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.