began to fight for Korea. They fought China and “demolished the Chinese fleet in a battle lasting a mere five hours,” and they later gained Korea and treaty rights in China (Bentley 550). China’s military was very weak. After losing Hong Kong and many trading ports to western empires following the Opium War, China was in trouble. Chinese people began rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. After the most popular rebellion, The Taiping Rebellion, China began the Self-Strengthening Movement. “While holding to Confucian values, movement leaders built shipyards, constructed railroads, established weapons industries, opened steel foundries with blast furnaces, and founded academies to develop scientific expertise” (Bentley 543). After doing all of these things, China still did not have a strong enough military. They continued to deal with problems from the western
In spite of this, China, by not being able to withstand western influence, incorporated imperialism and obtained a modern military and technology from the favored nations. Albeit, the western powers forced imperialism in East Asia differently than the rest of the world. Modern East Asia still emerges with parts of its ancient culture still intact. The unequal treaties, extraterritoriality, and other forms of discriminatory decrees created the Westernization of China, Japan, and Korea and gave these nations hope for the future that Western dominance would soon pass. Works Cited Ebrey, Patricia, Anne Walthall, and James Palais.
Although the expanding Europeans’ forces were much smaller than that of the landed Chinese societies, technological advancements helped to negate the disadvantage pushed by the sheer population of the Chinese; however, both cultures were very adept and advanced in terms of naval warfare and exploration, making the seas and oceans a battleground for both cultures. At the time, Europeans were finding themselves short of land and room for expansion due to numerous empires in a relatively small area. This led to the search for land. The political powers sought wealth and hoped to achieve this by conquering Asians markets as had been done in the west. Much like the political powers, the Christian church greedily sought mass expansion and conversion, pushing for missions in the foreign lands.
With deserts and the Himalayas running along most of the border, it was extremely difficult to cross over one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world and a few other scorching deserts with the little transport they had during that time. The only way merchants could come into the country was the southeastern coast of China, where most of the prosperous cities resided. What led China to become conceited was because they had an abundance of goods that most of the world wanted. In the 1760-1830s, China was famous for its porcelain (rich Europeans loved it), silk, and of course, tea. Since this Eastern Powerhouse’s goods were so popular, therefore, there were only a few things that interested them to trade with.
rules and laws that applied only to those who were peasants. The laws sort of boosted their lives; he kept the land tax low, and the granaries stocked to guard against famine. During his reign he also attempted and succeeded in building up the class of those of the peasant and working class. Hongwu’s new government did not cause any change for those in other social classes.