Post on 14-Jun-2020
East Asian Empires
1450-1750
China’s last native imperial dynasty!
The Forbidden City: China’s New Capital
Revived the Civil Service Exam
Ming Cultural Revolution Printing & Literacy
Cheap, popular books:
woodblock printing.
cheap paper.
Examination system.
Leads to explosion in
literacy.
Leads to further popularization of the commercial market.
Culture & Art
Increased literacy leads to increased interest in cultural expressions, ideas, and things:
Literature.
Painting.
Ceramics.
Opera.
Ming Silver Market
Spanish Silver Convoys
Triangle route:
Philippines to China to Japan.
Silver floods Chinese Market:
Causes devaluation of currency & recession
Adds to reasons for Chinese immigration overseas.
Reduces price of Chinese goods in Europe
Increases interest in Chinese culture & ideas in Europe.
Helps fund conquest of New World
Encourages Europeans in conquest & trade.
Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 C.E.
Golden Age of Chinese Art
Moderation
Softness
Gracefulness
Three different schools ofpainting developed.
Hundreds of thousands ofworkers constructed theForbidden City.
Ming Emperor Tai Zu (r. 1368-1398)
The Tribute System
Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho)
Ming “Treasure Fleet”
Each ship 400’ long & 160’ wide
1371-1435
1498 --> Da Gama reached Calcutta, China’s favorite port.
Ming Porcelain / Ceramics, 17c–18c
Ming Vases, 18c
Ming Carved Lacquer Dish 15c
Ming Scroll Painting“Travellers in Autumn Mountains”
Ming Painting – “Taoist Scholar”
Ming Painting – “Birds and Flowers”, 16c
Ming Painting and Calligraphy, early 16c
The Ming Reforms
Expanded civil service exam
Early emperors took direct control over administration
Used legalist principles to “encourage” the effectiveness of officials
Chose wives of “humble origin”
Limited Eunuchs
Exiled rivals
Censored writing
Gentry Revival
The dynasty attempted real land reform
Rearranged taxes, opened new land for sale
Promoted household industries
Despite this, landlords ended up stronger than ever
Most of the reforms help the landlords instead
Peasants reduced to tenant farmers
Women under the Ming Dynasty
Neo-Confucianism continued to rise among upper classes
Imperial women continued to be influential, everyone else was confined to the home
Rich women might learn to read, but had few opportunities to use the skill
Status determined by the ability to bear male children.
Want independence? “Entertain” men for a living.
Ming Growth
Between agricultural reforms and new outside contacts, China’s population grew to 300 million in this period
Merchants gained massive wealth, but only a slight and slow gain in social status.
Ming Decline
By 1600, dynastic decline was obvious Public works projects were ignored
Starvation
Civic unrest
Landlords exploited the chaos
Oppressed peasants revolted
The Ming brought northern nomads, the jurchen (Manchu) in to help.
They chose to simply take over, and in 1644 the Ming Dynasty was over
The Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
1644-1912
Though foreign, the Qing continued most Ming policies, including isolationism.
Civil Service system was expanded.
Patronized the arts and sciences
Qing Expansion
Added (but didn’t assimilate) Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
Used local officials to run conquered regions like colonies.
Deliberately prevented sinification.
The Qing impact
Solidified the dominance of maritime trade over land based trade (Silk Road)
Between Qing and Russian expansion, nomadic groups were reduced to irrelevancy.
China remained the place that merchants traveled to to trade bullion for luxury goods.
Japanese Reunification
In 1500, Japan was divided into 300 kingdoms. While the emperor remained, the Ashikaga Shogunate had crumbled.
Japan is rebuilt by Odo Nobunaga
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Odo Nobunaga
First to make significant use of Portuguese firearms
Deposed the last Ashikaga shogun
From there, nearly consolidated all of Japan
Killed in 1582
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Nobunaga’s successor, he had united Japan by 1590
Invaded Korea twice, and failed miserably both times Was a brief and lame attempt at empire
building
Died in 1598, leading to a short civil war
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Won the war of succession
Was appointed shogun by the emperor in 1603
Established the Tokugawa shogunate, which would rule for 2 and a half centuries
The Tokugawa Shogunate
Moved the capitol to Edo (Tokyo)
Brought all daimyos under control
Had to spend 6 months in Edo
If you weren’t in Edo, a close family member had to be.
Japanese Isolationism
Hideyoshi and Ieyasu became increasingly distrustful of the Europeans.
They gradually abolished missionaries, guns, foreign trade, and finally Christianity itself
Japanese were forbidden to leave, those who left couldn’t return
By 1640, Japan was “closed” Allowed Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki
Kept tabs on the world through them
Fascinated by foreign learning, especially the upper classes
This slowly redefines the role of the samurai.