Asian History: Review

Emperor K’ang-hsi was one of the greatest Chinese emperors of all time. Ruling from 1662 to 1722 he was also one of the longest ruling emperors in Chinese history and for that matter the world. K’ang-hsi brought China to long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. Jonathan Spence writes from the eyes of K’ang-hsi getting his information from K’ang-hsi’s own writings. Though a little biased towards himself this book still provides important insight into his mind. Emperor of China is divided into six parts; In Motion, Ruling, Thinking, Growing Old, Sons, and Valedictory.

One of the most well know historical periods of Ancient China is the era of the Three Kingdoms, which records the period to some of the most well-known historical figures, heroes, and their complex yet intriguing relationships. The Three Kingdoms was a period of unrest, and battles which initiated in 220AD, when Wei replaced the Eastern Han Dynasty, and lasted until the reunification of lands in 280AD. Towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor was losing power and influence, which led to the inability for Eastern Han to unite the whole land. At the same time, the country was in anarchy as groups of warriors were uprising and rebelling against Eastern Han, proclaiming themselves emperor. However, these powers were too weak to claim

Although the Manchus in China and the Tokugawa in Japan during the 17th and 18th centuries consolidated power into a central authority differently, their reasons for doing so were relatively similar, both being due to a certain internal conflict and their location relative to other empires.

centralization that touched the lives of everyone in China. The First Emperor ordered all his

Japan then enters its feudal phase called the Kamakura period, from 1185 to 1333. The emperor was not playing much than a passive role in the management of the country, mainly present for ceremonies. Civilian and military functions were in the hands of the samurai. The most powerful of these is the samurai shogun... It was the first military government called Bakufu.

During the Heian period the Heian court had the highest power in Japan. This was a period known for its art, literature, and culture. During the Heian period there was a lot of change going on and the society cared less about foreign affairs and focused domestically. The religion was changing from an elite Buddhism into religion for the people. Warriors started to become important political figures during this time.

Japan’s political structure during the 19th and 20th Century would shift dramatically just as China’s did. After hundreds of years of rule by a Tokugawa feudal system, Japan was isolated and there was much division within the

(Yang You), only was the emperor for one year before losing it to the Tang Dynasty. Sui Dynasty accomplished another

Although they borrowed heavily from China, they ended up with a system that contained little connection to the Chinese . In 369 AD, Japan invaded South Korea in an attempt to maintain the political balance of power. One of the most important things that happened during this time was the introduction of the Chinese writing system into Japanese culture. Korea itself was largely subjected to Chinese culture, and it was through Korea that Chinese writing entered Japanese culture. Many Chinese characters, and even whole words, were incorporated into the “Japanese” writing system. However, during Heian Japan, the writing system changed. Japan began to change its writing from Chinese to better suit the Japanese language, however much of the Japanese literature in this period was still written in Chinese. Men especially continued to use the Chinese writing particularly for official business. However the new language did become popular for poetry, diaries, novels, and was used mostly by women. In this way, although Japan did adopt the writing system from china they ended up with something that was unique to their own

The Mejing Restoration of Japan and Self-Strengthening Movement of China were both 19th century political initiatives intended to foster the advancement of both East Asian nations, with varied results. While in the end China stood beholden to demands of the West and lost control internally due to domestic forces, Japan became a successful modern player in East Asia and the larger world.

Emperor gained control of the government and shogun and daimyos lost their power. Also, emperor were seen became the commander of the military and head of shintoism. He was seen as a god-figure.

Teng (2013) writes, “During the medieval era, Tang Dynasty China fought with Japan in Korea in the Battle of Baekgang (663 AD): Japan was defeated and retreated …” (p. 124). This battle set a precedent for Chinese-Japanese relations, as there has never been a time in history during which China and Japan had completely friendly associations. Since the first battle between the two countries was fought, there have been many small skirmishes. These hostile events eventually escalated. The first major war between China and Japan was the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. During this war, China suffered a decisive and shocking defeat, losing the vassal state of Korea. This debacle sparked outrage and seeded political doubt in China, and was a major spur of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. Paine (2003) explains, “The war was a turning point for China. The war shattered any sense of unbreachable superiority and forced a Chinese reappraisal of their place in the world” (p.

Pre-modern China and Japan’s pre-modern histories differ because China followed a dynastic cycle, while Japan was ruled by generations of the same family. For starters, China was

Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia. With many different ties, Vietnam didn’t truly become it’s own country until 1975. The Vietnamese culture is strongly influenced by traditional Chinese and French civilization. The country struggled with political independence for a long time. First with China then with France until after World War II. After World War II, Vietnam like other parts of Asia, communists were taking over. In August 1945, the “August Revolution” happened, led by Ho Chi Minh

Society and government in our day and age is much more secular than it has been for most of human history. In fact, many countries, such as the United States of America, even have laws built into their governments’ constitutions establishing a barrier between religion and government. But throughout humanity’s past, it was quite common across many diverse societies for religion and politics to overlap; religion often influenced politics and politics often used religion for practical purposes. In the process of trying to come up with a topic to research on South Asian history in the ancient and medieval periods, I was very interested in this relationship between religion and politics and knew I would want to pursue this topic in my paper. The period of South Asian history to which I narrowed my focus to was that of the Mauryan Empire and the post-Mauryan polities that existed in the times after the collapse of the Mauryan Empire. Thus, the period I focused my research and paper on fits primarily within the years of circa 321 BCE to around 320 CE. The leading question behind my research was that I wanted to research the nature of the relationship that existed between politics and the religions present during this time in the region of South Asia; I wanted to examine whether this relationship existed, and if so, to examine how and in what ways these religions influenced politics and vice versa. In my research I found that there in fact was a strong relationship between these