EAST MEETS WEST

THE SILK ROAD In the second century BC, caravans

began traveling a 4,000 mile route linking Southeast Asia with the West.

Silk carried along this route made its way to Rome

In both directions, various political, social, religious, and artistic ideas flowed.

Ghengis Khan and his Mongol descendants gained control of the region by the 13th century

THE SILK ROAD

THE PATTERN OF EAST-WEST RELATIONS-- FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF

A SEA ROUTE FROM EUROPE TO ASIA-- WAS

LARGELY ONE OF WESTERN ACTION AND

EASTERN REACTION

The West

went to the East, but the

East saw no need to come to the West.

Voyage of Vasco da

Gama

Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to India in 1498 opened important commercial traffic,

led to the expansion and consolidation of the Portuguese Empire, and the spread of European

culture and Christianity in the Orient.

The Portuguese were quickly followed by the Spanish and Dutch,

and later the French and British sent their ships into Eastern oceans.

The British, with their superior naval strength, finally became the

dominant colonial power in southern Asia.

The Armorial Bearings of the Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies Granted by Garter and Clarenceux Kings of Arms in 1600 and as Borne and Used until 1709

In India, the British found a

country governed by the Mogul

emperors.

As the emperors

grew decadent, the British came in, first as

advisors -- later as direct

rulers with military

and political control.

Throughout history, India’s

attitude to conquerors

had remained the same -- she ignored them as long as they did

not threaten the basic

Hindu identity.

The English were content to live apart, safe in their compounds

and strongholds

Government House in Calcutta1799-1803

As closely as possible, they duplicated life in England -- with

certain luxurious additions.

In their isolation,

most of the colonialists ignored the

rich culture of India and the beauty of the Indian arts.

BRITISH EMPIRE 1800 - 1947

The political dominance of

the British introduced

Western culture, language,

methods of government and technology into urban centers

Paddle-steamer on the Hooghly, watercolour over a lithographed outline, Kalighat painting by Becaram Das Datta, 1857

In the establishment of English schools, they introduced the

revolutionary ideas of equality, social reform and self-government which India would adapt to its own

cultural pattern.

First meeting of Indian National Congress, 1916

Independence came to India in 1947 after decades of campaigning and non-

violent protest led by Mahatma Gandhi.

SatyagrahiDandi March

1930

INDEPENDENCE1947

India gained independence from British rule in 1947

The Indian subcontinent was partitioned into the countries of India and Pakistan (East and West)

1971: creation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan

The Chinese could boast of a civilization that had been developed and refined for over 2,700 years

A civilization whose arts and technology far surpassed those of Europe in the 13th century

Chinese called their country CHUNG KOU, the Middle Kingdom:the center of the world.

The Great Wall of China

Convinced of their own superiority, the Chinese were content to ignore

anything foreign.

MING DYNASTY 1368-1644

MING DYNASTY 1368-1644 Founded by Chu Yuan-

chang, a peasant who had been a Buddhist monk, a bandit leader and a rebel general

Last native imperial dynasty in Chinese history

Re-adopted civil-service examination system

One of China’s most prosperous periods: agricultural revolution, reforestation, manufacturing and urbanization

CHU YUAN-CHANG (1328-1398). Ming Emperor. Chinese silk scroll painting

AGE OF EXPLORATION The Ming Dynasty, under

the naval leadership of Zheng He, was noted for its sea explorations and extensive trade from Africa to Southeast Asia

Greatest naval power in world in 15th c.

However, scholars convinced the Emperor in 1435 that taste for exotic wares would cause decline of dynasty

Trade and maritime expansion was greatly contracted

Zheng He

ZHENG-HE’S EXPEDITIONS

Seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433, some 80 years before Columbus's voyages.

ZHENG-HE AND COLUMBUS

Zheng He’s Treasure Ship

Compared to Columbus’sSanta Maria

MING PORCELAIN

Scene from Chinese play

Kraak ware –madefor export

                                          

Cranes: Taoist motif

MING LITERATURE Development of the novel

Arose from traditions of Chinese storytelling

Written in commoner’s language

Divided into chapters at points where storytellers would have stopped to collect money

Classics of Chinese literature: Water Margin, 16th c. – band

of outlaws Romance of Three

Kingdoms, 16thc. – historical novel

Monkey: Journey to the West, 16th-17th c.

Encyclopedias Dictionaries

PAINTING

LadyTang Yin

(Tang Baihu) (1470-1523)

Poet on a Mountaintop

Shen Zhou (Shen Chou) 1427-1509

DECLINE OF MING EMPIRE

Incompetence of later Ming Emperors: absolute authority – abolition of office of Prime Minister

Rebellions in 17th c. caused by increasingly burdensome taxes

Threat from the Manchus in the North

THE QING DYNASTY 1644-1911

THE QING DYNASTY 1644-1911

The Manchu Qing dynasty was the second minority to rule the whole of China.

Imperial China reached its zenith of power and influence.

Feudal policy of rewarding land cultivation coupled with a reduction or exemption from taxation.

Several large works such as the Encyclopedia of Chinese Writings (Confucian classics, history, philosophy and belles-lettres), Kangxi Dictionary, and A Collection of Books Ancient and Modern, were compiled

China, convinced of its superiority, had restricted trade and other contacts with

the West.

Desperate to open up the rich ports of China, the Europeans finally found a product they could sell in China

opium…”Opium is an imperious master and treats its subjects like slaves. It first comes with a gentle touch...

...and then in a few weeks when it has got its grip upon the man, it shows itself to be the cruelest taskmaster that ever drove man to a lingering death.”

When the Chinese

government tried to curb the opium traffic, the British gunboats triumphed in the

Opium Wars (1839-42, 1856-60)

China was forced to open her ports and the interior to a flood of foreign merchants,

soldiers and missionaries and to legalize the opium trade.

The Open Door Policy imposed by the Western Powers created havoc in

China: depredation by foreigners and

internal rebellion

THE BOXER REBELLION1900

A secret society in northern China began a campaign of terror against Christian missionaries and Chinese converts.

Foreigners called them “Boxers” because they practiced martial arts.

1912: Overthrow of last Imperial Dynasty and establishment of a republic under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen

WORLD WAR II

His successor, Chiang K’ai Shek was caught in a war on two fronts -- against the Japanese and the Communists

He eventually retreated to Taiwan and set up a government there.

MAOIST VICTORY

When Mao Tse Tung entered Beijing and established a Communist government in 1949, it ended more than a century of rebellions and civil wars.

While the Chinese looked to the Russian Revolution for inspiration, they adapted Marxism to its their own agricultural society with the vast number of peasants, who had been oppressed throughout history

China, after a period of isolation,

rejoined the world stage.

Most of Eastern Asia acknowledged the superiority of Chinese culture

from which it had borrowed for centuries.

The Japanese, Koreans, and Southeastern Asians had adopted elements of Chinese culture as models for their own societies.

The Japanese borrowed the Chinese system of government, Chinese characters for writing, and Chinese conventions for art, architecture and literature

But the Japanese quickly assimilated Chinese borrowings and built their own unique island culture.

The Japanese created special forms of entertainment such as Noh and Kabuki drama

And simple but stylized rituals such as the tea ceremony

In their social relations, they developed rules of conduct with an intricate web of obligations for all.

The Portuguese, in their early voyages of discovery, were the first Europeans to

encounter Japanese culture in the 15th century

Japan, reacted to the Western challenge in a rather different fashion

SHOGUNATE

Throughout the 14th-19th centuries, Japan had isolated itself from foreign trade and contacts under the rule of the Shoguns.

In 1542 the first Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries arrived in Japan. They brought firearms and Christianity with them. The Jesuit Francis Xavier undertook a mission to Kyoto in 1549-50.

Despite Buddhist opposition, many warlords welcomed Christianity because they wanted to trade with Western nations for armaments

Imposing order after a series of civil wars, Hideyoshiin 1587, issued an edict expelling Christian missions.

By the 19th c., the rigid class distinctions were crumbling in the wake of a failing economic system

DISAFFECTED SAMURAI WARRIORS ROAMED THE COUNTRY AS BANDITS

MERCHANTS AND TRADESMEN, HAD GAINED POWER AND WEALTH IN THE GROWING CITIES

Such was the situation when, in 1853, US

Commodore Matthew Perry

steamed into Yokohama

Demonstrating the firepower of what the Japanese called his “black ships,” Perry demanded that

Japan open trade with the West

Realizing they could not match the military power of America, Japan agreed

to establish diplomatic and trade relations

MEIJI DYNASTY

The military humiliation of the Shogunate, combined with the social and economic problems brought about the restoration of the Emperor in 1868

MODERNIZATION

Imperial administrators quickly embraced reform and completely remodeled the government and economy to resemble those of 19th c. Europe and the US.

The abrupt break with the past left many Japanese with feelings of cultural loss and a sense of dislocation and regret

RISE TO POWER

But it also led to a rise of nationalism and the emergence of Japan as a major world power at the turn of the century

SINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894

JAPAN DEFEATS CHINA

RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR1904-05

This print criticizes a Russian General and his troops by representing the General as a Daruma -- a limbless Buddhist figure normally portrayed wrapped in robes -- implying that the Russians have no arms and legs and so cannot fight.

WORLD WAR TWO

HiroshimaAugust 6, 1945

Pearl Harbor,December 7, 1941

AMERICAN OCCUPATION

Yamana Ayao, "Donate Clothes for the Returning

Refugees, Especially for Women and Children,"

Fall 1945.

Douglas MacArthur

CONTEMPORARY JAPAN

THE COUNTRIES OF THE EAST AND WEST

HAVE REACTED TO EACH OTHER IN DIFFERENT WAYS,

but each has adopted something of the other

In the 18th c. a craze for anything Chinese swept Europe -- Chinese furniture, wallpaper, porcelain and oriental

gardens

Chinese Garden in Zurich

JAPONISME

Similarly in the 19th c., Japonisme infiltrated Western visual and performance arts

Monet, La Japonaise, 1876

EASTERN THOUGHT AND RELIGION

India, as seen through its great religious literature, was admired by Western Romantics. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem, “To Brahma”

The Eastern philosophies of spiritual enlightenment influenced the development of American Transcendentalism and European Existentialism

The great conflicts of the 20th c. drew in both Eastern and Western

powers as allies and enemies

Memorial to the children who died at Hiroshima

The greatest challenge of the 21st Century is the challenge for diverse cultures to understand each other and learn to live peacefully with each

other.