East Asia

Big Picture: China• G–Problems with nomads (north)–Large, filled with resources–Influences neighbors

• R–Confucianism–Buddhism comes in and out

Big Picture: China• A–Continuous civilization–Inventions–Core of world trade

• P–Dynastic cycle–Civil service exams

Big Picture: China• E–Agricultural–Public works–Little respect for trade

• S–Confucianism–Peasants are poor, but important–Scholar-gentry

Chinese Dynasties• Shang• Zhou• Qin• Han• Sui• Tang• Song• Yuan• Ming • Qing

Shang Dynasty• River valley civilization• Oracle bones• Work with bronze

Zhou Dynasty• Invent Mandate of Heaven and

Dynastic Cycle• Essentially feudal system• Expand to Yangtze River

Era of Warring States

Qin Dynasty• Reconquer feudal minor kingdoms• Use legalism• Shi Huangdi• Legacy of standardization

Han Dynasty• True Classical China• Embrace Confucianism• Create civil service exams• Expand empire and trade West

How China Works• Central authority –Appoints local officials, but strong local

units keep order–Bureaucracy is large, people pay taxes,

follow law, provide labor• Upper class is landholders and bureaucrats• Family is the social order• Stay agricultural

Era of Division

Sui Dynasty• Conquers the nomads• Brings back central bureaucracy

Tang Dynasty• Restores and modifies civil service exams• Conquers northern nomads, Korea, and the

west (largest dynasty)• Eventually boots out Buddhism• Links rivers with Grand Canal• Urbanization, trade, women’s rights expand• Tons of new technologies

Song Dynasty• Takes the worst of the Tang features–Overexpanded bureaucracy (higher status)–Embraced Neo-Confucianism•And only Chinese things

–Weakens military – consistently losing ground to nomads–Stops trade

Yuan Dynasty• Kublai Khan conquers the Song• No civil service exams, only Mongols in

bureaucracy–But, Kubilai had Chinese advisors

• Chinese banned from learning Mongol language• Bring in Muslim scholars to supplement

Chinese science, which stagnated

Ming Dynasty• Eliminate Mongols• Reinstate civil service exams – scholar-

gentry status raises again• Landlords still powerful, came from

bureaucratic families • Neo-Confucianism deepens• Trade grows, but invest in land and not

manufacturing

Qing Dynasty• Manchu nomads from the north override Ming

weakness• Not Chinese, but become Chinese–Adopt Confucianism, bureaucracy, civil service exams– Chinese can serve

• Landlords still exploit peasants• Bureaucracy becomes corrupt, ignored public works and

Europeans• Opium War, rebellions…collapse

Chinese Civil War• Qing dynasty collapses under pressure

of Western interference, rebellions• Nationalist party (Sun Yat-sen, Chiang

Kai-shek) want a Western-style state–A.k.a. Guomindang/Kuomintang

• Communist party (Mao Zedong) want communist peasant revolution

Communist Party• Emphasized return to Confucian

social values – meaning peasants good, merchants and outsiders bad, collective welfare• Talk about power to the people –

killed a lot of people with Mao’s policies

Chinese Civil War• Communists use guerrilla warfare, Nationalists ally

with warlords and make gains• Long March: communists escape to the north• Japan invades: force Chinese to fight together–War weakens Nationalist armies and economic

bases– Communists gain power, practice

• 1949: Nationalists move to Formosa (Taiwan), Communists officially take over China

Communist China• Expand boundaries• Violently redistribute land to peasants–Mao collectivized agriculture, wanted small local

factories (Great Leap Forward)–Failed here, too

• Pragmatists pushed out Mao after the “Cultural Revolution” which attacked his rivals and bureaucrats–Open economy, but not politics

Major Events• Zhenghe Expeditions• Russo-Japanese War• Opium Wars• Commodore Perry• Meiji Restoration• Boxer Rebellion• May Fourth Movement• Chinese Civil War

• WWII – Rape of Nanking– Pearl Harbor–Midway–Hiroshima and

Nagasaki• Korean War• Tiananmen Square

Classical Japan• Tribes and farming• Regional states• Create emperor as religious figure• Shintoism• Connection to China

Japan in Tang Times• Borrowed a lot from China, but

Buddhists and aristocrats prevented full reforms• Local estates ignored the empire,

peasants became serfs (and Buddhists), estates hired samurai, embraced warrior culture

Feudal Japan• Fighting between warlords–Decline in central authority–Less Chinese influence–Feudal lords – shoguns – take power

• Daimyos, powerful local landlords, tried to develop economies

Japan in Ming Times• Shoguns overpower daimyos–Imported Western technology

(guns)• Tokugawa Shogunate controls

daimyos, destroys Buddhist power, and closes Japan to foreign influence

Opening Japan• Commodore Perry shows up with US ships and big

guns (1850s)–Forced to open trade ports

• Meiji emperor takes over, Meiji Restoration–Abolish feudalism, defeat samurai–Create parliament and bureaucracy–State-led industrialization

• Avoid total domination, but still depend on West for technology and resources

Imperial Japan• For resources, take Korea from Russia/China

in Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars• Strong nationalism prevents revolutions

despite strains of modernization–Military crept into power, took over with

strong response to Depression• Expand into China and Taiwan

Post-War Japan• Westernize and democratize during

occupation, eliminate military• Government-business cooperation to

promote stability and growth–Major educational expansion provides

the engineers, US provides the defense• Huge economic expansion into the 90s

Korea• China conquers it, loses it, conquers

it…it’s a cycle• Strongly influenced by China and

Buddhism–Almost don’t have their own

culture, just mirrors of China• And that’s everything until Unit 5

(South) Korea• Authoritarian but not communist,

then conservatively democratic• In 1970s, Korea follows Japan into

the high-tech economic world• Create a lot of exports