South Korea Into A 21st Century Pop Culture Powerhouse

The British wanted to do business with China after seeing the market potential because of the population, as well as the significant growth in the past two centuries. China’s population increased by 330 million people less than two centuries. The agricultural production in China was not able to keep up with the rapid increase in population. The British saw opportunity in this and believed that they could generate a great amount of money from the market. China’s refusal to trade with the British was

One of the largest groups ever to immigrate to the United States was the Chinese. In 1842 the British Empire defeated China in the first Opium War. China was forced to pay indemnities of 21 million silver dollars and open five ports to foreign commerce. As a result, peasant farmers were heavily taxed. A series of floods and crop failures in Southern China lead to poverty and famine among peasant farmers. The British were given the power to preside over the immigration of the Chinese people. Eventually 12 treaty ports were opened to Westerners and Western missionaries begin to arrive in China, paving the way for Chinese youth to receive western training abroad.

China has 5000 years of history which experienced wars, collapses, failures and successes. The Opium War in the year 1839 and 1856 marked the changing point of China’s trade policy with foreigners, especially with British in opium and tea. China changed from getting tributes to being forced to sign the Nanjing Treaty and Tianjing Treaty with British and French. Due to China’s over confidence and unwelcome attitude toward foreigners and opium, it caused the British to declare the Opium War to China which made Chinese suffer for many years, but at the same time it also forced China to open its doors to the foreigners.

Individual needs, diversity and personality have recently gained greater laxity. Therefore Confucian teaching is, in practice, being modified for modern life. Confucianism, therefore, is gaining a renewed sense of importance because of these modifications. This paper seeks to investigate how modern Korea has reacted to Confucianism. To accomplish this we will discuss the traditional impact of Confucianism on Korean culture and analyze how this traditional philosophy measures up within modern Korean culture to try and come to grips with how Korea’s understanding of Confucianism has evolved. Rather than completely losing its significance, Confucianism is possibly beginning a new stage in its long life. The core of Confucianism seems unassailable in

In the 19th Century British planned to invade China for economic reasons. It had no motives to conquer the state rather entice it to accept a free trade. The country was rich in tea which was in high demand not only in Britain but all over the world. China also had porcelain and silk which the Britons envied. The intruders did not have enough silver to buy the commodities thus opted for a barter system. Consequently, a war between the two states occurred. It was fought between 1848 and 1852 with China becoming unsuccessful due advanced military competence of Britons. The signing of an agreement between them then followed, and British was additionally awarded extraterritorial rights by China. However, the imperialism in China was a positive thing to the natives because it introduced trade and much education in the region which opened up opportunities.

British trade with China during the Qing dynasty from 1750 - 1900 was economically harmful for the Chinese, and the Chinese Imperial government responses were political. A document showing a Chinese citizen’s view on the events and how they played out would have helped me to better understand how it affected the people of China’s

By 1839, war was imminent. The opium trade had caused the reversal of the silver deficit, now putting an economic strain on China, while Britain’s economy flourished from the profit they were making off the drug. Because it was being illegally imported, all of the money was going directly to Britain instead of to the Chinese government in the form of taxes. This caused a severe economic decline in China as unemployment rose, agriculture declined, and funding for public improvements diminished.

During this time, the British adopted a new economic policy known as mercantilism which held that a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth. The desire for new sources of wealth inspired British exploration of the East. Having established North America as their colony, the British traveled East. In 1793, the British sought to trade with China which was largely self-sufficient due to mining and manufacturing resources as well as its healthy agricultural economy which started in the 11th century. Around this time, the Chinese dynasty cycle was in decline and its official trade policy reflected isolation. The British imposed economic imperialism and forced China to open to foreign trade and influence. The British East India Company which grew opium in India, a British colony, shipped it to China. While the Chinese developed addictions to the drug, the British economy grew as they shipped fine silk, high quality cotton and exquisite porcelain from China to be sold for a huge profit in North America. Subjected to economic imperialism, China had to sign treaties that favoured the west. In 1844, China signed a treaty that gave North America extraterritorial rights where they could trade freely at many

Over the period of 1792 to 1990, England and China's relationship drastically changed because of the trading of opium. China didn’t want to trade opium, but it would mess up England's economy if they were no longer trading opium. China also started to feel the need to westernize, unlike before. China’s need for westernization released tension between the two powers, causing a change in their relationship. China and England's relationship was continous from trade. Even though it was unbalanced in the beginning, it was never cut off. During this time period, in other parts of the world, industrialization was starting to take place. England was one of the leading countries in this age of Industrialization. England used their advanced technology

In order to seek for profit, British merchants never stopped illegal behavior in China. Even after Lin Zexue sent a letter to Queen Victoria, British merchants still continued their business regardless of the laws in China2. During the process of prohibiting the opium trade in some of Chinese coastal cities, the conflict of interests between Chinese government and British merchants had become more and more severe. According to the document, British troops started to attack the forts at Taikok and Shakok [paragraph 2, line 3 to 4], and they invaded the inner river and besieged the provincial city [paragraph 3, line 1 to 2]. Taking into account of the lives of Chinese people, the emperor made an unusual concession, hoping that British troops would abstain from creating further troubles [paragraph 3, line 7 to 9]. However, contrary to Daoguang’s expectations, the British troop continued to offend Chinese territories [paragraph 4, line 2 to 4]. In Daoguang’s view, it was their concession at the beginning that led to the invasion of the British troop. Whereas he neglected one of the important reasons of the British invasion: Britain’s desire of opening the Chinese market in search for higher profits was restricted by the Chinese laws and policies3. In response to the British invasion, Chinese government dispatched Yikin and others to defend British troops with their own troops [paragraph 5, line 1].

(1839-1842) and (1856-1860) The British traded tea with China, in return, they had little to offer expect for Opium which grew mostly in India. However, the Chinese outlawed Opium and wanted little to do with trade between the British. The British didn’t want to lose control of trade with China, so war was declared to force the Chinese to allow trade. The British won due to their superior navy, and the trading system continued between the two. As a result of such strong British power with China, they gained the island of Hong Kong, which was turned into a major port and center of South China shipping. It is a significant event for the British showing imperialist powers in foreign affairs and humiliating the powerful Chinese empire.

In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and other European countries demanded more and more Chinese commodities, especially tea and silk. However, only the port in Canton was opened to foreign countries, and Chinese would not take any other form of payments besides silver. The desire to make China into a free market that foreigners have more access to and the increasing, though illegal, European opium import to China eventually created tension between the European countries, especially Britain, and the Chinese government (Allingham Par. 1-2). The two battles fought and won by European powers were known as the Opium Wars. China’s politics, economy, and intellects were both positively and negatively

Finally, deeply rooted tensions between Britain and China began to come to the surface as the Chinese attempted to crack down on opium use and trade within its borders.

There were many problems with the system of trade in China; even before opium trading began. China, believing herself to be the most civilized and advanced country, did not feel the need to satisfy Britain, a “barbarian” country’s request for freer trade and were concerned the British wanted land. Britain however,

The next nation that will be discussed is South Korea, whose legal tradition finds its origins from Japan, but is now becoming more American in nature due to increased globalization. Korea’s legal tradition was first established 4,300 ago when the Gojoseon dynasty created its own statutory law, heavily influenced by Confucianism and China’s legal system (SpringerLink and Yŏn 'guwŏn 2). (note that during the retelling of South Korea’s history, the nation will be referred to as Korea until the point at which it became separated into Northern and Southern territories). Korea maintained this particular legal tradition, and aspects of a uniquely Korean brand of Confucianism, until the 19th century. In 1894, the internally induced Kabo Reforms aimed to modernize the whole of Korea in terms of legal and administrative systems, culture, economy, and more (“Emergence of a Modern Society”). The Kabo Reforms resulted in a legal system that closely resembled Japan’s system, which followed a civil legal tradition that was heavily influenced by Germany. Korea’s transformation towards a Japanese civil law system was further intensified and completed when it became a colony of Japan in 1910. Following the defeat of Japan during World War Two, Korea gained its independence in 1945, only for the southern half of the nation to fall under American occupation until 1948, while the northern half was occupied by Soviet Russia (SpringerLink and Yŏn 'guwŏn 5). Now dubbed as South Korea, the