East Asia Before The West : Five Centuries Of Trade And Tribute

Besides the experience of travel itself, identify one theme or pattern that seems to be repeated throughout the test. Examples (political\ systems, economic development, religion). What significance does this theme or pattern play in shaping the ancient world? Are there any chapters/people/events that contradict your pattern or theme?’

This had led to British completely outmuscling the Chinese with their far superior technology, as well as forcing the Chinese into a treaty that opened up numerous ports in China, allowed Westerners to move to China, as well as pay reparations to the British. This utter defeat showed the Chinese that they needed to adapt, and our second document, a map forecasting the partition of China amongst various nations, showed them that they needed to make those changes quick. All of this led to arguments between groups who felt China needed to self-strengthen and those who feared the increasing influence of Western ideals that could be brought on by learning more about the West in order to better defend against it. This is shown in our third document on self-strengtheners, such as Feng Guifen who argues for youths to be taught in Western languages and sciences in order to best defend against them. This document shows further the nationalism within China, as well as the importance of traditions, ideals, and values, as both sides argue their points based on protecting them from Western

The Europeans who dreamt of conquering Asia were under the impression that Asia was a blank slate, isolated with no history and traditions. However, that is their misconception for Asia from 500-1500 CE “was a vast world of contrast… [and] bewildering variety” thriving with many empires, capital cities, religions, and cultures (Gordon, 177). Because of this, Asia then can be classified as a compilation of many key eras such as the Medieval Age in China and the Golden Age. Such prosperous times for Asian states and empires are to be accredited to the notable networking in Asia at this time period. People who utilized the establishment of fundamental institutions such as the religions of Islam and Buddhism and various modes of trading and traveling were able to facilitate the diffusion of ideas and cultures therefore indirectly contributing to the overall connection of Asian states and empires during 500-1500 CE.

In 1550, something very large was about to explode. This trade good changed many things in the world. Silver was discovered in Spanish America. This new metal was a big hit, even more valuable than gold. Silver was used for taxes in China, and to buy Chinese goods that were in high demand.

McNeil is also critical of Landes’ preoccupation in the happenings of Europe alone, while remaining dismissive of all economic and technological accomplishments of China after 1 000 A.D. While Landes dismisses the economic demise of China as a “weird pattern of isolated initiatives and Sisyphean discontinuities,” McNeil instead portrays the rapid innovations of the Sung era, and how they were damaged and disrupted by Mongol conquests and contained within the Ming dynasty, thereby showing that Europe did not surpass Europe in achievement due to their own pre-eminence.

Odd Arne Westad’s Restless Empire traces China’s participation with other countries over the past 250 years. Westad disputes that China has an ongoing association with the rest of the world through trading of silks and porcelains, allowing China to dominate the international trade market during the Ming and Qing empires. This significant piece of evidence reflects China’s connection with the outside world contrary to the thought that China has been an isolated society detached from most of the world as evidenced by China’s involuntary participation with the foreign countries which stems from colonialism. The author examines China’s foreign affairs over the past three centuries to provide chronological events that underline the advancement in economic growth of China, leading to the establishment of modern China.

The Japanese pursuit for an empire in South East Asia helped changed the balance of world power away from Europe, by taking their most lucrative colonies. Soon after the Japanese defeat in World War II, most of the colonies won their independence from their European masters. This essay will be arguing that despite the vast geographical distance and cultural, racial differences, as well as the different time periods involved, Japanese and European intentions were very similar, and that these similarities contributed to the weakening of Imperialism as a doctrine. To do so, this essay will be examining the reasons for the Japanese

Both Japan and China lie in the East of Asia. ‪To a certain extent，Japan and China own similar culture background, in the Confucian Cultural Circle. But when we look back into the modern history development, Japan and China made quite different decisions when facing the western countries’ aggression. China suffered the invasion in 1840 after the first Sino-British War. Japan was in a similar situation in the black boat incident in 1853, the Opium War made the West began to pay attention to East Asia. From then on, Japan began to face the western culture. ‬The reactions, as well as the result of Japan and China were quite disparate. This article wants to discuss what lead to the difference. ‬‬

The Qing dynasty started an “eighty-year military effort (1680-1760) that brought these huge regions solidly under Chinese Control” (Strayer, 640). Despite its economic need, security was what caused this aggressive action to begin. Chinese expansion was “viewed as a defensive necessity” (Strayer, 640). Although the Qing dynasty was taken over by the Manchus, their campaigns against the Mongols marked “the evolution of China into a Central Asian empire” (Strayer, 640). The Chinese wanted to unify the people of Eurasia. The Qing dynasty made use of China’s military technology by taking over central Eurasia. The Chinese made use of “local notables” as they attempted to gain control of the

At the turn of the 17th Century, East Asia was the center of the world: the recent entrance of Europeans brought cheaper silver along with a novel religion and great advances in technology, such as in clocks, glass technology and cannons. The Chinese tribute system had governed foreign affairs in the region since the Tang Dynasty (618-907), other than the long interruption caused by the Mongols, who nevertheless adapted certain attributes in their diplomacy. The Imjin War (1592-1598) posed a serious challenge to the tribute system, led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier of Japan. The Japanese invading force had been forged in the previous century of sengoku and arrived with the advantage of surprise, as well as a stunning superiority in weaponry (including European arquebuses used earlier in the century to devastating effect against the Aztecs and Incas) and experience. Even so, the Imjin War proved a massive success for the Ming and showed the strength of the tribute system in the face of strong opposition. In particular, Korean awe of China, the rules of the tribute system and the Japanese failure in this imperial invasion demonstrate the strong position China found itself in at this pivotal moment for East Asia.

Stuart Hall’s The West and the Rest and Edward Said’s Orientalism both explore notions of power and discourse with regard to the dynamics of the Western world and the non-Western world. The works engage with the concept of a worldwide binary of two unequal sides, and how certain discourses, namely that of “the West and the Rest”, and Orientalism, have both stemmed from this idea and worked to maintain it. While Hall engages with the idea of “the West and the Rest” – the Western world and how it has been defined in opposition to the non-Western – Said analyses the relationship between “the Orient and the Occident” (2). Said’s work reflects in a more concrete way what Hall proposes in his, using the example of “the Orient” as part of “the Rest” against which the Western world positions itself. Both pieces convey significant ideas about how power informs perceptions of difference between societies, and in turn how discourse forms and maintains global hegemonic power.

The assigned readings about Asian history lead a unified conclusion that the past (history) of Asia was characterized with chaos and internal divisions. “China, once again entered an era of divisiveness and chaos. Competing warlords dominated China for the next 350 years” (The Golden Age of China: 79). China is a perfect symbol of Asia’s history because if studied from the past, the history of China demonstrates how divisions took place in the country’s political and economic spheres. China’s history reveals how the religion led to emergence of chaos in the country. This shows that religion, in the history of Asia, was more divisive than uniting when individual countries considered their religions as different. Religious harmonization of

In many ways, Asia was supposed to exclude themselves from the Great War. Geographically, it was a continent that was located distant from Europe, the main theater of the Great War. Politically, most of the Asian countries had fallen into colonies of European powers on the eve of the war. Therefore, they should have used the outbreak of the war to seek for independence rather than becoming entangled in an unjust war that aimed to maintain imperialist order. Yet, they took part in the war, which was partly caused by their identity as the citizen of the warring European empires, and thus had the obligation to support their colonizer’s war needs.

China came to realise that it was no longer at the centre of the world after being invaded multiple times by ‘barbarians’ from the outside who were stronger and possessed an intimidatingly sturdy culture and religion which threatened the Chinese culture and world order (Zhimin, 2005:38). China felt threatened and took to nationalism as a non-Chinese solution to the survival of China (Zhimin, 2005:38). However, “Chinese nationalism was a modern idea, seeping in from Europe. It was bolstered by the resentment of European imperialists, with their own ignorant and ruthless

East and west. The relationship between the two has never been truly set in stone. Both Europe and Asia have been through many large-scale power shifts throughout the millennia. Empires have risen – and inevitably been razed. If not by conquerors, then by time itself. These empires were often led by those who yearned to increase their land and holdings, and because of this the tendrils of civilization often stretched to seek uncharted territory. This undying curiosity eventually culminated in what is now referred to as the “Age of Discovery,” which spanned from the 1500s to the 1800s. By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world’s lands had already been discovered. Trade links between China and Europe had been around since the Hellenic Age. And in the year 1900 it had been 124 years since the founding of the United States of America. Cross the Pacific Ocean, and one would find themselves face-to-face with the United States’ distant neighbor, East Asia. In East Asia, two of the most historically significant nations are China and Japan. For a number of reasons, – which will be detailed further later on – the early 1900s were a somewhat tumultuous time for both of said nations. The 20th century was by and large a time of political and economic power consolidation for both China and Japan. It is arguable that the United States played an integral role in this consolidation. The interactions between the United States, China, and Japan highlight a time when the way that