China and Japan During the Age of Exploration

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China and JapanDuring the Age of Exploration
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The Age of Exploration Review

• 1100 European crusaders battle Muslims for the
  Holy Lands in Southwest Asia and are exposed to
  trade in the Asian world.
• After the Crusades Europeans still demand spies
  such as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pepperall
  of which flavor the bland food of Europe.
• The Muslims and Italian merchants control trade
  across lands of the Meditterraneans regions.
  What does this mean?

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Exploration Takes Off!

• By the 1400s, European merchants---as well as the
  new monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal, and
  France---want to bypass the Muslim and Italian
  merchants and find a new sea route directly to
  Asia!

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Exploration was made easier by

• The new caravel vessel and its triangular sails
  allowed explorers to sail effectively against the
  wind.

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• The astrolabe, which Muslims perfected helped
  sailors better determine their location on the
  sea.

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Exploration Takes Off!

• Prince Henry of Portugal (1394 1460) or Henry
  the Navigator helped conquer the Muslim city of
  Ceuta in North Africa.
• Prince Henry caught a glimpse of the dazzling
  wealth that lay beyond Europe.
• 1419 He founded a navigation school
• Shipbuilders, scientists, sea captains gathered
  there to perfect their trade.
• 1488 Diaz ventured past the Cape of Good Hope
  and reached port cities in Asia.

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What does all this mean?

• European explorers had dreams of finding new
  routes to Asia to trade with the Chinese .
• They even made it to the shores of Japan.
• In this lesson well see how the Chinese and
  Japanese reacted to the EuropeansAnd describe
  Europes impact on Asia.

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Chinas Ming Dynasty

• By the time Europeans dropped anchor of Chinas
  coast the Ming Dynasty had become the dominant
  power in the region.

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The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

• First Ming Emperor
• Hongwu commanded the rebel army that drove out
  the Mongols in 1368.
• Hongwu ruled from the Yuan capital of Nanjing in
  the south
• Did not allow outsiders from distant lands to
  threaten Chinas peace and prosperity!

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The Ming Dynasty Under Hongwu

• Increased rice production
• Improved irrigation
• Encouraged fish farming
• Returned to Confucian moral standards
• Improved the imperial administration by restoring
  the merit-based civil service examination system.
• Later Hongwu became a ruthless tyrant

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Hongwu to Yonglo

• Suspecting assassination attempts Hongwu
  conducted purges where thousands of government
  officials are killed.
• Hongwu died in 1398
• Yonglo (son of Hongwu) steps into power.
• Yonglo moved the royal court to Beijing.
• Yonglo becomes curious about the outside world.
• 1405 Yonglo launches the first of seven voyages.

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Chinese Muslim Admiral Zheng He

• All seven voyages were led by Zheng He

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Chinese Exploration

• Zheng He
• Early Chinese explorer
• Earliest voyages to Southeast Asia India
• Later to the voyages went as far as Arabia and
  Africa
• Up to 300 ships on each expedition
• Crews numbered about 27,000 people per voyage
  made up of
• Sailors, soldiers, carpenters, interpreters,
  accountants, doctors, and religious leaders
• Distributed gifts such as gold and silk in order
  to collect tribute from new trading partners.

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Chinese Exploration to Isolation

• Chinese officials complained the voyages wasted
  valuable resources
• After the seventh voyage ended in 1433 there were
  no more
• 1433 China withdraws into self-sufficient
  isolation
• New rule Only the govt was to conduct foreign
  trade

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• Profit-minded Chinese merchants smuggled cargoes
  of silk, porcelain, and other valuable goods out
  of the country into the eager hands of European
  merchants.
• Demand for Chinese goods had a ripple effect on
  economies manufacturing and commerce
  increased!
• However Commerce offended Confucian beliefs.
  Merchants made their money supporting foreigners
  and robbery.

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• Isolation Meant
• Restricted trade policies
• Foreign trade in two ports Macao and
• Canton
• The smuggling occurred along the coast

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• Christian Missionaries Come to China
• Missionaries brought Christianity
• Brought European inventions (including the clock
  and the prism)
• Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit, was the first
  Missionary to have an impact.
• Ricci gained favor at the Ming court through his
  intelligence and ability to speak and write
  Chinese.
• Educated Chinese opposed Christianity

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• Forbidden City was built by Yonglo (1404-1420)
  was a stunning monument to isolationism . It was
  a stunning palace complex at the capital city,
  Beijing. It was known as the Forbidden City
  because all commoners and foreigners were
  forbidden to enter without special permission

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Fall of MingRise of Qing

• Ineffective rulers, corrupt officials, and a
  government out of money ended the Ming Dynasty.
• 1644-The Manchus of Manchuria invaded China.
• The Ming could not repel the attack.
• The Manchus took a Chinese name for their
  dynasty, the Qing (chihng) Dynasty
• For years Chinese resisted rule by the
  Non-Chinese Manchus. Rebellions flared up.

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Kangxi

• Kangxi became emperor in 1661.
• Ruled for 60 years
• Kangxi reduced government expenses and lowered
  taxes
• Scholar and patron of the arts, Kangxi gained the
  support of Chinese intellectuals by offering them
  government positions.
• Enjoyed Jesuits at court. Jesuits kept him
  informed of inventions and the latest
  developments in science, mathematics, and new
  medicines in Europe.

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Qian-long (chyahn-lung)

• Kiangxis grandson, ruled from (1736-1795)
• Industrious like his grandfather rose at dawn
  and worked on problems of the empire (armed
  nomads on its borders, Christian missionaries,
  and European merchants)
• Qian-long had to deal with the new masters of
  Indian Ocean trade the Dutch

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The Kow-Tow Ritual

• All diplomats had to pay a tribute to the Chinese
  and
• Perform the kowtow ritual. This involved
  kneeling in front of the emperor and touching
  their heads to the ground nine times.
• Dutch performed the kowtow ritual and returned
  home with porcelains and silks.

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• Great Britain also wanted to increase trade with
  China.
• In 1793 Lord George Macartney delivered a letter
  from King George III to Qian-long. The letter
  asked for a better trade arrangement, including
  Chinese acceptance of British manufactured goods.
• Macartney refused to kowtow to the emperor.
• Qian-long denied Britains request and made it
  clear that China was self-sufficient!

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Korea

• In 1636 the Manchus conquered nearby Korea and
  made it a vassal state
• It was a member of the Chinese tribute system.
• Koreans organized their government according to
  Confucian principles
• Korea adopted Chinas technology, culture, and
  especially its policy of isolation.

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• Daily Life
• Farmers used irrigation and fertilizers to grow
  new crops such as corn and sweet potatoes brought
  by Europeans
• Chinese families expanded and more of an emphasis
  was put on sons, rather than daughters. Because
  of this female infants were not valued and many
  female infants were killed as a result.
• Great fiction masterpiece was written at this
  time Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Zhan

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Japan

• Issues for the time period
• Internal power struggles Shoguns and military
  leaders struggle for power
• Arrival of Foreigners and their Impact
• Japan turns to isolationism.

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Japan Limits Western Contact

• 1467 civil war shattered Japans feudal system
• The country collapsed into chaos
• Centralized rule ended.
• Power drained away from the shogun to territorial
  lords in hundreds of separate domains.
• This time in history lasted from 1467-1568 and is
  known as the Warring States period or Sengoku.
• Powerful samurai seized control of old feudal
  estates.

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• Daimyo or warrior chieftains became lords in a
  new kind of Japanese feudalism.
• Under the daimyos security came and the emperor
  at Kyoto served as a figurehead.
• This new feudalism resembled European feudalism
• Daimyos built fortified castles and created small
  armies of samurai on horses.
• Later foot soldiers with muskets were added
• Rival daimyo often fought each other for
  territory.

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Oda Nobunaga

• Nobunaga (brutal and ambitious)
• defeated his rivals and seized the
• imperial capital at Kyoto in 1568.
• His motto was rule by force.
• Nobunaga eliminated the remaining rival daimyo
  and wealthy Buddhist monasteries aligned with his
  enemies by using 3, 000 musketeers to crush an
  enemy force of samurai cavalry in 1575. This was
  the first time firearms were used in battle in
  Japan.

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Toyotomi Hideyoshi

• Nobunaga was not able to unify Japan
• He commits seppuku, the ritual suicide of a
  samurai, in 1582, when one of his own generals
  turned on him.
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi set out to destroy the
  daimyos that remained hostile.
• By 1590 Hideyoshi controlled most of Japan.
• Eventually he conquered China and invaded Korea
  in 1592.

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• When Hideyoshi died in 1598, his troops withdrew
  from Korea.
• Tokugawa Ieyasu completed the unification of
  Japan in 1600 by defeating his rivals at the
  Battle of Skigahara.
• His victory earned him the loyalty of all the
  daimyo in Japan. Begins Tokugawa Shogunate
• To keep his daimyo loyal Ieyasu required that
  they spend every other year in the capital. Even
  when they returned to their lands they had to
  leave their families in Edo (Tokyo) as hostages
  to ensure loyalty. Edo became Japans new capital.

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Every Day Life

• Farmers produced more food and the population
  rose.
• Peasants were weighed down by heavy taxes, living
  lives of misery.
• Peasants moved to expanding
• urban towns
• The Merchant class and the rich prospered in
  Tokugawa society.
• Everyone, rich and poor alike, benefited from a
  flowering of Japanese culture Noh dramas
  (tragedies) , Kabuki theater, Haiku poetry,
  woodblock printing

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Europeans Reach Japan

• 1543 First Encounter Shipwrecked Portuguese
  sailors wash up on the shores of Japan
• At first Very curious! Welcomed the traders
  and missionaries
• Introduced new technologies and ideas Brought
  clocks, eyeglasses, tobacco, firearms, and other
  unfamiliar items from Europe.
• Portuguese cannons firearms excite the daimyo
  increased the need to build fortified castles
• Hoped to involve themselves in Japanese trade

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Christian Missionaries to Court

• Christian missionaries arrived 1549
• Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, led the first mission
  to Japan
• Baptized about a hundred converts.
• Accepted mainly for European goods they made
  available
• 300,000 converts by 1600
• Became socially and politically influential
• Ieyasu feared religious uprisings should he ban
  the European merchants
• At first he does nothing

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Persecution of Christians

• By 1612 he feared uprisings more and therefore
  banned Christianity
• Then he focused on ridding his country of all
  Christians.
• In 1637 an uprising in southern Japan of some
  30,000 peasants, led by dissatisfied samurai,
  shook the Tokugawa regime so many of the rebels
  were Christian. The shogun decided that
  Christianity was at the root of the rebellion.

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Zen Buddhism Takes Hold

• The shoguns ruthlessly persecuted Christians.
• All Japanese were forced to demonstrate
  faithfulness to some branch of Buddhism.
• Zen Buddhism had the greatest impact on Japanese
  culture. It especially influenced the samurai.
• Zen Buddhists sought spiritual enlightenment
  through meditation. Strict discipline of mind
  and body was the Zen path to wisdom.

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Japan Closes to the Outside World

• Official Policy of Isolation
• By 1639, Japans borders were sealed to
  foreigners and instituted a closed country
  policy.
• One port Nagasaki remained open to foreign
  traders. Only Dutch and Chinese merchants were
  allowed into the port.
• For more than 200 years Japan was closed to
  outside trade and influence and continued as a
  self-sufficient country, free from European
  attempts to colonize.