Chapter 27: Traditions & Change in East Asia

The Quest for Political Stability

• The Ming Dynasty– They restored the civil

service exams.– Emperors became

recluses in the Forbidden City (Imperial City) ignoring government.

– The dynasty was conservative.

The Quest for Political Stability

• The Qing Dynasty– The Manchus

overwhelmed Beijing and occupied all of China.

– They enforced the queue as a form of submission and a sign of superiority.

The Quest for Political Stability

• The Qing Dynasty– Kangxi was a Confucian

scholar and an enlightened ruler.

– Qianlong’s reign marked the height of the Qing dynasty.

– The dynasty was conservative.

Qianlong during his first year of reign.

The Quest for Political Stability

• The Son of Heaven and the Scholar-Bureaucrats– The Son of Heaven was the

human being designated by heavenly powers to maintain order on earth.

– Kowtow-three kneeling and nine head knockings.

– Examination system allowed for upward social mobility.

Economical & Social Changes

• Government positions brought prestige and prosperity to the entire clan making education a major investment.

A Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) portrait of the Chinese official Jiang Shunfu (1453–1504), now in the Nanjing Museum. The decoration of two cranes on his chest are a "rank

badge" that indicate he was a civil official of the first rank.

Economical & Social Changes

• Population Growth & Economic Development– The introduction of new crops

increased food supply and spurted population growth.

– Edict of 1656 forbade sea trade.– Kangxi ordered the evacuation

of southern coastal regions in an effort to curtail foreign trade.

Economical & Social Changes

• Population Growth & Economic Development– Ports of Trade• The Portuguese operated in Macau.• The British operated in Guangzhou.

Economical & Social Changes

• Population Growth & Economic Development– Agricultural and industrial

technological growth occurred during the Ming & Qing dynasties.

A Chinese paddle-wheel driven ship from a Qing Dynasty

encyclopedia published in 1726.

Economical & Social Changes

• Social Hierarchy– Upper-class• Consisted of scholar-

bureaucrats and gentry, both acted as intermediaries between the imperial government and local society.• Both resided in

towns.Examination hall with 7500 cells, Guangdong,

1873.

Economical & Social Changes

• Social Hierarchy– Working Class• Peasants were

regarded as the most honorable of the working class.• Merchants fell into

the bottom of the working class hierarchy.

Sorghum, raised for grain and commonly used as a fodder crop.

Economical & Social Changes

• Social Hierarchy– Lower Class was the military which was regarded

as a necessary evil.

Qing troops in Western drill.

The Confucian Tradition and New Cultural Influences

• Christianity– Matteo Ricci (1552-1610)• He was a Jesuit who created

a mission in China.• He wrote “The True

Meaning of the Lord of Heaven” in which he professed that the doctrines of Jesus and Confucius were similar.

The Confucian Tradition and New Cultural Influences

• Christianity– The Chinese failed to adopt

Christianity because of its exclusivity.

The Unification of Japan

• The Tokugawa Shogunate– 16th Century was called

the sengoku (the country at War).

– Bankufu (tent governments).

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu

The Unification of Japan

• The Tokugawa Shogunate– Alternate Attendance: daimyos had to maintain

their families at Edo in the Tokugawa court and they had to live there every other year.

– The Chinese and the Dutch were allowed to trade at Nagasaki.

The Unification of Japan

• Economic and Social Change– Between 1600-1700

agricultural production doubled.

– Infanticide became a common form of birth control.

– Merchants eventually gained more power than the ruling elites.

日本語Mabiki or “pull plants from an overcrowded

garden.”

The Unification of Japan

• Floating Worlds (ukiyo)– Pleasure centers where

people could escape the rigid conduct of public life.

– Kabuki improv theatre where the text of the play serves as a guide.

– Bunraku is puppet theatre.

The November 1895 production of Shibaraku at Tokyo Kabukiza theater.

The Unification of Japan

• Christianity & Dutch Learning– Christianity served as a

bridge for alliances between the daimyo and Europeans.

– Christovao Ferreira• A Jesuit who gave up

Christianity under torture.• Adopted Buddhism.• Interrogated Europeans for

the Japanese.

The Unification of Japan

• Christianity & Dutch Learning– Dutch Learning is where Japanese scholars learned

Dutch to communicate with foreigners.

View of Dejima island as a Dutch trading post in Nagasaki, 1897