The history of the world is bought together by its sophisticated culture and commerce net. Throughout the history, human beings have been taking on varies role in the society, and it has been the human activities kept the history alive, writing down the story of our time. Back in 16th century, an ancient nation was the center of world trading system; this nation attracted countries all over the globe to try to use its cultural and economic superiority for reference, and this nation was China. European countries such as Dutch, England and French had went to Ming and Qing China numerous time, trading had always been their main goal, but the process and strategies have changed throughout the history. There are proves stating that European merchant had taken on an active in Chinese society since Medieval China, which is 13th century. As time goes by, the trade between China and Europe had getting increasingly frequent and more complex. Therefore, this paper focuses on European trading activity with China from 16th century to 20th century, along with trading policy and social status changes.
Portuguese traders came to Macau in 1553, and their initial request was have their goods dry there. At the time, Ming did not have open policy for foreign fleets or merchants to have settlement in China territory, so the Portuguese had to bribe the chief official Wang Bo to gain entre to Macau. It is controversial if Wang Bo had actually taken the bribe, but at the end, Portuguese was able to conducting temporary trade in Macao, only under the condition that Portuguese paying10 percent tariff. The Portuguese were installed at the mouth of the river somewhat in the capacity of a filter, without passing through which no outsider could make contrac...
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European Imperialism of China and Japan Imperialism is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. By the 1800’s, the Western powers had advantages in this process. They led the world in technological advances, giving them dominance when conquering other countries. The European Imperialists made attempts to conquer China and Japan.
The Spanish and Portuguese were able to thrive in China during the sixteenth century, because China already had a well-established silk industry. The Chinese were interested in trading with the Spanish for silver; the Chinese were also interested in Jesuits as middlemen in Japanese trade. In contrast, the Portuguese did not have much prosperity in Brazil at the beginning of its settlement. The Portuguese had to start from nothing and had to introduce sugarcane for the sake of producing revenue in Brazil. In addition, the Portuguese had to import slaves from Africa in order to cultivate sugarcane. The constant, economic encounters that took place in sixteenth-century China and Brazil were more than just trade. When people engage in trade with people of other countries, they are taking part in globalization. The economic interests of people and countries affect the customs, languages, and families of the inhabitants of the area. Even though the Age of Discovery happened centuries ago, globalization continues to develop today, because new technology and laws are being created to make commerce easier or harder to
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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 on the outer world in traditional terms.” China was regarded as the center of Asia at the beginning of 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). Emperor Yongle, the son of Emperor Hongwu, lifted this policy to a certain extent when he ordered his eunuch Zheng He’s voyages. However, he was only intereste...
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
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The years leading up to the 1972 election were filled with new political tactics. Going into the election year, President Nixon seemed like he could never lose the second term election after successfully negotiating with Vietnam, Beijing, and Russia to improve international relations (Emery 4). Raising international toughness made Nixon seem like the most worthy person to stay president. Fred Emery analyses in his novel Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon, the president was also setting up the first summit meeting in history with Soviet Union Presidents (3). There seemed to be nothing capable of holding the seemingly responsible man back. However, this assurance came with massive consequences. The absolute certainty that Nixon would be reelected fueled the lies and abuse of power by the Nixon government (Emery 195). As the outlook of landslide winnings took over the White House, the moral reasoning, “the end justifies the means” became more prevalent. Nixon was obsessed with winning and being successful. Under his command his staff did whatever possible to ...
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Some of the items included porcelain and silk, which is more of a want than a need. Charles D’Avenant also mentions that along with receiving luxury good, Europeans were only sending silver and gold back to Asia, which would become buried and never returned. The global flow of silver’s influence on trade between European nations can be seen in D’Avenant’s account of the English being “supplanted in the spice- trade by the Dutch”, in his reference to importing from the East Indies commodities that can then be sold elsewhere across Europe, in his disappointment that gold and silver gets buried permanently in Asia. To the people of Europe, Asian silks and dyed cloth is pleasing to everyone and useful to wear at home. That meant that it should not be recommended to quit the trade between Europe and China because it benefited both countries. In his essay, Xu Dunqiu Ming wrote about how before, buyers would give vegetables and animals in order to purchase a product from a merchant (Doc. 4). But, silver allowed trading and bartering to be simpler because instead of having to trade item for other goods and services, a person can just give a certain amount of silver coins. The historical context of this essay
In the book, When China Ruled the Seas, Levathes tells us about seven voyages made by junk armadas during the Chinese emperor Zhu Di's reign. 'Treasure ships' as they were called, were under the command of admiral Zheng He, these ships traded silk, porcelain, and many other fine objects of value. They sailed from India to East Africa, throughout Korea and Japan, and possibly as far as Australia. She believes that China might have been able to create a great colonial realm one hundred years before the Europeans explored and expanded, from China's navy of some three thousand ships.
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China's development is praised by the whole world. Its developments are not only in the economic aspect, but as well in its foreign affairs. Compared with other developed countries, China is a relatively young country. It began constructing itself in 1949. After 30 years of growth, company ownership had experienced unprecedented changes. Entirely, non-state-owned companies can now be more involved in sectors that used to be monopolized by state-owned companies.